Back-of-house extension drawings for Bexley homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Bexley Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Bexley Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. Bexley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bexley Village, Danson Park and Upton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bexley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Old Bexley (the historic village strung along Bexley High Street), Bexleyheath (interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area), Sidcup (1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray), Erith (riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames), Crayford (Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge) and Welling (dense interwar semi-detached suburbs) — these are the Bexley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray. Bexley Council weighs each proposal against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, where hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar and postwar semis and gabled roofs on the detached houses, over interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Bexley home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Bexley Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, and the first line an officer draws is the 45-degree splay from the neighbour's nearest window.
So the drawings live or die on geometry. We set the depth against the exact permitted-development figure, hold the eaves and the flat-roof or lantern build-up under the 4-metre height ceiling, and show the projection tested against both the 45-degree plan angle and the 25-degree section angle to the neighbouring windows. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray among Bexley's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Bexley applies Article 4 directions in conservation areas such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, and parts of the borough fall within Metropolitan Green Belt where extensions are firmly restricted. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Bexley are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Bexley Council, or use the larger-home prior-approval route, if any of these apply:
We draw the depth, the roof build-up and the daylight splays to each neighbour on the page — the tests Bexley Council's officers apply first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a larger-home prior-approval notice or a full householder application.
Below is Bexley Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Bexley approves a strong majority of householder applications, with Metropolitan Green Belt on its edges and the symmetry of paired suburban semis the main factors shaping approvals. Rear extensions turn most often on neighbour daylight and depth, so a drawing pack that proves those tests upfront is decided faster and refused less often than a DIY submission.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). 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 Bexley, Bexleyheath and Sidcup, the approved rear extension is typically a single-storey glazed box within the depth limit, roofed either flat with a lantern or in a shallow mono-pitch, and finished in brick or render to match the host wall. On the borough's interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, keeping the projection to the permitted-development figure often avoids an application entirely; where owners want the full 6 metres, the larger-home route succeeds when the neighbour-consultation period passes without a sustained objection.
Hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Bexley Council expects — so the back elevation answers the amenity case before a neighbour can lodge one. Two-storey rear extensions we draw with the 7-metre boundary gap and privacy screening resolved on the plan.
We draw rear extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Bexley back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Old Bexley's the historic village strung along Bexley High Street — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Bexleyheath's interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Sidcup's 1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Erith's riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Crayford's Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Welling's dense interwar semi-detached suburbs — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Bexley depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Bexley Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard permitted development | 3m terrace/semi · 4m detached | Lawful development certificate (optional) | Depth, 4m height, materials |
| Larger-home prior approval | 6m terrace/semi · 8m detached | Prior-approval notice + neighbour consultation | Neighbour objections on amenity |
| Full householder application | Beyond the above, or two-storey | Full planning permission | Daylight (45°/25°), bulk, garden retained |
| Conservation area | Case by case | Full planning permission | Character, roof form, boundary treatment |
The larger-home route is switched off on designated land — conservation areas such as Bexley Village and Danson Park and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Bexley Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Bexley postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much rear-extension depth you have under permitted development, and score your odds against live Bexley Council decisions.
We measure the original rear wall, floor and eaves levels, side and rear boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limit and daylight splays depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single or two-storey rear extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to Bexley Council's extension design guidance, with the daylight angles shown.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, handle validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Bexley Council issues its decision.
Often not. 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 Bexley. You will need to involve Bexley Council for anything deeper via the larger-home route, for two-storey rear extensions, and for any rear extension in a conservation area such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, where those permitted-development rights fall away.
The larger-home extension scheme lets a single-storey rear extension reach 6 metres on a terrace or semi, or 8 metres on a detached house — double the standard allowance. It is not automatic: you submit a prior-approval notification to Bexley Council, neighbours are consulted, and if one objects on amenity grounds the council rules on it. It also does not apply on designated land such as Bexley's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Bexley Council applies to protect neighbours. Drawn on plan, a line at 45 degrees from the midpoint of the neighbour's nearest ground-floor window should not be crossed by your extension; a companion 25-degree line is checked in section. If the projection breaches it, the extension is likely to be shortened or refused, so we test and prove it on the drawings before submission.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to Bexley Council, as it sits outside permitted development on most homes. The council checks that it stays at least 7 metres from the rear boundary, does not overbear the neighbours and avoids new overlooking. We resolve the boundary gap, privacy and daylight on the plans so the application is decided on its merits.
Frequently, yes. If the rear extension involves work to a shared wall, building up to the boundary, or excavating foundations near a neighbour's structure, the Party Wall etc. Act applies and you must serve notice — this is separate from Bexley Council's planning decision. We flag it early and can prepare the drawings a party-wall surveyor needs alongside the planning set.
We price each Bexley rear extension on its own footprint and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Bexley Council approves, and we confirm at the outset whether your extension is permitted development, needs prior approval, or a full application. Call 020 7864 7245 to begin.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.