Residential

Not always — many smaller extensions fall under permitted development rights, which allow you to extend without a full planning application provided strict limits on size, height and position are met. Those limits change if your home is in a conservation area, an AONB or the green belt, or if permitted development rights have been removed from your property. The safest first step is a check of your property's planning history and constraints — something we do at the start of every residential job.

Class Q is a permitted development right that allows certain agricultural buildings to be converted to homes without a full planning application, subject to a prior approval process covering matters such as structure, access, noise and flood risk. The rules are detailed and councils apply them carefully, so a well-prepared submission makes a real difference. See our Class Q barn conversion case study on this page.

Councils aim to decide householder applications within eight weeks of validation, though timescales vary with workload and whether issues arise during consultation. A complete, well-evidenced submission — accurate drawings, the right supporting statements, constraints addressed up front — gives the council fewer reasons to pause the clock.

Yes. We review the refusal reasons and advise honestly on the best route: a revised application that addresses the council's concerns, or an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate where we believe the decision is wrong. Clients have come to us after unsuccessful applications elsewhere and gone on to secure permission.

We are based near Harrogate and work throughout North Yorkshire, the East Riding and the wider Yorkshire region — including Harrogate, Knaresborough, York, Ripon, Skipton, Beverley and the surrounding districts.