Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Canterbury homes — measured to Canterbury City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Canterbury City Council granted 97% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 10 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Canterbury contains 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995, ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ) conservation areas (1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 designated 1998), 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), 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. Canterbury carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995 and ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ) remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Canterbury is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 (conservation area designated in 1998), ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995 (conservation area designated in 1995), ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ) (conservation area designated in 1995), AMERY COURT ( BLEAN ) (conservation area designated in 1995), BARHAM (conservation area designated in 1991), BARHAM - DERRINGSTONE The Derringstone (conservation area designated in 1991), BEKESBOURNE AND WOOLTON FARM (conservation area designated in 1994), BIFRONS PARK ( BEKESBOURNE WITH PATRIXBOURNE/ BRIDGE ) (conservation area designated in 1995), Blean Forest (ward of Canterbury), Chestfield (ward of Canterbury), Gorrell (ward of Canterbury), Herne & Broomfield (ward of Canterbury), Heron (ward of Canterbury), St Stephen's (ward of Canterbury), Westgate (ward of Canterbury) and Wincheap (ward of Canterbury) — these are the Canterbury pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995, ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ), AMERY COURT ( BLEAN ), BARHAM, BARHAM - DERRINGSTONE The Derringstone Conservation Area, BEKESBOURNE AND WOOLTON FARM and BIFRONS PARK ( BEKESBOURNE WITH PATRIXBOURNE/ BRIDGE ). Canterbury City Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Canterbury local plan and Canterbury City Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 51,720 homes here are 16% pre-1900, 9% 1955-1964, 6% 1930-1939, 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 (16% of 51,720 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (6%).
What is permitted in Canterbury turns on designation first, so that is where we start: 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 (conservation area designated in 1998), ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995 (conservation area designated in 1995), ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ) (conservation area designated in 1995), AMERY COURT ( BLEAN ) (conservation area designated in 1995), BARHAM (conservation area designated in 1991), BARHAM - DERRINGSTONE The Derringstone (conservation area designated in 1991), BEKESBOURNE AND WOOLTON FARM (conservation area designated in 1994) and BIFRONS PARK ( BEKESBOURNE WITH PATRIXBOURNE/ BRIDGE ) (conservation area designated in 1995). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Canterbury City 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.
Beyond the designated areas, Canterbury takes in Blean Forest, Chestfield, Gorrell, Herne & Broomfield, Heron, St Stephen's, Westgate and Wincheap. Canterbury City Council has 463 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in the district.
On stock, Canterbury is Victorian and earlier houses (16% of 51,720 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (6%) — 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. Canterbury City Council decided 580 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 97%, with 43% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Canterbury runs pre-1900 3% (190 homes), 1900-1918 0% (30 homes), 1919-1929 0% (10 homes), 1930-1939 6% (350 homes), 1945-1954 3% (170 homes), 1955-1964 30% (1,850 homes), 1965-1972 33% (1,990 homes), 1973-1982 4% (260 homes), 1983-1992 5% (310 homes), 1993-1999 4% (220 homes) and 2000-2008 3% (170 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.
Canterbury City Council also decides for Blean Forest, Chestfield, Gorrell, Herne & Broomfield, Heron, St Stephen's, Westgate and Wincheap, so a decision in Canterbury 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 1 AND 2 CHURCH COTTAGES, CHURCH LANE, NACKINGTON, 1 BOURNE COTTAGES, THE STREET, BISHOPSBOURNE, 1 BOX TREE COTTAGES, BOLTS HILL and 1 BUTTS COTTAGES, LOWER HARDRES. 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 Canterbury and Canterbury City Council. These are the numbers that decide what is realistic on your street, so we work from them rather than from national averages.
| Measure | Canterbury |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 51,720 |
| Built pre-1900 | 190 (3%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 30 (0%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 10 (0%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 350 (6%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 170 (3%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 1,850 (30%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 1,990 (33%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 260 (4%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 310 (5%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 220 (4%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 170 (3%) |
| Built before 1919 | 21% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 13% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 53% |
| Conservation areas in Canterbury | 8 (1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 98 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 463 |
| Householder applications decided | 580 |
| Householder applications granted | 97% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 43% |
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 Canterbury City Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
Canterbury homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from Victorian and earlier houses (16% of 51,720 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (6%), 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. Canterbury City Council judges every one of them against the adopted Canterbury local plan and Canterbury City Council's design guidance for householder work, 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. Canterbury contains 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995, ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ) conservation areas (1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 designated 1998), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Canterbury also protects whole streets — 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995, ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ), AMERY COURT ( BLEAN ), BARHAM, BARHAM - DERRINGSTONE The Derringstone Conservation Area, BEKESBOURNE AND WOOLTON FARM and BIFRONS PARK ( BEKESBOURNE WITH PATRIXBOURNE/ BRIDGE ) among them. Canterbury City Council has 463 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in the district. 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 Canterbury 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 Canterbury City Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Canterbury City 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 Canterbury City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Canterbury City Council granted 97% of 580 householder decisions in the year to 31 March 2026, 43% of them inside eight weeks. 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, 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 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998, ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995 and ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON ), 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 victorian and earlier houses (16% of 51,720 homes), a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (6%), a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The 51,720 homes here are 16% pre-1900, 9% 1955-1964, 6% 1930-1939, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. 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 Canterbury City 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 Canterbury projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998's conservation area designated in 1998 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995's conservation area designated in 1995 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for ALLCROFT GRANGE ( HACKINGTON )'s conservation area designated in 1995 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for AMERY COURT ( BLEAN )'s conservation area designated in 1995 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for BARHAM's conservation area designated in 1991 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for BARHAM - DERRINGSTONE The Derringstone's conservation area designated in 1991 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Canterbury City Council's guidance.
The right extension in Canterbury 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 Canterbury City 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 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 and ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995 and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Canterbury City Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Canterbury 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 Canterbury City 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 Canterbury City 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 Canterbury City 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 Canterbury you will need to apply to Canterbury City 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 1937 KENT AND CANTERBURY HOSPITAL (Canterbury Conservation Area) Reg 12/11/1998 and ADISHAM registered 29.03.1995.
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 Canterbury City Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Canterbury'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 Canterbury City 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 Canterbury 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. Canterbury City 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 Canterbury City Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Canterbury extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Canterbury City Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your extension qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to get started.
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