Permitted Development - Do I need Planning Permission?

A recent refusal of application for a Lawful Development Certificate in Derbyshire highlights how difficult it is to interpret the permitted development regulations, albeit a complex application. The history of this property is colourful, the existing houses was built illegally around twenty years ago within an agricultural building in a picturesque Derbyshire village. The owners however after having lived there for some years (the majority of the rooms without windows!) managed to prove occupancy and obtain a Lawful Development Certificate which effectively gave them planning permission for the house.

In subsequent years circumstances changed more details here, the property was sold and the purchasers, a young family employed local architects to make an application under the Permitted Development Regulations to carry out a series of alterations to the property, including the addition of rooflights, windows, and two small extensions to create a new entrance to the houses and introduce daylight to the bedrooms and living areas.

In the decision issued by Derbyshire Dales District Council full details here It was accepted that the addition of extensions and rooflights would not require planning permission (subject to a minor revision) but the proposed new windows would not be acceptable because The proposed windows and doors are not of a similar visual appearance to those in the existing house in terms of their overall shape and size.

This is really very subjective. It is understood on this application, as the scheme includes a series of bi-fold doors and there are none currently on the existing house, but does this mean that any new windows have to be pretty much the same as the existing in order for them not to require planning permission? This decision really illustrates the need to apply to the local authority planning authority for a Lawful Development Certificate for any additions to your house that might possibly challenge the permitted development regulations.

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