Planning permission guidance (homeowners)

Please check the Planning Portal website to find out whether you need planning permission.

You may also need building control approval and other types of consent.

Permitted development

Some alterations to your home might not need planning permission.

This is known as 'permitted development'.

It means you won't need planning permission for some works, as long as it is within certain limits and conditions.

Examples include:

• Extensions
• Dormer windows / roof alterations
• Outbuildings
• Hard surfaces / decking
• Fences, walls, railings or gates (known as boundary treatments)
• Solar panels

You should still check the Planning Portal website to find out whether you need permission before going ahead.

Apartments, maisonettes and flats (including 'Tyneside flats') do not have the same permitted development rights as houses.

The Council also has the power to withdraw permitted development rights, if:

• extensions or alterations could have a negative impact on neighbours, see properties that have had development rights removed
• the character of an area would be threatened by permitted developments, known as 'Article 4 restrictions'

Article 4 restrictions

See Article 4 restrictions.

We recommend that you use the Planning Portal to check if you need planning permission first.

Householder Enquiry Service

You can use the Council's Householder Enquiry Service to check:

• if your proposal can be carried out as a permitted development
• if you need to follow the neighbour consultation scheme for larger single storey rear extensions (which cannot be used retrospectively), or
• if you would need to apply for planning permission

The service costs £50 (price includes VAT).

What the service will not do

You can not use the Householder Enquiry Service if work has already started or been completed.

It does not provide advice about:

• The acceptability of a proposal, if it needs planning permission, or how to change it so that it would be a permitted development
• Working from home, see Planning Portal: Working from home
• If you need specific advice about an unusual or complex householder development, see Check if you need planning permission (businesses and commercial developments).

Confidentiality

Requests for advice may be made publicly available for Freedom of Information or Environmental Information Regulations requests.

Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

How to apply

1. Complete the Household planning enquiry form
2. Send your completed form: 
   • by email to planningapplications@southtyneside.gov.uk
   • by post to Development Management (Planning), South Tyneside Council, Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2RL
3. Pay the fee:
   • by debit card - call us on 0191 424 7440
   • by cheque - make payable to South Tyneside Council and send it with your form

We aim to reply within 28 days, from the date we get your form and payment.

Lawful development certificate

You may choose to apply for a lawful development certificate.

This is not the same as planning permission, but can be used to get proof that your household building work is lawful for planning purposes.

For example, to prove that the work can be carried out as a permitted development.

See:

• Planning Portal: Lawful Development Certificates
• GOV.UK: Lawful development certificates

If your development is not permitted development, or if your property does not have permitted development rights, you will need planning permission.

See how to apply for planning permission.

We aim to determine householder applications and minor planning applications, for example new shop fronts or small commercial extensions, within eight weeks.

Even if you do not need planning permission or building regulation approval, you might need some other form of consent from the Council. 

This might include:

• Consent for dropped kerbs and crossovers
• Listed building consent
• Demolition in a conservation area
• Tree Preservation Orders

You may also need to deal with other private interests before you start work, such as:

• A release of a covenant, which may be included in your properties deeds
• Permission from any relevant land owner, this may even include something as simple as eaves and guttering overhanging a boundary
• If you want to carry out any building work near or on your shared property boundary, or 'party wall'. See GOV.UK: Party walls