Three projects for one house
19 Silver Fox Crescent is a semi detached house in Woodley. We have worked for the owners on three separate projects over several years, each with its own drawings and application to Wokingham Borough Council.
Side extension and rear canopy
The first scheme extended the house to the side and added a canopy across the rear, finished in brickwork and tiles to match the house. The floor plans, elevations and site plan were revised once to refine the roof and the canopy before submission.
Single storey rear extension
Some years later the owners asked us to replace the old conservatory with a single storey rear extension built to last, with a roof designed to sit below the first floor windows. The drawings were supported by a biodiversity statement and CIL form, and we later prepared the building regulations drawings.
Certificate of lawfulness for a home office
The owner runs a small taxi business and wanted certainty that taking bookings from a first floor study did not need planning permission. Our planning statement explained that the room would be used by one person for calls and managing bookings, and that the house would remain the family home. On that basis the use is incidental to the house and does not amount to development under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, so the application asked the council to confirm it under section 192.
Why the certificate helped
A certificate of lawfulness gives a legal confirmation that a use or development does not need planning permission. For a small business run from home, it removes any doubt if neighbours raise questions or if the house is sold, because the decision is recorded by the council. The application needed only the existing and proposed first floor plans, photographs of the study and a short planning statement setting out the legal tests and the facts of the use.
Constraints we checked
Across the three projects we checked the effect on the attached neighbour under Core Strategy policy CP3 and the Wokingham Borough Design Guide SPD, parking on the drive, and the council's bat and biodiversity requirements.
