Back-of-house extension drawings for Woking homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Woking Borough Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Woking Borough Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Metropolitan Green Belt covers roughly three-fifths of the borough, one of the highest shares in England, forcing growth onto the urban core, 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.
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. Woking carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Old Woking, Horsell and Hook Heath remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Woking is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Woking town centre (dense modern flatted and commercial regeneration), Horsell (historic village character beside Horsell Common), Old Woking (the historic parish core with a conservation area), Hook Heath (affluent large detached houses on wooded plots), Knaphill (postwar and interwar suburban semis to the west) and West Byfleet (village-character commuter settlement to the north-east) — these are the Woking pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Old Woking, Horsell, Hook Heath, Mount Hermon, St Johns and Byfleet. Woking Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Woking Core Strategy (adopted 2012) and Site Allocations DPD (adopted 2021), where consequent town-centre densification through tall flatted schemes sits in tension with protected village character at Horsell, Old Woking and Pyrford. Converted and purpose-built flats are common and growing, heavily concentrated in the town centre, and hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched gabled and hipped tiled roofs on the villas and semis and steep tile-hung and gabled roofs on the affluent detached houses, over Victorian and Edwardian villas around Woking, Horsell and Maybury built after the 1838 railway, large detached stockbroker-belt houses on wooded plots at Hook Heath and Pyrford, interwar and postwar semi-detached and terraced commuter suburbia and high-density modern flats in the town centre.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Woking 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 villas around Woking, Horsell and Maybury built after the 1838 railway, large detached stockbroker-belt houses on wooded plots at Hook Heath and Pyrford, interwar and postwar semi-detached and terraced commuter suburbia and high-density modern flats in the town centre, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Woking Borough Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Woking Core Strategy (adopted 2012) and Site Allocations DPD (adopted 2021), 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. Metropolitan Green Belt covers roughly three-fifths of the borough, one of the highest shares in England, forcing growth onto the urban core, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Old Woking, Horsell, Hook Heath, Mount Hermon, St Johns and Byfleet among Woking's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Woking uses Article 4(2) directions within its conservation areas to remove specified permitted-development rights, so minor alterations to houses in areas such as Old Woking and Mount Hermon need planning consent. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Woking are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking Borough Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Woking is among the more restrictive commuter authorities, with dominant Green Belt and heathland designations the reason its countryside grant rate runs below the national average even as urban householder work fares better. 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 Woking town centre, Horsell and Old Woking, 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 villas around woking, horsell and maybury built after the 1838 railway, 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.
Consequent town-centre densification through tall flatted schemes sits in tension with protected village character at Horsell, Old Woking and Pyrford. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Woking 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 Woking back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Woking town centre's dense modern flatted and commercial regeneration — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Horsell's historic village character beside Horsell Common — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Old Woking's the historic parish core with a conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Hook Heath's affluent large detached houses on wooded plots — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Knaphill's postwar and interwar suburban semis to the west — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for West Byfleet's village-character commuter settlement to the north-east — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Woking Borough Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Woking depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Woking 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 Old Woking and Horsell and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Woking Borough Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking. You will need to involve Woking 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 Old Woking and Horsell, 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 Woking 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 Woking's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking 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 Woking 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.
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.