The fast route to a deep single-storey rear extension in Keighley — up to 6 metres on an attached house or 8 on a detached one — via Bradford Council's prior approval scheme rather than a full planning application.
Bradford Council granted 86% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point below the 87% England-wide householder average. The setting of the listed Cliffe Castle and its registered park is weighed heavily on nearby schemes, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. In conservation areas such as Keighley Town Centre, Devonshire Park and Cliffe Castle and Low Utley those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Keighley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Keighley town centre (Victorian stone terraces and civic buildings in the conservation area), Devonshire Park (grander stone villas around Cliffe Castle and its park), Low Utley (an early stone hamlet protected as a conservation area), Steeton (the stone mill village in the Aire valley conservation area), Silsden (a market town of stone terraces and cottages up the valley) and Oakworth (millstone-grit terraces on the Worth valley slopes) — these are the Keighley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Keighley Town Centre, Devonshire Park and Cliffe Castle, Low Utley, Leeming, Steeton and Silsden. Bradford Council weighs each proposal against the Bradford Local Plan / Core Strategy, where dense back-to-back and through-terrace layouts leave little room for rear extensions without party-wall and daylight impacts. Converted flats are common in the Keighley terraces, and flats and maisonettes carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is Yorkshire stone-slate pitched roofs on the terraces and back-to-backs and hipped stone-slate roofs on the villas, over dense Victorian millstone-grit terraces and back-to-backs, mill-town through-houses and gritstone semis and villas around the parks.
The ordinary Class A limits stop a single-storey rear extension at 3 metres on an attached house and 4 on a detached one. The larger home extension scheme doubles both, on condition that the council is told first. That notification is not an application for permission — the council cannot refuse on design, materials or policy grounds. It can only consider the effect on the amenity of adjoining premises, and only if a neighbour actually objects during the 21-day consultation.
The other conditions still apply and are strict: single storey only, no higher than 4 metres, eaves no higher than the existing eaves, and no more than half the land around the original house covered. It is not available on designated land, so a house in a conservation area such as Keighley Town Centre and Devonshire Park and Cliffe Castle cannot use it at all. Materials must be similar to the existing house, and the extension must not include a veranda, balcony or raised platform.
Keighley is largely dense Victorian millstone-grit terraces and back-to-backs, mill-town through-houses and gritstone semis and villas around the parks. The setting of the listed Cliffe Castle and its registered park is weighed heavily on nearby schemes, which matters here because an objecting neighbour puts amenity squarely in front of a case officer. Keighley carries no Article 4 direction, but the Keighley Town Centre, Devonshire Park and Cliffe Castle, and Low Utley conservation areas remove permitted-development rights across large parts of the Victorian stone townscape.
The scheme is available where all of these hold. Fail any one and it is a full application to Bradford Council instead:
We prepare the notification pack Bradford Council needs — plans, elevations, a site plan with the adjoining owners identified — and manage the 21-day neighbour consultation so the 42-day clock is not restarted by an incomplete submission.
Below is Bradford Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Bradford grants most householder applications in Keighley, with dense terrace layouts and conservation-area stone controls the leading constraints. Prior approval turns on neighbour amenity alone, so the drawings that matter are the ones showing the relationship to the boundary.
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 Keighley town centre, Devonshire Park and Low Utley, the notifications that clear without objection are the ones that treat the neighbour as the audience. We show the extension in section against the boundary, demonstrate the 45-degree daylight relationship to the nearest habitable window, and where the plot is tight we taper the depth away from the boundary rather than running the full 6 metres to the fence.
Dense back-to-back and through-terrace layouts leave little room for rear extensions without party-wall and daylight impacts. Where an objection does arrive, the council's assessment is narrow: loss of light, outlook and overbearing effect on the adjoining property, nothing else. A pack that has already answered those three points on the drawings usually survives an objection, whereas one that leaves them to the officer's imagination usually does not.
