Planning application drawings in The Witterings

The Witterings householder planning by the numbers

Chichester District Council granted 95% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 8 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The Witterings contains Earnley, Somerley, West Itchenor conservation areas (Earnley designated 1976), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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 Earnley, Somerley and West Itchenor those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in The Witterings is determined against an 8-week statutory target.

Earnley (conservation area designated in 1976), Somerley (conservation area designated in 1976), West Itchenor (conservation area designated in 1976), West Wittering (conservation area designated in 1976), Birdham (civil parish within The Witterings), Earnley (civil parish within The Witterings), East Wittering (civil parish within The Witterings), West Itchenor (civil parish within The Witterings) and West Wittering (civil parish within The Witterings) — these are the The Witterings pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Earnley, Somerley, West Itchenor and West Wittering. Chichester District Council weighs each proposal against Chichester District Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, where the 5,900 homes here are 13% 1973-1982, 13% 1955-1964, 13% 1930-1939, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building, over 1970s and early-1980s houses (13% of 5,900 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (13%).

What actually constrains a project in The Witterings

The Witterings's designated heritage is specific, and it is the first thing we check against your address: Earnley (conservation area designated in 1976), Somerley (conservation area designated in 1976), West Itchenor (conservation area designated in 1976) and West Wittering (conservation area designated in 1976). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Chichester District 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, The Witterings takes in Birdham, Earnley, East Wittering, West Itchenor and West Wittering. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Chichester District Council, but The Witterings's 4 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.

On stock, The Witterings is 1970s and early-1980s houses (13% of 5,900 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (13%) — which is why shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Chichester District Council decided 470 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 95%, with 93% issued inside the eight-week target. Those are the numbers our drawings are prepared against.

The full build-period split for The Witterings runs pre-1900 4% (260 homes), 1900-1918 0% (20 homes), 1919-1929 2% (100 homes), 1930-1939 13% (740 homes), 1945-1954 4% (220 homes), 1955-1964 13% (760 homes), 1965-1972 11% (640 homes), 1973-1982 13% (790 homes), 1983-1992 8% (500 homes), 1993-1999 8% (460 homes) and 2000-2008 9% (530 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.

Chichester District Council also decides for Chichester North, Fernhurst, Goodwood, Harbour Villages, Loxwood, Southbourne and Westbourne, so a decision in The Witterings 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 The Witterings planning application

Whatever you are building, Chichester District 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. Chichester District Council assesses each proposal against Chichester District Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, 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 The Witterings's stock, which runs to 1970s and early-1980s houses (13% of 5,900 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (13%), the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. The Witterings contains Earnley, Somerley, West Itchenor conservation areas (Earnley designated 1976), 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 — Earnley, Somerley, West Itchenor and West Wittering among The Witterings's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Chichester District Council, but The Witterings's 4 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.