Planning Permission

As a general rule The Posh Shed Company sheds would normally fall within the parameters of “permitted development” and would not require a planning application.  There is a link below to the Government’s Planning Portal, which contains more details.  It is the responsibility of the customer to check that a planning application is not required, especially as there may be local differences, and permitted development rights can be withdrawn in certain areas or sometimes on new build properties. 

In general, the planning guidelines are:

• The posh shed must be less than 4 metres high to the top of a ridged roof if it is to be beyond 2 metres from a boundary. If it has a single pitch roof the maximum height should be 3 metres.
• The posh shed must have a maximum height of 2.5 metres high if within 2 metres from the boundary.
• The posh shed must not be sited forward of the dwelling.
• If your dwelling is in a conservation area, then the posh shed cannot be sited to the side of your house.
• If your dwelling is within a National Park, an AONB, The Broads or a World Heritage Site, then the total area of outbuildings and structures more than 20 metres from the dwelling cannot exceed 10 square metres in area. 
• If the posh shed is to be sited within the curtilage of a listed building, planning permission will be required.

A quick phone call to the local planning department should clarify the situation It is also possible to apply to your local planning authority for a Lawful Development Certificate.  This is a formal decision that a structure does not require planning permission.  It’s not compulsory but can act as peace of mind. 

If possible, we are generally able to produce designs that will not need planning permission.

The starting point would be to discuss with the planners either over the phone or in person what you are proposing to do; this can be done with a sketch or image of a similar product, taken from our website. After this discussion, you will have a feel for what will be required in the design from the planner’s point of view to remove the need for planning permission and can then either modify your plans to fall within that or go through the planning process.

In our experience planning permission is generally granted on reasonable structures and so although the process can seem daunting if you have a specific idea in your head that you want to see through the process is straight forward and we are very happy to help.

The actual process is managed by yourself as you are ‘the customer’ of your local planning authority, and you will find it easier to have an informal discussion with them.

The planning process will include filling out a form which is submitted together with several key documents:

• Drawings of the proposed structure to a specific sale
• Details of the materials to be used within the structure
• Plan views of the location of the structure within your plot

The drawings that we generally provide give a good idea of how the posh shed will look when it is constructed, but are sketches and do not provide the detail of information that the planning department require for the application of planning.

Further information can be found at the government planning portal.