Front-porch drawings for Old Town homes — checked against the Class D permitted-development limits, drawn to Stevenage Borough Council's frontage guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Stevenage Borough Council granted 96% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 9 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Old Town contains Old Town High Street Conservation Area, Orchard Road Conservation Area conservation areas (Old Town High Street Conservation Area designated 1969), 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. Old Town carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Old Town High Street Conservation Area and Orchard Road Conservation Area remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Old Town is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Old Town High Street (conservation area designated in 1969) and Orchard Road (conservation area designated in 2007) — these are the Old Town pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Old Town High Street Conservation Area and Orchard Road Conservation Area. Stevenage Borough Council weighs each proposal against Stevenage Borough Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, where the 2,090 homes here are 21% 2000-2008, 11% pre-1900, 11% 1900-1918, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building and steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building, over 2000s houses and apartments (21% of 2,090 homes), Victorian and earlier houses (11%) and Edwardian houses (11%).
What is permitted in Old Town turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Old Town High Street (conservation area designated in 1969) and Orchard Road (conservation area designated in 2007). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Stevenage 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.
Stevenage Borough Council has 127 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Old Town.
On stock, Old Town is 2000s houses and apartments (21% of 2,090 homes), Victorian and earlier houses (11%) and Edwardian houses (11%) — which is why trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building and steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Stevenage Borough Council decided 133 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 96%, with 81% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Old Town runs pre-1900 11% (230 homes), 1900-1918 11% (230 homes), 1919-1929 6% (120 homes), 1930-1939 4% (80 homes), 1945-1954 1% (20 homes), 1955-1964 9% (180 homes), 1965-1972 11% (230 homes), 1973-1982 7% (140 homes), 1983-1992 3% (70 homes), 1993-1999 4% (90 homes) and 2000-2008 21% (440 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.
The Article 4 directions recorded for this council include 1 VIEWPOINT Babbage Road Stevenage SG1 2EQ, 10 Eastman Way SG1 4SZ, 2 Viewpoint Babbage Road Stevenage SG1 2EQ and 3 Parsons Green Estate Boulton Road Stevenage SG1 4QG. Each removes a specific permitted-development right inside its own boundary, which is why the check is done on the address rather than on the town.
Published figures for Old Town and Stevenage 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 | Old Town |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 2,090 |
| Built pre-1900 | 230 (11%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 230 (11%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 120 (6%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 80 (4%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 20 (1%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 180 (9%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 230 (11%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 140 (7%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 70 (3%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 90 (4%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 440 (21%) |
| Built before 1919 | 22% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 10% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 56% |
| Conservation areas in Old Town | 2 (Old Town High Street Conservation Area, Orchard Road Conservation Area) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 7 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 127 |
| Householder applications decided | 133 |
| Householder applications granted | 96% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 81% |
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 Stevenage Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
A porch is the smallest thing most people build and the most visible. It sits on the principal elevation, so Stevenage Borough Council reads it against the rhythm of the whole street rather than against your own house alone. Old Town is largely 2000s houses and apartments (21% of 2,090 homes), Victorian and earlier houses (11%) and Edwardian houses (11%), and where a run of houses shares one front-door detail, a porch that ignores it stands out from fifty metres away.
The three Class D numbers do most of the work: 3 square metres of external floor area, 3 metres of height, and a 2-metre stand-off from any boundary that fronts a highway. That last one catches more porches in Old Town than the other two put together, because front gardens are shallow and the boundary is measured to the highway line, not to the kerb. We measure it on site and set the porch inside the limit, or we tell you honestly that it needs an application.
In Old Town's conservation areas — Old Town High Street Conservation Area and Orchard Road Conservation Area among them — a porch is assessed on materials, roof form and how the door surround is treated. Stevenage Borough Council has 127 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Old Town.
Most modest porches are permitted development. You will need to apply to Stevenage Borough Council if any of these apply:
We draw the porch to scale against the three Class D thresholds, show the highway boundary on the block plan, and detail the roof, door surround and threshold so Stevenage Borough Council — and your neighbours — can see exactly what will be built.
Below is Stevenage Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Stevenage Borough Council granted 96% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Old Town High Street Conservation Area shapes what is approved here. A porch application turns on frontage design and the highway stand-off, so a pack that dimensions both is decided faster than a sketch.
