Planning Permission for Sheds

All those who posses a garden shed know how important it is, as you can easy store different materials and items, storing garden equipment, kids’ toys, furniture, bikes being an extremely useful building.  So not only does a shed serve your needs, but it also adds more to the beauty of your garden. As with all other building structures, there are a number of regulations for sheds. While you construct your shed, you have to ascertain you are meeting all of them.

When it comes to outbuildings and the rules that apply to them, the list includes garages, greenhouses, and sheds. Also, other ancillary garden buildings like sauna cabins, kennels, swimming pools, enclosures, and ponds are included as well. Fundamentally, any structure erected outside a house that serves a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of living in that house is affected by rules governing outbuildings.

Other rules affect satellite dish installation, building a new house or the installation of fuel storage tanks.

Do I need planning permission to build a shed?

The answer to this question depends on a number of factors such as the locality in which you live and the type of shed which you are going to construct. Under the planning and building regulations for sheds, these structures are more formally referred to as outbuildings. The same term is also used for greenhouses and garages.

The construction of all outbuildings, whether it is a shed or another structure, is classified as a Permitted Development. This means that you do not need any shed planning permission if you are following the standards enforced. These are as follows.

The shed should be a single storey building

Bellow you can have a look at the general rules that apply to sheds:

• There must be no platform, balcony, veranda or any other protruding structure constructed with the shed.
• The maximum height of shed is limited to three metres. An exception in this regard is for sheds with a dual pitched roof. These type of sheds can be as high as four metres.
• If the site at which you are planning to construct the shed is within two metres of the boundary of your property, the height of your shed can only be two and a half metres high.
• The total area occupied by the shed cannot be more than 15 square metres.
• All extensions to your home and all your outbuildings including the shed cannot cover an area that is greater than 50% of the area around the original construction of your house.
• The shed which you construct must not obstruct any walls on the front side of your house.
• The end should not impinge a conservation area, landscape of natural beauty, or any designated land protected by the government.

While having a word with the authorities, try to supply as much information as you can. This will ascertain that no issues arise when you submit your project and acquire permission on it.

During the pre-application meeting, you can show the site plan, dimension, orientation, and drawings or photos of your proposed structure to the concerned people. Also let them realize that you are aware of planning permissions and building regulations for sheds.

You can also contact the local planning office in writing. In this case, you should allow two weeks for a response.

How Big can my Garden Building be Without Planning Permission?

You do NOT need to get planning permission for garden buildings because they are considered Permitted Development, and as long as the following conditions are satisfied;

The building is located at a distance of 2.0m from the property’s boundary, and its maximum overall height is not beyond 2.5m above ground level. If you intend to erect a large building close to the boundary which typically, will have a roof height that is taller according to the rules, we can make the overall roof height of most of our apex roof buildings lower and make sure garden buildings with pent roofs have heights below 2.5 m.

If you want to place the building at a spot beyond 2.0m from the property boundary, the maximum eave height of a single-story garden building should be 2.5 m which is equal to a 4.0m dual-pitched room and 3.0m for a pent-roofed building. If you want the overall height to be more than these roof heights, then you will need to obtain planning permission.

Other important criteria to consider when it comes to planning permission for your Garden Building

You are not to use the building for a self-contained living or install an antenna on the building.

• You can only use up to 50% of the area around the original house to build garden buildings or other buildings.
• You should not erect outbuildings closer to a public road or highway than the original house is.

If your garden building fails to meet any of the above requirements and criteria, then you will HAVE to apply for planning permission.

If, however, your garden building meets all of the criteria highlighted above, you will not need to apply for planning permission, and you will be able to erect a garden building with 30m² internal dimensions. If your garden building’s internal dimensions are more than 30m², you will have to go through building regulations.

What is the cost of planning permission for a garden outer bulding?

You have to pay around £150 to £200 when you submit an application for planning permission. Once you do this, it will take around eight to ten weeks for a decision to be finalised.

Some Special Considerations

Listed Buildings

Listed buildings are buildings that the Secretary of State for Culture, Historic England, Secretary of State for Sport and Media have considered to be of national importance in terms of its history and architecture. Once a building is approved as a listed building, it will be listed as a building of Special Architectural or Historic Interest which is a dedicated register for listing these types of properties.

The regulations around listed buildings are stricter, so if there will be an outbuilding or garden building within the surroundings of a listed building, planning permission will be needed. If you wish to build a structure as an attachment to the listed building, you will need to obtain both planning permission and listed building consent.

Even though these restrictions look like they are much, do not feel deterred by them. We have built quite some garden buildings for customers who own listed properties.

Designated Land

If you built your property on designated land, you would have to deal with some limitations. Designated land is used to refer to areas like World Heritage Sites, National Parks, Outstanding Natural Beauty areas, Conservation Areas and the Broads.

For designated lands, you have to take note of the one that includes conservation areas and the ones that do not.

The first point refers to garden buildings that are to be erected in national parks, the Broads, World Heritage Sites or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The maximum area that a garden building can cover if positioned at more than 20m away from the walls of the house is 10m². A garden building larger than 10m² can still be erected on your garden if you want, but make sure you obtain planning permission before you do so.

The second point refers to the entire designated land, so it includes conservation areas too. Without planning permission, you cannot erect a garden building beside a property on designated land.

Once these points above have been clarified and you are sure you are complying with all the regulations and criteria, you can check out the “normal planning rules.” These are the criteria that we specified in the first two sections of this article.

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