Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Alconbury homes — designed to stay ancillary to the main house rather than become a separate dwelling, drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Huntingdonshire District Council granted 95% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 8 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Alconbury contains ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON, Easton conservation areas (ALCONBURY designated 1977), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. Alconbury carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON and Easton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Alconbury is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
ALCONBURY (conservation area designated in 1977), ALCONBURY WESTON (designated conservation area), Easton (designated conservation area), Spaldwick (designated conservation area), Alconbury Weston (civil parish within Alconbury), Barham and Woolley (civil parish within Alconbury), Buckworth (civil parish within Alconbury), Easton (civil parish within Alconbury), Upton and Coppingford (civil parish within Alconbury) and Winwick (civil parish within Alconbury) — these are the Alconbury pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON, Easton and Spaldwick. Huntingdonshire District Council weighs each proposal against Huntingdonshire District Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, where the 1,290 homes here are 25% 1973-1982, 16% 1993-1999, 15% pre-1900, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1990s building, over 1970s and early-1980s houses (25% of 1,290 homes), 1990s estate houses (16%) and Victorian and earlier houses (15%).
Before anything is drawn we check your address against the designations that apply in Alconbury: ALCONBURY (conservation area designated in 1977), ALCONBURY WESTON (designated conservation area), Easton (designated conservation area) and Spaldwick (designated conservation area). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Huntingdonshire District Council assesses materials, window detail and roof form against the area's own appraisal, so a scheme that would be waved through two streets away can need a full application here.
Beyond the designated areas, Alconbury takes in Alconbury Weston, Barham and Woolley, Buckworth, Easton, Upton and Coppingford and Winwick. Huntingdonshire District Council has 6 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for painting the exterior — check the address before assuming PD applies in Alconbury.
On stock, Alconbury is 1970s and early-1980s houses (25% of 1,290 homes), 1990s estate houses (16%) and Victorian and earlier houses (15%) — which is why shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1990s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Huntingdonshire District Council decided 512 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 95%, with 55% issued inside the eight-week target. That decision record, not a national figure, is what we design to.
The full build-period split for Alconbury runs pre-1900 15% (190 homes), 1900-1918 1% (10 homes), 1919-1929 2% (30 homes), 1930-1939 2% (20 homes), 1945-1954 5% (60 homes), 1955-1964 4% (50 homes), 1965-1972 12% (160 homes), 1973-1982 25% (320 homes), 1983-1992 8% (100 homes), 1993-1999 16% (210 homes) and 2000-2008 5% (70 homes). That distribution is why pre-1900 detailing dominates the drawings here, and it is measured from council-tax records rather than assumed from the street name.
Huntingdonshire District Council also decides for Brampton, Buckden, Fenstanton, Great Paxton, Great Staughton, Huntingdon East, Huntingdon North and Kimbolton, so a decision in Alconbury sits inside a wider pattern of decisions we track across the same authority — useful when an officer cites a precedent from the next area over.
The Article 4 directions recorded for this council include 1 Galley Hill, Hemingford Grey, Poultry Houses, High Bank, Hill View, Spaldwick Road, Stow Longa, Land East Of Crosshall Road, St Neots and Oundle Road, Alwalton. Each removes a specific permitted-development right inside its own boundary, which is why the check is done on the address rather than on the town.
Published figures for Alconbury and Huntingdonshire District Council. These are the numbers that decide what is realistic on your street, so we work from them rather than from national averages.
| Measure | Alconbury |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 1,290 |
| Built pre-1900 | 190 (15%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 10 (1%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 30 (2%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 20 (2%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 60 (5%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 50 (4%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 160 (12%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 320 (25%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 100 (8%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 210 (16%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 70 (5%) |
| Built before 1919 | 16% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 4% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 75% |
| Conservation areas in Alconbury | 4 (ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 59 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 6 |
| Householder applications decided | 512 |
| Householder applications granted | 95% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 55% |
Dwelling stock from VOA council-tax data at 31 March 2025; conservation-area and Article 4 counts from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG); decision figures are Huntingdonshire District Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
Councils do not decide annexes on square metres. They decide whether, once built, the accommodation forms part of one planning unit with the main house or a second one beside it. Huntingdonshire District Council looks at whether the garden is shared or divided, whether the annexe has its own street access and address, whether the occupier could live there entirely independently, and whether the two households would function as one. That is the whole case, and it is made or lost on the layout.
Alconbury is largely 1970s and early-1980s houses (25% of 1,290 homes), 1990s estate houses (16%) and Victorian and earlier houses (15%), which shapes the realistic options: converting part of the existing house, extending it, or building a detached unit in the garden. A detached annexe can sometimes sit under Class E as an outbuilding incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse — but sleeping accommodation is generally not "incidental", so a garden annexe with a bedroom usually needs its own permission rather than relying on outbuilding rights.
In Alconbury's conservation areas — including ALCONBURY and ALCONBURY WESTON — a garden building is also judged on its effect on the character of the area, which limits height and footprint before the use question is reached. Huntingdonshire District Council has 6 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for painting the exterior — check the address before assuming PD applies in Alconbury.
