Rear dormer drawings for Central roofs — the box across the back slope that turns a low attic into a full-height room, drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance and the volume limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Worthing Borough Council granted 94% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 7 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Central contains Chapel Road, Little High Street, Montague Street conservation areas (Chapel Road designated 1997), 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 Edwardian (1901–1910) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. Central carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Chapel Road, Little High Street and Montague Street remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Central is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Chapel Road (conservation area designated in 1997), Little High Street (conservation area designated in 1997), Montague Street (conservation area designated in 2000), Park Crescent (conservation area designated in 1975), Richmond Road (conservation area designated in 1997), South Street (conservation area designated in 2000), Steyne Gardens (conservation area designated in 2000) and Warwick Gardens (conservation area designated in 1985) — these are the Central pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Chapel Road, Little High Street, Montague Street, Park Crescent, Richmond Road, South Street, Steyne Gardens and Warwick Gardens. Worthing Borough Council weighs each proposal against Worthing Borough Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, where the 5,950 homes here are 37% pre-1900, 20% 1900-1918, 10% 2000-2008, 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 pitched and hipped roofs with generous eaves typical of Edwardian building, over Victorian and earlier houses (37% of 5,950 homes), Edwardian houses (20%) and 2000s houses and apartments (10%).
Central's designated heritage is specific, and it is the first thing we check against your address: Chapel Road (conservation area designated in 1997), Little High Street (conservation area designated in 1997), Montague Street (conservation area designated in 2000), Park Crescent (conservation area designated in 1975), Richmond Road (conservation area designated in 1997), South Street (conservation area designated in 2000), Steyne Gardens (conservation area designated in 2000) and Warwick Gardens (conservation area designated in 1985). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Worthing 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.
Worthing Borough Council has 8 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for rear and side extensions and roof enlargements such as dormers — check the address before assuming PD applies in Central.
On stock, Central is Victorian and earlier houses (37% of 5,950 homes), Edwardian houses (20%) and 2000s houses and apartments (10%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and pitched and hipped roofs with generous eaves typical of Edwardian building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Worthing Borough Council decided 302 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 94%, with 53% issued inside the eight-week target. Those are the numbers our drawings are prepared against.
The full build-period split for Central runs pre-1900 37% (2,180 homes), 1900-1918 20% (1,170 homes), 1919-1929 1% (80 homes), 1930-1939 3% (150 homes), 1955-1964 2% (120 homes), 1965-1972 3% (160 homes), 1973-1982 5% (320 homes), 1983-1992 7% (440 homes), 1993-1999 2% (110 homes) and 2000-2008 10% (600 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.
Worthing Borough Council also decides for Goring, Heene, Marine and Salvington, so a decision in Central 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 Ambrose Place, Church Road, Tarring, Cowper Road and Land West of The Plantation. 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 Central and Worthing 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 | Central |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 5,950 |
| Built pre-1900 | 2,180 (37%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 1,170 (20%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 80 (1%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 150 (3%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 120 (2%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 160 (3%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 320 (5%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 440 (7%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 110 (2%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 600 (10%) |
| Built before 1919 | 56% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 4% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 29% |
| Conservation areas in Central | 8 (Chapel Road, Little High Street…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 26 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 8 |
| Householder applications decided | 302 |
| Householder applications granted | 94% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 53% |
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 Worthing Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
The box dormer is the workhorse loft, and most of Central is built for it — the borough runs to Victorian and earlier houses (37% of 5,950 homes), Edwardian houses (20%) and 2000s houses and apartments (10%) under steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and pitched and hipped roofs with generous eaves typical of Edwardian building, and a flat-roofed box across the rear slope is the cheapest cubic metre of full-height space those roofs give up. Worthing Borough Council tests the dormer against Worthing Borough Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, 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. Central contains Chapel Road, Little High Street, Montague Street conservation areas (Chapel Road designated 1997), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so the cheeks, the window line and the material are drawn to answer it rather than invite a query.
Where Central's streets are protected — Chapel Road, Little High Street, Montague Street, Park Crescent, Richmond Road, South Street, Steyne Gardens and Warwick Gardens among them — the Class B dormer right is switched off and even a modest rear box needs consent. Worthing Borough Council has 8 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for rear and side extensions and roof enlargements such as dormers — check the address before assuming PD applies in Central. We confirm the designation before the box is sized.
Many rear dormers in Central are permitted development, but the volume and position decide it. You will normally need a full application to Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Worthing Borough Council granted 94% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Chapel Road shapes what is approved here. 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.
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Across Chapel Road, Little High Street and Montague Street, 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 steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building, this returns a full-height double and en-suite from what was standing-room-only, usually inside the permitted-development volume.
The 5,950 homes here are 37% pre-1900, 20% 1900-1918, 10% 2000-2008, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. 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 Worthing Borough 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 Central dormers come up most often:
Dormer loft drawings for Chapel Road's conservation area designated in 1997 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Little High Street's conservation area designated in 1997 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Montague Street's conservation area designated in 2000 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Park Crescent's conservation area designated in 1975 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Richmond Road's conservation area designated in 1997 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for South Street's conservation area designated in 2000 — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Whether a dormer in Central 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 Worthing Borough 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 Chapel Road and Little High Street, Class B dormer rights are removed and every dormer needs a full application.
A fixed process built around how Worthing Borough Council validates and decides dormer applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Central 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 Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough Council's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Worthing Borough 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 Central you will need a full application to Worthing Borough Council for a front or side dormer, a box that exceeds the volume, and any dormer in a conservation area such as Chapel Road and Little High Street, 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 Central 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. Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough 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 Central 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 Worthing Borough 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 Central address specifically.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from Worthing Borough 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 Central address specifically.
We price each Central 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 Worthing Borough Council approves, and we confirm at the outset whether your box is permitted development or needs an application. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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