Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-08-16 11:45:17 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

I'd be interested if anyone has more detail on this, particularly the
distance from the neighbour's boundary. My son is hoping to build
himself some kind of bunker/studio down the end of the garden.

Yes, I looked at that. If you want to avoid having to deal with the
bureaucrats, you have to look at both building regulations and planning
legislation. For the purposes of these, you can find enough
information on the web site of either your local authority's web site or
that of another.

I won't reproduce all of the factors here, but you have to look at:


- Permitted development rights for the property. Get the original
planning consent and see whether any specific limits have been set, or
defacto allowances removed. This will tell you whether or not you can
use the generic allowances which determine what proportion of the plot
can be built upon and the proportions in relation to the main house.

- Take a look at the Land Registry records and other documentation for
the property (colloquially known as the "deeds") and see whether there
are any specific covenants limiting what you can do

Assuming that those tests pass and you can use the generic rules, the
aspects to look at (again involving planning and building control) a


- Volume of the building

- Floor area

- Distance from any highway

- Distance from boundary. This one is supposed to be 1m, but in the
context of sheds is widely ignored.

- Height of the building. There is a 4m limit here to the apex of the
roof. This can be a determinant of floor area as well, although the
design of the building can help here. For example, one can have a
sloping roof with a low slope or a cabin with low pitch to the roof.


Unless he wants to build something massive, it should be possible to
stay inside the rules and not involve the jobsworths.


Thanks Andy. Duly e-mailed to said offspring. The idea is to move to a
house where this would be most feasible, so there aren't any specific
details as yet. However, I believe it involves a grand piano so I'm
staying out of it if I can.