Planning application drawings in Hastings

Hastings planning decisions and design rules

Hastings Borough Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Hastings contains Burtons', St Leonards, Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings, Eversfield Place, St Leonards conservation areas (Old Town, Hastings designated 1968), 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 Edwardian (1901–1910) 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. In conservation areas such as Burtons', St Leonards, Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings and Eversfield Place, St Leonards those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Hastings is determined against an 8-week statutory target.

Burtons', St Leonards (designated conservation area), Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings (designated conservation area), Eversfield Place, St Leonards (designated conservation area), Grosvenor Gardens (designated conservation area), Hastings Town Centre (designated conservation area), King's Road, St Leonards (designated conservation area), Magdalen Road, St Leonards (designated conservation area), Old Town, Hastings (conservation area designated in 1968), Castle (ward of Hastings), Central St Leonards (ward of Hastings), Maze Hill (ward of Hastings) and Old Hastings (ward of Hastings) — these are the Hastings pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Burtons', St Leonards, Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings, Eversfield Place, St Leonards, Grosvenor Gardens, Hastings Town Centre, King's Road, St Leonards, Magdalen Road, St Leonards and Old Town, Hastings. Hastings Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Hastings local plan and Hastings Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 14,430 homes here are 63% pre-1900, 6% 1983-1992, 4% 1900-1918, 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 trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building, over Victorian and earlier houses (63% of 14,430 homes), 1980s estate houses (6%) and Edwardian houses (4%).

Why a Hastings scheme is judged on Hastings terms

What is permitted in Hastings turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Burtons', St Leonards (designated conservation area), Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings (designated conservation area), Eversfield Place, St Leonards (designated conservation area), Grosvenor Gardens (designated conservation area), Hastings Town Centre (designated conservation area), King's Road, St Leonards (designated conservation area), Magdalen Road, St Leonards (designated conservation area) and Old Town, Hastings (conservation area designated in 1968). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Hastings 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.

Beyond the designated areas, Hastings takes in Castle, Central St Leonards, Maze Hill and Old Hastings. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Hastings Borough Council, but the district's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.

On stock, Hastings is Victorian and earlier houses (63% of 14,430 homes), 1980s estate houses (6%) and Edwardian houses (4%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Hastings Borough Council decided 109 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 90%, with 67% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.

The full build-period split for Hastings 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.

Hastings Borough Council also decides for Castle, Central St Leonards, Maze Hill and Old Hastings, so a decision in Hastings 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.

What goes in a Hastings planning application

Whatever you are building, Hastings Borough Council decides it from the same core set. A location plan at 1:1250 fixes the site on the map with the red-line boundary; a block plan at 1:500 shows the property in its plot; then existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at 1:100 or 1:50 show the house as it is and as it will be. Larger schemes add a section and, where policy requires, a design and access statement. Miss one and the application is returned invalid before an officer has looked at it.

The drawings are also the argument. Hastings Borough Council assesses each proposal against the adopted Hastings local plan and Hastings Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, and the elevations are where the case is won or lost — ridge and eaves heights, window positions, materials and how the change reads from the street. On Hastings's stock, which runs to Victorian and earlier houses (63% of 14,430 homes), 1980s estate houses (6%) and Edwardian houses (4%), the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Hastings contains Burtons', St Leonards, Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings, Eversfield Place, St Leonards conservation areas (Old Town, Hastings designated 1968), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.

Where the property sits in a conservation area — Burtons', St Leonards, Cornwallis Gardens, Hastings, Eversfield Place, St Leonards, Grosvenor Gardens, Hastings Town Centre, King's Road, St Leonards, Magdalen Road, St Leonards and Old Town, Hastings among Hastings's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Hastings Borough Council, but the district's 8 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.