We prepare prior-approval notifications across Keighley. A few of the areas where deep rear extensions come up most often:
Prior approval drawings for Keighley town centre — Victorian stone terraces and civic buildings in the conservation area — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Prior approval drawings for Devonshire Park — grander stone villas around Cliffe Castle and its park — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Prior approval drawings for Low Utley — an early stone hamlet protected as a conservation area — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Prior approval drawings for Steeton — the stone mill village in the Aire valley conservation area — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Prior approval drawings for Silsden — a market town of stone terraces and cottages up the valley — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Prior approval drawings for Oakworth — millstone-grit terraces on the Worth valley slopes — dimensioned to the 6m and 8m limits and prepared for Bradford Council's neighbour consultation.
Same extension, two routes, very different tests.
| Route | Depth allowed | What the council may consider | Timescale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary Class A permitted development | 3m attached / 4m detached | Nothing — no application needed | Immediate |
| Larger home extension prior approval | 6m attached / 8m detached | Amenity of adjoining premises, only if a neighbour objects | 21-day consultation, 42-day determination |
| Full householder application | No fixed limit | Design, materials, policy, amenity, everything | 8-week target |
| Any of these on designated land | 3m / 4m only | Prior approval scheme unavailable | Full application beyond the limits |
Limits and procedure from the GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A and paragraph A.4, made permanent by amendment in 2019.
A process built around the 21-day consultation, which is where these schemes are won or lost.
Send us your Keighley postcode and house type. We confirm whether the property is on designated land, whether the scheme is available, and what depth you can realistically take.
We measure the original rear wall, eaves height, boundary distances and the neighbouring windows that the amenity assessment will turn on.
We draw the extension to the 6m or 8m limit with the boundary relationship shown in section, and prepare the written description and adjoining-owner details Bradford Council needs to start the consultation.
We submit, track the 21-day consultation and the 42-day determination, respond to any objection on amenity grounds, and revise free until the decision.
Three metres on a terraced or semi-detached house and four on a detached one under ordinary permitted development. Under the larger home extension prior approval scheme those double to six and eight metres, provided you notify Bradford Council before starting and the conditions on height, materials and land coverage are met. The scheme is not available on designated land. This applies to your Keighley address specifically.
It is a notification, not an application for permission. You tell Bradford Council what you intend to build, it writes to the adjoining owners, and they have 21 days to object. If nobody objects, you may build. If someone does, the council assesses the effect on the amenity of adjoining premises and must decide within 42 days. Design and policy are not in scope. This applies to your Keighley address specifically.
The council then considers the impact on the amenity of the adjoining property — loss of light, loss of outlook, and overbearing effect — and nothing else. It cannot refuse because it dislikes the design or the materials. We prepare the drawings so those three questions are already answered in section and on the site plan, which is what usually carries an objected scheme through. This applies to your Keighley address specifically. Bradford Council is the decision-maker.
No. The larger home extension scheme is unavailable on designated land, which includes conservation areas such as Keighley Town Centre and Devonshire Park and Cliffe Castle, national landscapes, national parks and world heritage sites. On those properties the ordinary 3-metre and 4-metre limits apply, and anything deeper needs a full householder application to Bradford Council.
Twenty-one days for the neighbour consultation, and a maximum of 42 days from a valid submission for the council to determine it. If the council does not respond within 42 days you may proceed as notified. That deadline is the scheme's real advantage over a full application, and it is why validation completeness matters so much. This applies to your Keighley address specifically. Bradford Council is the decision-maker.
Yes — always. Prior approval deals only with the planning position. A 6-metre rear extension still needs building control approval for foundations, structure, drainage, thermal performance and fire safety, and the beam over the opening into the existing house needs designing and calculating. We prepare both sets so the notified scheme is the buildable one. This applies to your Keighley address specifically. Bradford Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Keighley scheme individually, because plot shape and the boundary relationship drive the work, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the notification pack and free revisions until Bradford Council determines it. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.