Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted & Downswood homes — designed to stay ancillary to the main house rather than become a separate dwelling, drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Maidstone Borough Council granted 91% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 4 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Bearsted & Downswood contains Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension conservation areas (Bearsted Extension designated 2000), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. Bearsted & Downswood carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension and Bearsted Extension remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bearsted & Downswood is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2000), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted, Holy Cross Church (conservation area designated in 1992), Bearsted, Village Green (conservation area designated in 1974), Bearsted (civil parish within Bearsted & Downswood) and Downswood (civil parish within Bearsted & Downswood) — these are the Bearsted & Downswood pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension, Bearsted, Holy Cross Church and Bearsted, Village Green. Maidstone Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Maidstone local plan and Maidstone Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 4,190 homes here are 35% 1965-1972, 17% 1983-1992, 10% 1930-1939, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is shallow-pitched roofs and integral garages typical of that period's building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building, over late-1960s and early-1970s houses (35% of 4,190 homes), 1980s estate houses (17%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (10%).
What is permitted in Bearsted & Downswood turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2000), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted Extension (conservation area designated in 2025), Bearsted, Holy Cross Church (conservation area designated in 1992) and Bearsted, Village Green (conservation area designated in 1974). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Maidstone Borough 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, Bearsted & Downswood takes in Bearsted and Downswood. Maidstone Borough Council has 84 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Bearsted & Downswood.
On stock, Bearsted & Downswood is late-1960s and early-1970s houses (35% of 4,190 homes), 1980s estate houses (17%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (10%) — which is why shallow-pitched roofs and integral garages typical of that period's building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Maidstone Borough Council decided 536 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 91%, with 81% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Bearsted & Downswood runs pre-1900 5% (230 homes), 1900-1918 1% (30 homes), 1919-1929 4% (180 homes), 1930-1939 10% (410 homes), 1945-1954 5% (210 homes), 1955-1964 6% (270 homes), 1965-1972 35% (1,480 homes), 1973-1982 5% (230 homes), 1983-1992 17% (710 homes), 1993-1999 3% (140 homes) and 2000-2008 4% (160 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.
Maidstone Borough Council also decides for Barming Heath & Teston, Boxley Downs, Coxheath & Farleigh, High Street, Leeds & Langley, Loose & Linton, Marden & Yalding and Staplehurst, so a decision in Bearsted & Downswood 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 29 Albion Place, 62 Earl Street, 66 Earl Street and 70-72 King Street,. 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 Bearsted & Downswood and Maidstone Borough Council. These are the numbers that decide what is realistic on your street, so we work from them rather than from national averages.
| Measure | Bearsted & Downswood |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 4,190 |
| Built pre-1900 | 230 (5%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 30 (1%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 180 (4%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 410 (10%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 210 (5%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 270 (6%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 1,480 (35%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 230 (5%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 710 (17%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 140 (3%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 160 (4%) |
| Built before 1919 | 6% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 14% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 76% |
| Conservation areas in Bearsted & Downswood | 6 (Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 53 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 84 |
| Householder applications decided | 536 |
| Householder applications granted | 91% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 81% |
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 Maidstone Borough 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. Maidstone Borough 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.
Bearsted & Downswood is largely late-1960s and early-1970s houses (35% of 4,190 homes), 1980s estate houses (17%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (10%), 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 Bearsted & Downswood's conservation areas — including Bearsted Extension and Bearsted Extension — 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. Maidstone Borough Council has 84 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Bearsted & Downswood.
An annexe almost always needs an application to Maidstone Borough 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 Maidstone Borough Council has to test, rather than leaving the officer to assume the worst.
Below is Maidstone Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Maidstone Borough Council granted 91% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Bearsted Extension 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 Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension and Bearsted Extension, 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 late-1960s and early-1970s houses (35% of 4,190 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.
Bearsted & Downswood contains Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension, Bearsted Extension conservation areas (Bearsted Extension designated 2000), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal. Where Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood. A few of the areas where multigenerational schemes come up most often:
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted Extension — conservation area designated in 2000 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted Extension — conservation area designated in 2025 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted Extension — conservation area designated in 2025 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted Extension — conservation area designated in 2025 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted, Holy Cross Church — conservation area designated in 1992 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bearsted, Village Green — conservation area designated in 1974 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
Three similar buildings, three different consents. This is what separates them.
| What you build | Planning status | Key test | What Maidstone Borough 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 Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood.
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 Maidstone Borough Council's policies.
We submit the application with a supporting statement on use, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise free until Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood we prepare a full application to Maidstone Borough 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. Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood 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 Bearsted & Downswood, particularly near designated areas such as Bearsted Extension and Bearsted Extension. Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood address specifically. Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood address specifically. Maidstone Borough 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 Bearsted & Downswood address specifically. Maidstone Borough Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Bearsted & Downswood 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 Maidstone Borough Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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