Requirements for a front porch

[Noospheric]

We'd like to have a porch built on the front of our house and are hoping someone could advise us.

A neighbour opposite has done just this but our house is on a corner, with a public footpath going around the garden, followed by the road, which we suspect may affect the possibilities of this happening.

I read that you can build a porch without permission, providing it is 2m from any boundary adjacent to a highway.

Could anyone advise as to exactly what the highway is defined as please? Does this mean the footpath or the road?

Thanks

 

[tony1851]

It should be no nearer than 2m from your boundary, ie the back of the footpath where it is contigious with your fence, garden wall, hedge or whatever.

 

[cjard]

Either the footpath or the road, the appeal inspector will usually find..

I have a query related to the interpretation of the term "highway" for the purposes of Parts 1 and 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 1995 (GPDO). Does a highway have to be used by vehicular traffic and is it relevant to consider whether the highway is public or private?

This is a frequent query sent in to Casebook Forum and follows from the complete lack of a definition in the current GPDO. At noted at (4.3442) common law usage is normally taken at appeal. This indicates that a highway is a way over which the public are entitled to pass and repass, including a footpath. As indicated by the appeal examples cited many "ways" which would not reasonably be considered a "highway" have been considered to be so. Clearly this is a matter which desperately needs clarification in the current review of the GPDO being undertaken by consultants.

http://www.dcservices.co.uk/news/1110384/

 

[Noospheric]

Is the regulation strictly 2m or should we apply for permission, would it be case by case? The side of the house itself is less than 2 meters from the boundary and the porch wouldn't extend beyond that side.

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