Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Mole Valley homes — measured to Mole Valley District Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Mole Valley District Council granted 83% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 4 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Metropolitan Green Belt covers the bulk of the district and the adopted plan releases well under one per cent of it, so countryside development is tightly controlled, 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.
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. Mole Valley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Dorking, Leatherhead and Brockham remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Mole Valley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Dorking (a historic market town with a Victorian and Edwardian core, a conservation area and an Article 4 direction), Leatherhead (a market town of mixed period and postwar housing with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction), Great Bookham (an affluent commuter village with its own conservation-area character), Fetcham (largely interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses near Leatherhead), Brockham (a green-belt village around a classic green with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction) and Westhumble (a small Surrey Hills village of detached rural stock below Box Hill) — these are the Mole Valley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Dorking, Leatherhead, Brockham, Great Bookham and Little Bookham. Mole Valley District Council weighs each proposal against the Mole Valley Local Plan 2020–2039 (adopted October 2024), where the Surrey Hills National Landscape (AONB) covers much of the south and west around Dorking and Box Hill, where landscape scrutiny is heightened. Converted flats appear around Dorking and Leatherhead town centres, and none of them hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is dual-pitch tiled roofs on the town villas and terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar suburban semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas in the market towns of Dorking and Leatherhead, interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses around the towns, substantial detached housing and period cottages in the green-belt and Surrey Hills villages and larger rural country properties to the south and west.
Mole Valley 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 and villas in the market towns of Dorking and Leatherhead, interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses around the towns, substantial detached housing and period cottages in the green-belt and Surrey Hills villages and larger rural country properties to the south and west, 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. Mole Valley District Council judges every one of them against the Mole Valley Local Plan 2020–2039 (adopted October 2024), 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. Metropolitan Green Belt covers the bulk of the district and the adopted plan releases well under one per cent of it, so countryside development is tightly controlled, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Mole Valley also protects whole streets — Dorking, Leatherhead, Brockham, Great Bookham and Little Bookham among them. Mole Valley has Article 4 directions removing permitted-development rights in the Dorking, Leatherhead and Brockham conservation areas, so that features contributing to their character cannot be altered without consent. 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 Mole Valley 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 Mole Valley District Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Mole Valley grants a lower share of applications than the national average, with near-total Green Belt coverage and the Surrey Hills AONB the constraints behind most refusals of larger schemes. 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 Dorking, Leatherhead and Great Bookham, 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 and villas in the market towns of dorking and leatherhead, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider larger rural country properties to the south and west, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The Surrey Hills National Landscape (AONB) covers much of the south and west around Dorking and Box Hill, where landscape scrutiny is heightened. 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Dorking's a historic market town with a Victorian and Edwardian core, a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Leatherhead's a market town of mixed period and postwar housing with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Great Bookham's an affluent commuter village with its own conservation-area character — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Fetcham's largely interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses near Leatherhead — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Brockham's a green-belt village around a classic green with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Westhumble's a small Surrey Hills village of detached rural stock below Box Hill — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
The right extension in Mole Valley 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 Mole Valley District 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 Dorking and Leatherhead and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Mole Valley District Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Mole Valley 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley you will need to apply to Mole Valley District 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 Dorking and Leatherhead.
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 Mole Valley District Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Mole Valley'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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley 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. Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Mole Valley extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Mole Valley District 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.