
Rear dormer drawings for Allesley roofs — the box across the back slope that turns a low attic into a full-height room, drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance and the volume limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Coventry City Council granted 86% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point below the 87% England-wide householder average. The Coundon Wedge green belt around the village strictly limits new building and larger replacement dwellings on the rural edge, 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.
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 Allesley Village and Brownshill Green those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Allesley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Allesley Village (a conservation area of cottages and a medieval church core designated in 1968), Brownshill Green (a small conservation area of rural-edge cottages to the north), Allesley Park (post-war and 1960s suburban housing south of the village), Allesley Green (later detached and semi-detached estates toward the A45), Coundon Wedge (green-belt farmland separating the village from the built-up city) and Eastern Green fringe (interwar and post-war semis on the western edge) — these are the Allesley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Allesley Village and Brownshill Green. Coventry City Council weighs each proposal against the Coventry Local Plan (2017), where the Allesley Village conservation area protects its cottage scale, materials and church setting in fine grain. On roofs the borough is steep tiled and part-thatched roofs on the village cottages and hipped roofs on the interwar and post-war semis and detached homes, over historic village cottages and farmhouses, 1930s interwar semi-detached houses and post-war and later suburban detached homes.
The box dormer is the workhorse loft, and most of Allesley is built for it — the borough runs to historic village cottages and farmhouses, 1930s interwar semi-detached houses and post-war and later suburban detached homes under steep tiled and part-thatched roofs on the village cottages and hipped roofs on the interwar and post-war semis and detached homes, and a flat-roofed box across the rear slope is the cheapest cubic metre of full-height space those roofs give up. Coventry City Council tests the dormer against the Coventry Local Plan (2017), and because permitted development turns on a number, the volume you propose against the volume you have left is the first thing an officer or a certificate checks.
That is why the arithmetic goes on the drawings. We calculate the box against the 40- or 50-cubic-metre allowance, count any earlier roof enlargement into the total, hold the flat roof below the ridge and set the face back off the eaves so the dormer reads as subordinate. The Coundon Wedge green belt around the village strictly limits new building and larger replacement dwellings on the rural edge, so the cheeks, the window line and the material are drawn to answer it rather than invite a query.
Where Allesley's streets are protected — Allesley Village and Brownshill Green among them — the Class B dormer right is switched off and even a modest rear box needs consent. Allesley (Bablake ward) sits outside the wards named in Coventry's citywide HMO Article 4 direction, so the usual householder permitted-development rights still apply — though works within the Allesley Village and Brownshill Green conservation areas remain controlled. We confirm the designation before the box is sized.

Many rear dormers in Allesley are permitted development, but the volume and position decide it. You will normally need a full application to Coventry City Council if any of these apply:
We draw the box within its volume allowance, the flat roof below the ridge and the face set back off the eaves — the three things a dormer stands or falls on — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate or a full householder application.
Below is Coventry City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Allesley approves most householder schemes, but the green-belt Coundon Wedge and the tightly-protected village conservation area are what constrain scale and siting on the rural edge. A dormer is decided on volume and set-back, so a pack that shows the calculation and the eaves detail is cleared faster and refused less often than a DIY submission.
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 Allesley Village, Brownshill Green and Allesley Park, the dormer that goes through is the subordinate rear box: flat roof kept low, cheeks clad to recede, side windows obscure-glazed against overlooking, and the whole thing set back so the original eaves line still reads from the garden. On steep tiled and part-thatched roofs on the village cottages, this returns a full-height double and en-suite from what was standing-room-only, usually inside the permitted-development volume.
The Allesley Village conservation area protects its cottage scale, materials and church setting in fine grain. We keep the box off the ridge, match the cheek material to the roof, and where the volume is already spent — or the street is designated — draw the dormer as a householder application composed to Coventry City Council's roof-alteration guidance rather than push a certificate that would be refused.

We draw rear dormers on the terraced and semi-detached streets across the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Allesley dormers come up most often:
Dormer loft drawings for Allesley Village's a conservation area of cottages and a medieval church core designated in 1968 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Brownshill Green's a small conservation area of rural-edge cottages to the north — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Allesley Park's post-war and 1960s suburban housing south of the village — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Allesley Green's later detached and semi-detached estates toward the A45 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Coundon Wedge's green-belt farmland separating the village from the built-up city — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Eastern Green fringe's interwar and post-war semis on the western edge — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Whether a dormer in Allesley needs permission comes down to where it sits and how big the box is. This is how the cases compare.
| Dormer type | Permitted development? | What it gains | What Coventry City Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear box, within volume | Usually yes | Full-height room across the back | Volume total, 20cm eaves set-back |
| Rear box, over volume limit | No — full application | A larger room | How far over the allowance, bulk |
| Front or side dormer | No — full application | Light to the front rooms | Visibility from the street, character |
| Dormer in a conservation area | No — full application | Same space, extra scrutiny | Roof form and street appearance |
In conservation areas such as Allesley Village and Brownshill Green, Class B dormer rights are removed and every dormer needs a full application.
A fixed process built around how Coventry City Council validates and decides dormer applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Allesley postcode and roof type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, work out how much permitted-development volume you have left, and score your odds against live Coventry City Council decisions.
We measure ridge and eaves heights, roof pitch and the existing loft floor — the numbers the volume calculation, the set-back and the head heights depend on.
Chartered designers develop the box to your brief, drawn inside the Class B volume limits or, where those are exhausted or removed, to Coventry City Council's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Coventry City Council issues its decision.
Often not. A rear box dormer within 40 cubic metres on a terrace, or 50 on a semi or detached house, set back at least 20 centimetres from the eaves and kept below the ridge, is usually permitted development. In Allesley you will need a full application to Coventry City Council for a front or side dormer, a box that exceeds the volume, and any dormer in a conservation area such as Allesley Village and Brownshill Green, where those rights are removed.
The permitted-development limit is a volume, not a footprint: 40 cubic metres of added roof space on a terraced house and 50 on a semi-detached or detached one, and any earlier loft enlargement counts against that total. In Allesley the box must also sit below the ridge and back from the eaves. We measure your roof and calculate the exact volume you have left before drawing. Coventry City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development. A dormer on the front roof slope, or one facing a highway, always needs a full application to Coventry City Council, because it changes how the house reads from the street. Rear box dormers are far more likely to be approved — or to be permitted development outright — which is why almost every Allesley dormer we draw sits on the back slope.
Often, on a terrace or semi. If the dormer or the loft steelwork meets the party wall with your neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act applies and notice must be served before work starts — separately from Coventry City Council's planning decision. We flag the party-wall junction on the drawings so a surveyor can be appointed early and the build is not held up. This applies to your Allesley address specifically.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from Coventry City Council is council-stamped proof of it — worth holding, because a buyer's solicitor will ask for it when you sell. We prepare and submit the certificate with the same measured drawing pack that shows the box within its volume allowance. This applies to your Allesley address specifically.
We price each Allesley dormer individually, because the roof pitch and the volume left vary house to house, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Coventry City Council approves, and we confirm at the outset whether your box is permitted development or needs an application. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.