Planning Permission is the approval you will need to obtain from the Planning Section of your Local Authority before you can commence building work. Some types of work are exempt. When considering an application for Planning Permission the Local Authority concern themselves with matters such as the following in relation to your proposals:-

• Design and appearance
• Size in relation to your existing house/property
• Remaining garden ground
• Daylight
• Privacy (overlooking)
• Off street parking
• Vehicular access
• Refuse disposal arrangements
• Effects the proposals may have on the surrounding area and neighbours

When an application is being made, property and landowners who surround your land have to be formally notified that you have made the application - this is called "Neighbour Notification" and is carried out by the Local Authority. The neighbours have 14 days to visit the Local Authority offices where they can look at your plans (or they can be viewed online) and make any objections or observations they may have regarding your proposals. Any objections or observations must be on valid planning grounds to be considered by the Planning Authority. The Planning Section will usually only make contact if they have neighbour objections they are trying to resolve, or if they have any design suggestions or need additional information.

Having considered all aspects of the proposals and any objections or representations they may have received, the Local Authority normally try to give a decision within two months.

"Approval of matters specified in conditions" is the usual permission granted and you are normally given 5 years to START the work. All conditions attached to the Planning Permission must be strictly observed, and you must ensure the Planning section are properly notified before you start and on completion.

Do I require Planning Permission?

The following is provided as a guide only and if you feel your proposals may be exempt from requiring approval, confirmation should be obtained from the appropriate Local Authority Department. If your proposals are exempt from requiring Planning Permission this does not mean you are exempt from requiring a Building Warrant and vice versa.

As a rough guide you will require Planning Permission for the following types of work:-

• All work carried out on Listed Buildings or properties in a Conservation Area.
• All work carried out to Flats.
• The formation of roof dormers will always require Planning Permission with the exception of the installation of roof windows ("Velux" or similar) - provided they do not project more than 100mm above the plane of the roof.
• Home extensions exceeding 24 square metres or 16 square metres for terraced houses (in making this calculation you have to include the floor area of any garages, extensions, porches etc. built after the original house was built),

OR, where they fall into one of the following categories:-

• Project beyond the building line of the house.
• Will be nearer a road (or public footpath) than the existing house.
• Will be more than 4m high if it is within 2m of any boundaries.
• Project above the ridge line of the house

A useful source of information/help is the organisation Planning Aid for Scotland (Click Here)