Back-of-house extension drawings for Heavitree homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Exeter City Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Exeter City Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. The Heavitree conservation area protects the old village core, so frontage, shopfront and roofline changes around Fore Street are assessed on design, 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.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. In conservation areas such as Heavitree, Mount Radford and St Leonard's those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Heavitree is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Fore Street (the old village high street around the Gordon Lamp and Livery Dole), Magdalen Road (Victorian terraces and shops linking Heavitree to St Leonard's), Polsloe (Edwardian and interwar terraces near Polsloe Bridge station), Whipton (interwar and postwar semis on the eastern edge) and Livery Dole (listed sixteenth-century almshouses and chapel on Magdalen Road) — these are the Heavitree pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Heavitree, Mount Radford and St Leonard's. Exeter City Council weighs each proposal against the Exeter Local Plan / Core Strategy and the emerging Exeter Plan, where the local red Heavitree breccia and slate that give the suburb its character steer material choices on extensions in the older streets. On roofs the borough is gabled Welsh-slate roofs on the bay-fronted terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian bay-fronted terraces, period cottages and villas in local red Heavitree breccia and interwar and postwar suburban semis on the fringes.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Heavitree 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 bay-fronted terraces, period cottages and villas in local red Heavitree breccia and interwar and postwar suburban semis on the fringes, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Exeter City Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Exeter Local Plan / Core Strategy and the emerging Exeter Plan, 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. The Heavitree conservation area protects the old village core, so frontage, shopfront and roofline changes around Fore Street are assessed on design, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Heavitree, Mount Radford and St Leonard's among Heavitree's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Heavitree sits outside the city's HMO Article 4 Direction, but the Heavitree conservation area — with the listed Livery Dole almshouses and St Clare's Chapel at its heart — and the neighbouring Mount Radford area remove permitted-development rights on many of its older streets. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Heavitree are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Exeter City 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 Exeter City 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 Exeter City Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Exeter grants around 87% of the applications it decides, with the tight rhythm of Heavitree's bay-fronted terraces and its village-core conservation area the main constraints on rear and roof schemes. 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 Fore Street, Magdalen Road and Polsloe, 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 bay-fronted terraces, 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 local red Heavitree breccia and slate that give the suburb its character steer material choices on extensions in the older streets. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Exeter City 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 Heavitree back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Fore Street's the old village high street around the Gordon Lamp and Livery Dole — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Exeter City Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Magdalen Road's Victorian terraces and shops linking Heavitree to St Leonard's — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Exeter City Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Polsloe's Edwardian and interwar terraces near Polsloe Bridge station — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Exeter City Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Whipton's interwar and postwar semis on the eastern edge — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Exeter City Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Livery Dole's listed sixteenth-century almshouses and chapel on Magdalen Road — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Exeter City Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Heavitree depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Exeter City 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 Heavitree and Mount Radford and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Exeter City Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Heavitree 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 Exeter City 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 Exeter City 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 Exeter City 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 Heavitree. You will need to involve Exeter City 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 Heavitree and Mount Radford, 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 Exeter City 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 Heavitree's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Exeter City 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 Heavitree address specifically.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to Exeter City 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 Heavitree 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 Exeter City 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 Heavitree address specifically.
We price each Heavitree 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 Exeter City 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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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.