Back-of-house extension drawings for Reigate & Banstead homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Reigate & Banstead Borough Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. A double landscape constraint applies in the south, combining Metropolitan Green Belt with the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 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 Reigate & Banstead Borough Council needs a full application. Reigate & Banstead carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Reigate, Redhill and Banstead Village remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Reigate & Banstead is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Reigate (historic market town with Victorian and Edwardian conservation cores), Redhill (a Victorian railway-junction town with postwar and new-build regeneration), Banstead (low-density 1930s interwar semis around a village core), Horley (a southern town of postwar and ongoing new-build estates), Merstham (Victorian terraces alongside the postwar New Merstham estates) and Nutfield (a rural village in the Green Belt and Surrey Hills setting) — these are the Reigate & Banstead pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Reigate, Redhill, Banstead Village, Reigate Heath, Nutfield and Merstham. Reigate & Banstead Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Reigate & Banstead Core Strategy (adopted 2014) and Development Management Plan (adopted 2019), where the 2019 Development Management Plan released nine Green Belt sites as sustainable urban extensions for around 845 homes, a notable managed release. Flats are a meaningful share of stock in the Redhill and Reigate town centres and at Merstham, and converted flats hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched clay and concrete-tile gabled and hipped roofs on the interwar semis and steeper tiled roofs on the Victorian mansions of Reigate Hill and Wray Common, over Victorian and Edwardian streets in Reigate and around Redhill's railway junction, abundant low-density 1930s interwar semis in Banstead, postwar and modern estate housing in Redhill, Horley and Merstham and village vernacular in the rural Green Belt and Surrey Hills settlements.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Reigate & Banstead 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 streets in Reigate and around Redhill's railway junction, abundant low-density 1930s interwar semis in Banstead, postwar and modern estate housing in Redhill, Horley and Merstham and village vernacular in the rural Green Belt and Surrey Hills settlements, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Reigate & Banstead Borough Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Reigate & Banstead Core Strategy (adopted 2014) and Development Management Plan (adopted 2019), 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. A double landscape constraint applies in the south, combining Metropolitan Green Belt with the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Reigate, Redhill, Banstead Village, Reigate Heath, Nutfield and Merstham among Reigate & Banstead's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. An Article 4 direction in force from February 2026 removes the permitted right to change ground-floor commercial units to residential across the borough's town and local centres, protecting retail and services frontages. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Reigate & Banstead are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Reigate & Banstead grants a fair share of householder applications broadly at the national norm, higher than the most heavily green-belted Surrey neighbours, with the AONB and Green Belt the main constraints in the south. 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 Reigate, Redhill and Banstead, 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 streets in reigate and around redhill's railway junction, 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 2019 Development Management Plan released nine Green Belt sites as sustainable urban extensions for around 845 homes, a notable managed release. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Reigate's historic market town with Victorian and Edwardian conservation cores — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Redhill's a Victorian railway-junction town with postwar and new-build regeneration — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Banstead's low-density 1930s interwar semis around a village core — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Horley's a southern town of postwar and ongoing new-build estates — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Merstham's Victorian terraces alongside the postwar New Merstham estates — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Nutfield's a rural village in the Green Belt and Surrey Hills setting — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Reigate & Banstead Borough Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Reigate & Banstead depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate and Redhill and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Reigate & Banstead Borough Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead. You will need to involve Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate and Redhill, 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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 Reigate & Banstead 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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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.