Annexe and granny-flat drawings for St Matthew's homes — designed to stay ancillary to the main house rather than become a separate dwelling, drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. St Matthew's contains Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street conservation areas (Arboretum designated 1989), 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) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. In conservation areas such as Arboretum, Bradford Street and Bridge Street those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in St Matthew's is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Arboretum (conservation area designated in 1989), Bradford Street (conservation area designated in 1991), Bridge Street (conservation area designated in 1983), Caldmore Green (conservation area designated in 1987), Church Hill (conservation area designated in 1979), Highgate (conservation area designated in 1994), Lichfield Street (conservation area designated in 1988) and Old Rushall (conservation area designated in 1983) — these are the St Matthew's pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street, Caldmore Green, Church Hill, Highgate, Lichfield Street and Old Rushall. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Walsall local plan and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 6,790 homes here are 29% pre-1900, 15% 1955-1964, 11% 1965-1972, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building, over Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%).
Before anything is drawn we check your address against the designations that apply in St Matthew's: Arboretum (conservation area designated in 1989), Bradford Street (conservation area designated in 1991), Bridge Street (conservation area designated in 1983), Caldmore Green (conservation area designated in 1987), Church Hill (conservation area designated in 1979), Highgate (conservation area designated in 1994), Lichfield Street (conservation area designated in 1988) and Old Rushall (conservation area designated in 1983). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Walsall Metropolitan 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.
No Article 4 direction is recorded for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, but St Matthew's's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.
On stock, St Matthew's is Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council decided 486 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 89%, with 52% issued inside the eight-week target. That decision record, not a national figure, is what we design to.
The full build-period split for St Matthew's runs pre-1900 29% (1,980 homes), 1900-1918 3% (220 homes), 1919-1929 1% (50 homes), 1930-1939 3% (220 homes), 1945-1954 2% (150 homes), 1955-1964 15% (1,030 homes), 1965-1972 11% (720 homes), 1973-1982 9% (600 homes), 1983-1992 4% (240 homes), 1993-1999 7% (460 homes) and 2000-2008 7% (490 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.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council also decides for Bloxwich West and Pelsall, so a decision in St Matthew's 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.
Published figures for St Matthew's and Walsall Metropolitan 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 | St Matthew's |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 6,790 |
| Built pre-1900 | 1,980 (29%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 220 (3%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 50 (1%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 220 (3%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 150 (2%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 1,030 (15%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 720 (11%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 600 (9%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 240 (4%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 460 (7%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 490 (7%) |
| Built before 1919 | 32% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 4% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 54% |
| Conservation areas in St Matthew's | 8 (Arboretum, Bradford Street…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 18 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 0 |
| Householder applications decided | 486 |
| Householder applications granted | 89% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 52% |
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 Walsall Metropolitan 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. Walsall Metropolitan 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.
St Matthew's is largely Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%), 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 St Matthew's's conservation areas — including Arboretum and Bradford Street — 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. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, but St Matthew's's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.
An annexe almost always needs an application to Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council has to test, rather than leaving the officer to assume the worst.
Below is Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council granted 89% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Arboretum 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 Arboretum, Bradford Street and Bridge 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 victorian and earlier houses (29% of 6,790 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.
St Matthew's contains Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street conservation areas (Arboretum designated 1989), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal. Where Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's. A few of the areas where multigenerational schemes come up most often:
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Arboretum — conservation area designated in 1989 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bradford Street — conservation area designated in 1991 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Bridge Street — conservation area designated in 1983 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Caldmore Green — conservation area designated in 1987 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Church Hill — conservation area designated in 1979 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Annexe and granny-flat drawings for Highgate — conservation area designated in 1994 — planned to stay ancillary and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
Three similar buildings, three different consents. This is what separates them.
| What you build | Planning status | Key test | What Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's.
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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's policies.
We submit the application with a supporting statement on use, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise free until Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's we prepare a full application to Walsall Metropolitan 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. Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's 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 St Matthew's, particularly near designated areas such as Arboretum and Bradford Street. Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's address specifically. Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's address specifically. Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's address specifically. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each St Matthew's 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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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