Brick Lean-To Extension

[cwhaley]

Some of the houses on our street were all built by the same developer and thus had the same lean-to we currently have as seen in the picture below (originally used as the outside toilet). I've thought for a while about extending it to house more utilities but I'm not sure if this is something we'd be allowed to do without permission/planning.

Many of the neighbours have had their houses extended on the rear which has 'swallowed up' this original out building. We won't be at this house long enough to warrant a full-on extension and so they can't offer advice for our somewhat small-scale potential project.

Getting in touch with building control is not easy so before we start the planning of this, would the local authorities be interested should we want to extend the current building? Our plan would be to remove the pitched roof, roughly double the extent of the outbuilding (from around 3' to 6') and have a flat roof put on (or install a new pitched roof depending on costs). The width/height of the proposed structure would be the same as current.

No need for new electrics or plumbing as it's already there.

 

[^woody^]

This would be permitted development (if rights have not been removed) so would not normally need planing permission.

If there is an access to the main house, then it will need building regulations approval as an extension

 

[cwhaley]

Thanks Woody. I just needed to know what sort of permissions (if any) would be needed - sounds like I can just get to it and start planning this as one of next year's jobs.

There's no access to the house from it; it is only accessible from outside.

 

[Footsoldier888]

I think Woody has answered that one but all the details are on the planningportal site.

If there was an outside loo there you will need to check the drainage situation first. Also if you go out another three feet you will lose some light to that adjacent door and window. It might not cost much more to go right across.

 

[cwhaley]

The washing machine currently drains into the old soil pipe so I'll keep that in situ as it works. I think the toilet was removed around 20 years ago when an elderly lady who formerly lived there passed on.

The back of the house faces almost exactly to the South. We are lucky that in the summer months, sunlight pours through the back door/windows after midday, so the extra 3 ft. wouldn't be blocking any natural sources of light.

I did think about moving the extension to the right. I failed to capture this in the shot, but the driveway is to the right and I'd be blocking off access should I ever need to get something larger through the back gate. There's also the soil stack and bin storage there.

The planning portal looks much, much better than when I last saw it (just taken a look). I'm surprised at how helpful/informative it is!