Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for St Matthew's homes — measured to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. St Matthew's contains Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street conservation areas (Arboretum designated 1989), 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 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. In conservation areas such as Arboretum, Bradford Street and Bridge Street those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in St Matthew's is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Arboretum (conservation area designated in 1989), Bradford Street (conservation area designated in 1991), Bridge Street (conservation area designated in 1983), Caldmore Green (conservation area designated in 1987), Church Hill (conservation area designated in 1979), Highgate (conservation area designated in 1994), Lichfield Street (conservation area designated in 1988) and Old Rushall (conservation area designated in 1983) — these are the St Matthew's pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street, Caldmore Green, Church Hill, Highgate, Lichfield Street and Old Rushall. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Walsall local plan and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 6,790 homes here are 29% pre-1900, 15% 1955-1964, 11% 1965-1972, 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 (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%).
Before anything is drawn we check your address against the designations that apply in St Matthew's: Arboretum (conservation area designated in 1989), Bradford Street (conservation area designated in 1991), Bridge Street (conservation area designated in 1983), Caldmore Green (conservation area designated in 1987), Church Hill (conservation area designated in 1979), Highgate (conservation area designated in 1994), Lichfield Street (conservation area designated in 1988) and Old Rushall (conservation area designated in 1983). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Walsall Metropolitan 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.
No Article 4 direction is recorded for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, but St Matthew's's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.
On stock, St Matthew's is Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%) — 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. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council decided 486 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 89%, with 52% issued inside the eight-week target. That decision record, not a national figure, is what we design to.
The full build-period split for St Matthew's runs pre-1900 29% (1,980 homes), 1900-1918 3% (220 homes), 1919-1929 1% (50 homes), 1930-1939 3% (220 homes), 1945-1954 2% (150 homes), 1955-1964 15% (1,030 homes), 1965-1972 11% (720 homes), 1973-1982 9% (600 homes), 1983-1992 4% (240 homes), 1993-1999 7% (460 homes) and 2000-2008 7% (490 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.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council also decides for Bloxwich West and Pelsall, so a decision in St Matthew's 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.
Published figures for St Matthew's and Walsall Metropolitan 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 | St Matthew's |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 6,790 |
| Built pre-1900 | 1,980 (29%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 220 (3%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 50 (1%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 220 (3%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 150 (2%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 1,030 (15%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 720 (11%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 600 (9%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 240 (4%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 460 (7%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 490 (7%) |
| Built before 1919 | 32% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 4% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 54% |
| Conservation areas in St Matthew's | 8 (Arboretum, Bradford Street…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 18 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 0 |
| Householder applications decided | 486 |
| Householder applications granted | 89% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 52% |
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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
St Matthew's 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 (29% of 6,790 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (15%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%), 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. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council judges every one of them against the adopted Walsall local plan and Walsall Metropolitan Borough 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. St Matthew's contains Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street conservation areas (Arboretum designated 1989), 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.
St Matthew's also protects whole streets — Arboretum, Bradford Street, Bridge Street, Caldmore Green, Church Hill, Highgate, Lichfield Street and Old Rushall among them. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, but St Matthew's's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. 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 St Matthew's 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council granted 89% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Arboretum shapes what is approved here. 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 Arboretum, Bradford Street and Bridge Street, 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 (29% of 6,790 homes), a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider late-1960s and early-1970s houses (11%), a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The 6,790 homes here are 29% pre-1900, 15% 1955-1964, 11% 1965-1972, 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Arboretum's conservation area designated in 1989 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Bradford Street's conservation area designated in 1991 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Bridge Street's conservation area designated in 1983 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Caldmore Green's conservation area designated in 1987 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Church Hill's conservation area designated in 1979 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Highgate's conservation area designated in 1994 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's guidance.
The right extension in St Matthew's 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 Arboretum and Bradford Street and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your St Matthew's 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan 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 St Matthew's you will need to apply to Walsall Metropolitan 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 Arboretum and Bradford Street.
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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as St Matthew's'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 Walsall Metropolitan 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. This applies to your St Matthew's address specifically.
A householder planning application in St Matthew's 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. Walsall Metropolitan 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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off. This applies to your St Matthew's address specifically.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each St Matthew's extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Walsall Metropolitan Borough 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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