On 21st July 2020, the Government published further amendments to the Town and Country Planning GPDO, which allow upwards extension to certain existing properties.

Amendments to Part 1 of Schedule 2 Article 3, in effect, allow homeowners the ability to add up to two additional storeys to their home to create new homes, or more living space for growing families through a fast track approval process.

There are a number of conditions including the following;

• A maximum height limit of 18 metres for the newly extended house
• Where the house is in a terrace, its height cannot be more than 3.5 metres higher than the next tallest house in the terrace.
• Any new windows cannot be installed in a wall or roof slope of a side elevation of an additional storey built under this right.
• Houses within conservation areas, national parks and the Norfolk Broads, areas of outstanding natural beauty, or sites of special scientific interest and listed buildings are excluded from this new right.
• The right is subject to obtaining prior approval from the LPA

Article 4 of the same statutory instrument provides for four new PD rights allowing upward extensions which are as follows;

1. Class AA “which permits the construction of up to two new storeys of flats on top of detached buildings in commercial or mixed use, including where there is an element of residential use”
2. Class AB which permits the construction of new flats on top of terrace buildings (including semi-detached buildings) in commercial or mixed (including residential) use;
3. Class AC which “permits the construction of new flats on top of terrace dwellinghouses (including semi-detached houses)”;
4. Class AD which “permits the construction of new flats on top of detached dwellinghouses.

The new PD rights are subject to a number of limitations and conditions, including the following;

• A requirement for prior approval from the local planning authority in relation to certain matters.
• The new rights do not apply to buildings constructed before 1 July 1948 or after 5 March 2018.
• Conversions are not allowed if the floor to ceiling height of any additional storey, measured internally, would be lower than three metres or “the floor to ceiling height, measured internally, of any storey of the principal part” of the existing property.
• Properties within conservation areas, national parks and the Norfolk Broads, areas of outstanding natural beauty, or sites of special scientific interest and listed buildings are excluded from this new right.

The amendment can be found in full below: Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2020 The regulations, which have prompted a mixed reaction from the UK built environment professionals, came into effect on 31 August 2020,