Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Bexley homes — measured to Bexley Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Bexley Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), 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. Bexley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bexley Village, Danson Park and Upton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bexley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Old Bexley (the historic village strung along Bexley High Street), Bexleyheath (interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area), Sidcup (1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray), Erith (riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames), Crayford (Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge) and Welling (dense interwar semi-detached suburbs) — these are the Bexley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray. Bexley Council weighs each proposal against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, where hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar and postwar semis and gabled roofs on the detached houses, over interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces.
Bexley homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces, so a Victorian terrace usually wants a rear or side-return infill, while an interwar semi has room for a wider single-storey wrap or a two-storey side addition. Bexley Council judges every one of them against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, weighing footprint, height and the impact on the house next door before it looks at the elevations.
That is why the drawings decide the outcome. We set the extension depth against the permitted-development limits precisely, keep the eaves and ridge within the allowances, and plot the 45-degree daylight lines to the neighbours' windows so the case officer can see the amenity test is passed. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Bexley also protects whole streets — Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray among them. Bexley applies Article 4 directions in conservation areas such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, and parts of the borough fall within Metropolitan Green Belt where extensions are firmly restricted. On designated land the larger-home extension route and most side extensions stop being permitted development, so we confirm your address against those layers before drawing a line.
Plenty of Bexley extensions are permitted development and need no planning application — a single-storey rear extension within the depth and height limits is the common case. You will normally need to apply to Bexley Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Bexley Council's officers weigh first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a prior-approval notification or a full householder application.
Below is Bexley Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Bexley approves a strong majority of householder applications, with Metropolitan Green Belt on its edges and the symmetry of paired suburban semis the main factors shaping approvals. A complete, policy-literate extension pack anticipates those pressure points before submission, which is why professionally drawn applications are decided faster and refused less often than DIY ones.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). 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 Old Bexley, Bexleyheath and Sidcup, the extension that lands most often is the single-storey rear addition — a glazed kitchen-diner across the back of the house, kept within the permitted-development depth or taken to a full application where the ground floor wants more. On the borough's interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider riverside and victorian terraces, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
Hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. We size the extension to the amenity and daylight tests, match the roof and materials to the host house, and keep enough garden to satisfy Bexley Council's space standards — so the scheme answers the borough's questions before an objection can raise them. Where permitted-development rights are used up or removed, we prepare the householder application to the council's extension design guidance instead.
We draw extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Bexley projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Old Bexley's the historic village strung along Bexley High Street — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Bexleyheath's interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Sidcup's 1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Erith's riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Crayford's Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Welling's dense interwar semi-detached suburbs — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
The right extension in Bexley depends on your house type and how much garden you can give up. This is how the main options compare on planning route and what they add.
| Extension type | Permitted development? | What it adds | What Bexley Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-storey rear | Often, within 3m/4m depth (6m/8m via prior approval) | Bigger kitchen-diner across the back | Depth, height, neighbour daylight (45°) |
| Side-return infill | Sometimes, if within width and height limits | Squares off an L-shaped ground floor | Width vs the original house, glazing to boundary |
| Two-storey rear/side | No — full application | Extra bedroom or bathroom above | Bulk, overlooking, 7m rear-boundary gap |
| Wraparound (rear + side) | No — full application | Whole-width open-plan ground floor | Combined footprint and garden retained |
Route depends on your street — conservation areas such as Bexley Village and Danson Park and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Bexley Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Bexley postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much permitted-development depth you have left, and score your odds against live Bexley Council decisions.
We measure the existing footprint, floor and eaves levels, boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limits and daylight tests depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single-storey, two-storey or side extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to Bexley Council's extension design guidance.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Bexley Council issues its decision.
Not always. A single-storey rear extension up to 3 metres deep on a terrace or semi, or 4 metres on a detached house, and no higher than 4 metres, is usually permitted development. In Bexley you will need to apply to Bexley Council for two-storey extensions, side extensions wider than half the house, anything forward of the front wall, deeper rear extensions under the larger-home prior-approval route, and any extension in a conservation area such as Bexley Village and Danson Park.
Standard permitted development allows 3 metres on a terraced or semi-detached house and 4 metres on a detached one. The larger-home extension scheme can double that to 6 or 8 metres, but it needs a prior-approval notification to Bexley Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Bexley's conservation areas. We confirm which route your property qualifies for before drawing.
Two-storey and double-storey extensions almost always need a full householder application to Bexley Council, because they fall outside permitted development on most homes. The council looks closely at bulk, overlooking of neighbours and the 7-metre gap a two-storey rear extension must keep from the rear boundary. We design to those tests and show the daylight and privacy angles on the drawings.
A householder planning application in Bexley runs to a statutory eight-week target, a larger-home prior-approval notification to around six weeks including the neighbour-consultation period, and a lawful development certificate to eight weeks. Incomplete submissions stall at validation, so we submit a complete pack and manage officer queries to keep the decision on schedule. Bexley Council is the decision-maker.
Yes — planning permission and building regulations are separate consents, and almost every extension needs both. Planning governs whether you can build it; building control governs how it is built, covering structure, insulation, drainage and fire safety. We prepare the building-regulations drawings alongside the planning set so Bexley Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Bexley extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Bexley Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your extension qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to get started.
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.