Back-of-house extension drawings for Dartford homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Dartford Borough Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Dartford Borough Council granted 82% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 5 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Ebbsfleet Garden City in the Thames Gateway is the dominant strategic growth focus, shaping the borough's housing numbers, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Class A and Class B set the thresholds — a rear dormer to 40m³ on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi or detached, and a single-storey rear extension to 3m on a terrace or 4m on a detached house — beyond which Dartford Borough Council needs a full application. Dartford carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe and Southfleet remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Dartford is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Dartford town centre (Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a commercial core within the largest conservation area), Greenhithe (a historic Thames-side riverside village conservation area), Stone (mixed interwar and postwar residential along the A226 corridor), Wilmington (village-edge conservation character at Church Hill), Southfleet (a rural conservation village of older vernacular stock) and Ebbsfleet (new-build garden-city development of modern estates) — these are the Dartford pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe, Southfleet, Hook Green, Church Hill, Wilmington and Red Street. Dartford Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Dartford Local Plan (adopted April 2024), superseding the 2011 Core Strategy, where the strategically important Thames-side regeneration corridor drives large brownfield allocations near the river. Converted flats are present in the town centre but the borough remains house-dominated; converted flats hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched slate and clay-tile roofs on the terraces and low-pitch and hipped roofs on the modern Ebbsfleet estates, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre, interwar and postwar semi-detached suburbs, Thames-side estates and large-scale contemporary new-build at Ebbsfleet Garden City.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Dartford home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre, interwar and postwar semi-detached suburbs, Thames-side estates and large-scale contemporary new-build at Ebbsfleet Garden City, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Dartford Borough Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Dartford Local Plan (adopted April 2024), superseding the 2011 Core Strategy, 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. Ebbsfleet Garden City in the Thames Gateway is the dominant strategic growth focus, shaping the borough's housing numbers, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Dartford Town Centre, Greenhithe, Southfleet, Hook Green, Church Hill, Wilmington and Red Street among Dartford's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Dartford maintains a formal register of Article 4 directions that withdraw permitted-development rights in parts of its conservation areas where unmanaged alterations would erode local character. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Dartford are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Dartford 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 Dartford 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 Dartford Borough Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Dartford grants a slightly-below-average share of householder applications, with flat and HMO conversions treated more restrictively than straightforward house extensions. 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 Dartford town centre, Greenhithe and Stone, 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 victorian and edwardian terraces around the town centre, 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 strategically important Thames-side regeneration corridor drives large brownfield allocations near the river. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Dartford 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 Dartford back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Dartford town centre's Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a commercial core within the largest conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Greenhithe's a historic Thames-side riverside village conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Stone's mixed interwar and postwar residential along the A226 corridor — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Wilmington's village-edge conservation character at Church Hill — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Southfleet's a rural conservation village of older vernacular stock — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Ebbsfleet's new-build garden-city development of modern estates — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Dartford Borough Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Dartford depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Dartford 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 Dartford Town Centre and Greenhithe and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Dartford Borough Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Dartford 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 Dartford 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 Dartford 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 Dartford 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 Dartford. You will need to involve Dartford 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 Dartford Town Centre and Greenhithe, 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 Dartford 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 Dartford's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Dartford 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.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to Dartford 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.
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 Dartford Borough 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 Dartford 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 Dartford 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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