Back-of-house extension drawings for Charlton & the Pentons homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Test Valley Borough Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Test Valley 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. Charlton & the Pentons contains the The Pentons conservation area (The Pentons designated 1982), 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) 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 The Pentons those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Charlton & the Pentons is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
The Pentons (conservation area designated in 1982), Penton Mewsey (civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons), Charlton (civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons) and Penton Grafton (civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons) — these are the Charlton & the Pentons pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include The Pentons. Test Valley Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Test Valley local plan and Test Valley Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 1,670 homes here are 19% 1973-1982, 18% 1983-1992, 13% pre-1900, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building, over 1970s and early-1980s houses (19% of 1,670 homes), 1980s estate houses (18%) and Victorian and earlier houses (13%).
What is permitted in Charlton & the Pentons turns on designation first, so that is where we start: The Pentons (conservation area designated in 1982). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Test Valley 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, Charlton & the Pentons takes in Penton Mewsey, Charlton and Penton Grafton. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Test Valley Borough Council, but Charlton & the Pentons's 1 conservation area still limit permitted development on those streets.
On stock, Charlton & the Pentons is 1970s and early-1980s houses (19% of 1,670 homes), 1980s estate houses (18%) and Victorian and earlier houses (13%) — which is why shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 1980s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Test Valley Borough Council decided 533 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 96%, with 76% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Charlton & the Pentons runs pre-1900 13% (210 homes), 1900-1918 2% (30 homes), 1919-1929 1% (10 homes), 1930-1939 4% (60 homes), 1945-1954 8% (130 homes), 1955-1964 7% (110 homes), 1965-1972 12% (200 homes), 1973-1982 19% (320 homes), 1983-1992 18% (300 homes), 1993-1999 7% (120 homes) and 2000-2008 3% (50 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.
Test Valley Borough Council also decides for Blackwater, Harewood, Mid Test, Ampfield & Braishfield, Anna, Bellinger and Bourne Valley, so a decision in Charlton & the Pentons 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.
Published figures for Charlton & the Pentons and Test Valley 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 | Charlton & the Pentons |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 1,670 |
| Built pre-1900 | 210 (13%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 30 (2%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 10 (1%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 60 (4%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 130 (8%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 110 (7%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 200 (12%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 320 (19%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 300 (18%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 120 (7%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 50 (3%) |
| Built before 1919 | 14% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 4% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 74% |
| Conservation areas in Charlton & the Pentons | 1 (The Pentons) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 36 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 0 |
| Householder applications decided | 533 |
| Householder applications granted | 96% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 76% |
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 Test Valley Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Charlton & the Pentons home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from 1970s and early-1980s houses (19% of 1,670 homes), 1980s estate houses (18%) and Victorian and earlier houses (13%), most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Test Valley Borough Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the adopted Test Valley local plan and Test Valley Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, 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. Charlton & the Pentons contains the The Pentons conservation area (The Pentons designated 1982), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — The Pentons among Charlton & the Pentons's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Test Valley Borough Council, but Charlton & the Pentons's 1 conservation area still limit permitted development on those streets. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Charlton & the Pentons are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Test Valley Borough 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 Test Valley Borough 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 Test Valley Borough Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Test Valley Borough Council granted 96% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and The Pentons shapes what is approved here. 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, 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 The Pentons, Penton Mewsey and Charlton, 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 1970s and early-1980s houses (19% of 1,670 homes), 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.
The 1,670 homes here are 19% 1973-1982, 18% 1983-1992, 13% pre-1900, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Test Valley Borough 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 Charlton & the Pentons back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for The Pentons's conservation area designated in 1982 — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Test Valley Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Penton Mewsey's civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Test Valley Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Charlton's civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Test Valley Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Penton Grafton's civil parish within Charlton & the Pentons — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Test Valley Borough Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Charlton & the Pentons depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Test Valley Borough 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 The Pentons and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Test Valley Borough Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Charlton & the Pentons 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 Test Valley Borough 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 Test Valley Borough 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 Test Valley Borough 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 Charlton & the Pentons. You will need to involve Test Valley Borough 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 The Pentons, 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 Test Valley Borough 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 Charlton & the Pentons's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Test Valley Borough 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. This applies to your Charlton & the Pentons address specifically.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to Test Valley Borough 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. This applies to your Charlton & the Pentons address specifically.
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 Test Valley Borough Council's planning decision. We flag it early and can prepare the drawings a party-wall surveyor needs alongside the planning set. This applies to your Charlton & the Pentons address specifically.
We price each Charlton & the Pentons 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 Test Valley Borough 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.
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