Last year my husband and I bought a new house in Hertfordshire. It is a small house in the middle of a huge piece of land and our plan was to expand it.
We have five children and there really isn’t room for everyone if we can’t create more space.
The council rejected our application and said we can’t extend it at all because it is in the green belt and has already been extended too much in the past.
I know the green belt prevents new houses from being built in the countryside, but are they right that we can’t extend our cottage? GL (via email)
Green belts are known to be areas where large new home developments cannot be built.
MailOnline property expert Myra Butterworth answers: Most people understand that you cannot build new houses in green areas.
However, what is less known is that green belts also place strong restrictions on extensions to existing homes.
And it is these restrictions that you seem to have run into. We spoke to a planning expert about his take on the council’s decision and what his options are going forward.
Martin Gaine, chartered urban planner, explains: Green belts were introduced by the Government immediately after the Second World War as part of the modern planning system.
They were conceived as rings around existing towns and cities in which nothing would be built, so developers were encouraged to build within the towns rather than allowing them to spread endlessly into the countryside.
Martin Gaine is a chartered urban planner.
So far everything is sensible, but green belts have grown steadily over the years. The first green belt surrounded London and has now expanded to be three times the size of the city itself.
England’s 14 green belts cover approximately 1,638,420 hectares and around 13 per cent of the total land area.
Of course, when green belts were created, towns, hamlets and individual houses already existed on the land they covered.
Green belts are generally understood to prevent the construction of new homes, but many people don’t realize that they also place strong restrictions on extensions to existing ones.
This seems crazy to me: if a house already exists, it should be allowed to extend it (within the usual planning limits); Enlarging existing houses does not cause uncontrolled urban sprawl as entire newly built developments do.
National planning policies
The Government’s national planning policies say extensions are allowed where they are not “disproportionate”.
However, they do not explain what they mean by this. Individual councils have introduced their own definitions and it is common for them to say that a house should not be extended by more than, say, 40 per cent of the size of the original house.
It is common for councils to say that a house should not be extended by more than 40 per cent, say, of the size of the original house.
The key word is “original.” If you buy a house that was extended some time ago, perhaps decades ago, the council may simply not allow it to be extended any further, under any circumstances.
In your case, if the council is right that the house has already been significantly extended and those extensions exceed the limits of your local policy, then I’m afraid you are deadlocked.
You can appeal any building permit denial, but you will not be successful on appeal if your proposal directly contravenes the green belt policy.
You can appeal any building permit denial, but you will not be successful on appeal if your proposal directly contravenes the green belt policy.
An alternative for the extension of the green belt
There is an alternative: houses in the green belt have the same permitted development rights as other houses.
Permitted development rights allow you to extend without needing any planning permission. They allow extension towards the side and rear at ground floor level, towards the rear at first floor level and towards the side and rear at roof level.
There are also generous entitlements for outbuildings, including summer houses, storage rooms, home offices and gyms.
Explore those rights as an alternative to a full planning application. Permitted development rights are subject to several limitations, so you don’t always get exactly what you want, but with a bit of luck, they may give you some of the extra space you need.
Martin Gaine is a chartered urban planner. and author of ‘How to get planning permission: secrets from an expert’