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 Old Town High Street and Orchard Road, the porches that go through are the ones that borrow from the house: the same brick or render, a roof pitched to match, and a door and side-light proportioned to the original opening. On 2000s houses and apartments (21% of 2,090 homes), an open-sided canopy is often the better answer than an enclosed porch — it stays clear of the floor-area limit and leaves the frontage legible.
Old Town contains Old Town High Street Conservation Area, Orchard Road Conservation Area conservation areas (Old Town High Street Conservation Area designated 1969), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is exactly the sort of local reading a porch has to satisfy. Where the 2-metre highway stand-off cannot be met, we either recess the porch behind the building line or prepare a full householder application with an elevation that shows the porch in the context of its neighbours — the drawing that answers the officer's real question.
We draw porches on every street type in Old Town. A few of the areas where porch work comes up most often:
Porch drawings for Old Town High Street — conservation area designated in 1969 — dimensioned to the Class D limits and drawn to Stevenage Borough Council's frontage guidance.
Porch drawings for Orchard Road — conservation area designated in 2007 — dimensioned to the Class D limits and drawn to Stevenage Borough Council's frontage guidance.
Class D sets three thresholds. This is how the common cases fall either side of them.
| Porch type | Permitted development? | What decides it | What Stevenage Borough Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open canopy over the door | Usually yes — no enclosed floor area | Whether it is enclosed | Projection, materials, roof form |
| Enclosed porch under 3m² | Yes, if under 3m high and 2m from the highway boundary | External floor area | Highway stand-off, frontage design |
| Enclosed porch over 3m² | No — full application | External floor area | Bulk on the principal elevation |
| Porch in a conservation area | Only if it meets Class D and no Article 4 applies | Designation status | Materials, door detail, streetscape |
| Porch on a listed building | No — listed building consent required | Listing | Impact on special interest |
Thresholds from the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class D.
A fixed process built around how Stevenage Borough Council validates and decides frontage work — most porch drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Old Town postcode. We confirm conservation, Article 4 and listing status, measure the front boundary against the 2-metre highway rule, and score your odds against live Stevenage Borough Council decisions.
We measure the frontage, threshold level, door opening and the distance to the highway boundary — the four numbers a porch application stands or falls on.
Chartered designers develop the porch to your brief, either inside the Class D limits or as a full application drawn to Stevenage Borough Council's design guidance, with materials and roof form matched to the house.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Stevenage Borough Council issues its decision.
Usually not, provided it meets all three Class D limits: no more than 3 square metres of external floor area, no more than 3 metres high, and no part within 2 metres of a boundary fronting a highway. Break any one and you need a householder application to Stevenage Borough Council. On designated land, and on listed buildings, the position is different and we check it before drawing. This applies to your Old Town address specifically.
It is the external floor area — measured to the outside face of the porch walls, not the usable space inside. That catches people out, because a porch that feels small internally can exceed 3 square metres once the wall thickness is counted. We measure and dimension it on the plan so the figure is beyond argument at validation. This applies to your Old Town address specifically. Stevenage Borough Council is the decision-maker.
No part of a permitted-development porch may be within 2 metres of any boundary of the property that fronts a highway. In Old Town this is the limit that most often pushes a porch into a full application, because front gardens are shallow. The measurement is to the boundary line, which is not always where the kerb or the fence sits — we establish it on survey. Stevenage Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Yes, but the design bar is higher. Class D is not automatically removed in a conservation area, so a compliant porch can still be permitted development — however Stevenage Borough Council will expect materials, roof pitch and door detail to respect the area's character, and an Article 4 direction can remove the right entirely. In Old Town High Street Conservation Area and Orchard Road Conservation Area we confirm the position on your specific address first.
A porch is exempt from most building regulations if it is under 30 square metres, at ground level, separated from the house by the existing external door, and any glazing and electrics meet Parts K, N and P. Remove the original front door and the porch becomes part of the heated envelope, at which point insulation and Part L apply. We flag which side of that line your design falls on. This applies to your Old Town address specifically. Stevenage Borough Council is the decision-maker.
A householder application runs to an eight-week statutory target, and a lawful development certificate to the same. The realistic risk is not the decision but validation — an incomplete pack is returned rather than determined. We prepare the submission validation-complete and handle officer queries so the timetable holds. This applies to your Old Town address specifically. Stevenage Borough Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Old Town porch individually, because frontage type and boundary position vary house to house, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Stevenage Borough Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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