Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Old Portsmouth homes — designed to stay ancillary to the main house rather than become a separate dwelling, drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Portsmouth City Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Old Portsmouth is the city's original walled settlement, so alterations are measured against surviving Georgian and pre-Georgian fabric, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) 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. Old Portsmouth carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Old Portsmouth is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
The Point (cobbled Spice Island lanes of historic cottages by the harbour mouth), High Street (Georgian town houses around the Cathedral), Broad Street (the narrow spine down to the Round Tower and Point), Grand Parade (formal Georgian frontages beside the fortifications), Gunwharf (the former ordnance yard, now waterfront apartments and quays) and Old Portsmouth Ramparts (houses set against the Hotwalls and sea defences) — these are the Old Portsmouth pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf. Portsmouth City Council weighs each proposal against the Portsmouth Local Plan and the council's Houses in Multiple Occupation SPD, where the tight historic street pattern leaves almost no room to extend outward, concentrating change on roofs and rear yards. Much of Gunwharf and parts of the old town are flats and apartment conversions, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched tile and slate roofs on the town houses and parapet roofs on the taller Georgian frontages, over Georgian and Georgian-revival town houses, historic cottages around The Point and waterfront apartment conversions.
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. Portsmouth City 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.
Old Portsmouth is largely Georgian and Georgian-revival town houses, historic cottages around The Point and waterfront apartment conversions, 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 Old Portsmouth's conservation areas — including Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf — 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. Portsmouth's city-wide Article 4 direction removes permitted-development rights for small HMO conversions here as well, and in the historic core of Old Portsmouth even minor external works are tightly controlled by conservation-area policy.
An annexe almost always needs an application to Portsmouth City 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 Portsmouth City Council has to test, rather than leaving the officer to assume the worst.
Below is Portsmouth City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Portsmouth approves a healthy share of householder work in Old Portsmouth, but the historic core's Georgian fabric and cramped plots make heritage sensitivity the decisive factor. 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.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Across The Point, High Street and Broad Street, 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 georgian and georgian-revival town houses, 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.
Old Portsmouth is the city's original walled settlement, so alterations are measured against surviving Georgian and pre-Georgian fabric. Where Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth. A few of the areas where multigenerational schemes come up most often:
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for The Point — cobbled Spice Island lanes of historic cottages by the harbour mouth — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for High Street — Georgian town houses around the Cathedral — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Broad Street — the narrow spine down to the Round Tower and Point — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Grand Parade — formal Georgian frontages beside the fortifications — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Gunwharf — the former ordnance yard, now waterfront apartments and quays — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Old Portsmouth Ramparts — houses set against the Hotwalls and sea defences — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Portsmouth City Council's policies.
Three similar buildings, three different consents. This is what separates them.
| What you build | Planning status | Key test | What Portsmouth City 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 Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth.
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 Portsmouth City Council's policies.
We submit the application with a supporting statement on use, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise free until Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth we prepare a full application to Portsmouth City 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. Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth 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 Old Portsmouth, particularly near designated areas such as Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf. Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth address specifically. Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth address specifically. Portsmouth City 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 Old Portsmouth address specifically. Portsmouth City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Old Portsmouth 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 Portsmouth City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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