An annexe almost always needs an application to Huntingdonshire District Council. Expect one where any of these apply:
We plan the annexe so its relationship to the main house is visible on the page — shared garden, connected access, a layout that reads as one household — and set out the case Huntingdonshire District Council has to test, rather than leaving the officer to assume the worst.
Below is Huntingdonshire District Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Huntingdonshire District Council granted 95% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and ALCONBURY shapes what is approved here. Annexe applications are decided on use as much as design, so the supporting case matters as much as the elevations.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
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Across ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON and Easton, the annexes that succeed keep one shared garden, take access past the main house rather than from the street, and are modest against the host building — single storey where the plot is overlooked, and set back from boundaries. On 1970s and early-1980s houses (25% of 1,290 homes), converting an integral garage or a rear ground floor is often approved more readily than a detached garden unit, because the ancillary relationship is self-evident.
Alconbury contains ALCONBURY, ALCONBURY WESTON, Easton conservation areas (ALCONBURY designated 1977), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal. Where Huntingdonshire District Council grants permission, it commonly attaches a condition tying occupation of the annexe to the main dwelling. That condition is not a problem to be avoided — it is usually the mechanism that makes approval possible, and we draft the application on that basis rather than pretending the annexe is something it is not.
We draw annexes across Alconbury. A few of the areas where multigenerational schemes come up most often:
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for ALCONBURY — conservation area designated in 1977 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for ALCONBURY WESTON — designated conservation area — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Easton — designated conservation area — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Spaldwick — designated conservation area — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Alconbury Weston — civil parish within Alconbury — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Barham and Woolley — civil parish within Alconbury — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
Three similar buildings, three different consents. This is what separates them.
| What you build | Planning status | Key test | What Huntingdonshire District Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden room, no sleeping space | Often Class E permitted development | Incidental to the house | Height, footprint, boundary position |
| Annexe used by the household | Full application, usually with a tie condition | Ancillary use | Shared garden and access, layout |
| Self-contained unit, own access | New dwelling — full application | Separate planning unit | Policy on new homes, amenity, parking |
| Converted garage or ground floor | Often permitted, use still assessed | Whether use changes | Independence of the accommodation |
| Annexe on designated land | Full application | Designation | Character and appearance |
The ancillary/separate-dwelling distinction comes from section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; outbuilding limits from the GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class E.
A fixed process built around how Huntingdonshire District Council tests the use question as well as the design.
Tell us who the annexe is for and where it would sit on the plot. We confirm designation status and tell you honestly whether the scheme reads as ancillary or as a separate dwelling in Alconbury.
We measure the plot, the existing house and the access route, so the shared-garden and shared-access case can be drawn rather than asserted.
Chartered designers develop the annexe to your brief, with the layout, access and garden relationship arranged to support the ancillary case under Huntingdonshire District Council's policies.
We submit the application with a supporting statement on use, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise free until Huntingdonshire District Council decides.
Almost always. Sleeping accommodation is generally not "incidental" to the enjoyment of a house, so it falls outside the outbuilding permitted-development right, and any annexe that could function independently raises a change-of-use question under section 55. In Alconbury we prepare a full application to Huntingdonshire District Council and make the ancillary case explicitly rather than hoping it is not asked.
A shared garden rather than a divided one, access through the main property rather than a separate street entrance, occupation by a member of the same household, and a physical and functional relationship with the main house. Huntingdonshire District Council weighs those together — no single feature decides it, but a separate front door and a fenced-off garden together usually settle it against you. This applies to your Alconbury address specifically.
Yes, subject to permission. A detached garden annexe is assessed on its scale against the plot, its effect on neighbours and the character of the area, and then on the use question. Keeping it single storey, set in from boundaries and served off the shared garden gives it the best prospect in Alconbury, particularly near designated areas such as ALCONBURY and ALCONBURY WESTON. Huntingdonshire District Council is the decision-maker.
Commonly, yes — a condition tying occupation of the annexe to the main dwelling, so it cannot be sold or let separately. That is normally what makes approval possible, because it removes the concern that a new independent home is being created without going through housing policy. The condition runs with the land, so it matters at resale, and we explain the implications before you commit. This applies to your Alconbury address specifically. Huntingdonshire District Council is the decision-maker.
Yes. A new annexe is new habitable accommodation, so structure, fire escape, insulation and ventilation all apply, and a detached annexe close to a boundary raises fire-spread requirements as well. Planning and building control are separate consents with separate submissions — we prepare both so the approved design is the one that can actually be built. This applies to your Alconbury address specifically. Huntingdonshire District Council is the decision-maker.
A householder application runs to an eight-week statutory target; where the council treats the annexe as creating a new unit it becomes a minor application with a thirteen-week target instead. Which route applies depends on how the use is characterised, which is precisely why the ancillary case is worth making properly at the outset. This applies to your Alconbury address specifically. Huntingdonshire District Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Alconbury annexe individually, because plot, access and whether you are converting or building new all change the work, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack and supporting statement, with free revisions until Huntingdonshire District Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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