Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Dartford homes — measured to Dartford Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Dartford Borough Council granted 82% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 5 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Ebbsfleet Garden City in the Thames Gateway is the dominant strategic growth focus, shaping the borough's housing numbers, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Class A and Class B set the thresholds — a rear dormer to 40m³ on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi or detached, and a single-storey rear extension to 3m on a terrace or 4m on a detached house — beyond which Dartford Borough Council needs a full application. Dartford carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe and Southfleet remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Dartford is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Dartford town centre (Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a commercial core within the largest conservation area), Greenhithe (a historic Thames-side riverside village conservation area), Stone (mixed interwar and postwar residential along the A226 corridor), Wilmington (village-edge conservation character at Church Hill), Southfleet (a rural conservation village of older vernacular stock) and Ebbsfleet (new-build garden-city development of modern estates) — these are the Dartford pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe, Southfleet, Hook Green, Church Hill, Wilmington and Red Street. Dartford Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Dartford Local Plan (adopted April 2024), superseding the 2011 Core Strategy, where the strategically important Thames-side regeneration corridor drives large brownfield allocations near the river. Converted flats are present in the town centre but the borough remains house-dominated; converted flats hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched slate and clay-tile roofs on the terraces and low-pitch and hipped roofs on the modern Ebbsfleet estates, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre, interwar and postwar semi-detached suburbs, Thames-side estates and large-scale contemporary new-build at Ebbsfleet Garden City.
Dartford homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre, interwar and postwar semi-detached suburbs, Thames-side estates and large-scale contemporary new-build at Ebbsfleet Garden City, 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. Dartford Borough Council judges every one of them against the Dartford Local Plan (adopted April 2024), superseding the 2011 Core Strategy, 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. Ebbsfleet Garden City in the Thames Gateway is the dominant strategic growth focus, shaping the borough's housing numbers, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Dartford also protects whole streets — Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe, Southfleet, Hook Green, Church Hill, Wilmington and Red Street among them. Dartford maintains a formal register of Article 4 directions that withdraw permitted-development rights in parts of its conservation areas where unmanaged alterations would erode local character. 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 Dartford 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 Dartford Borough Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Dartford grants a slightly-below-average share of householder applications, with flat and HMO conversions treated more restrictively than straightforward house extensions. 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 Dartford town centre, Greenhithe and Stone, 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 edwardian terraces around the town centre, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider large-scale contemporary new-build at ebbsfleet garden city, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The strategically important Thames-side regeneration corridor drives large brownfield allocations near the river. 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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Dartford town centre's Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a commercial core within the largest conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Greenhithe's a historic Thames-side riverside village conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Stone's mixed interwar and postwar residential along the A226 corridor — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Wilmington's village-edge conservation character at Church Hill — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Southfleet's a rural conservation village of older vernacular stock — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Ebbsfleet's new-build garden-city development of modern estates — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
The right extension in Dartford 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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Town Centre and Greenhithe and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Dartford Borough Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Dartford 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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford you will need to apply to Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Town Centre and Greenhithe.
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 Dartford Borough Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Dartford'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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford 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. Dartford Borough 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 Dartford Borough Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Dartford extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Dartford Borough 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.