Two-storey extension drawings for Acomb homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to City of York Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
City of York Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The historic village green and building line in the conservation area constrain frontage changes and infill near Acomb Green, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant 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 City of York Council needs a full application. Acomb carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Acomb, St Paul's Square / Holgate Road and Upper Poppleton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Acomb is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Acomb Village (historic cottages and church around the green in the conservation area), Front Street (the suburb's traditional shopping street with flats over shops), Chapelfields (postwar semi-detached suburban housing to the west), Westfield (interwar and postwar estate housing on generous plots) and Hob Moor (housing edging the protected Hob Moor common land) — these are the Acomb pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Acomb, St Paul's Square / Holgate Road and Upper Poppleton. City of York Council weighs each proposal against the City of York Local Plan (adopted 2024) and the Acomb conservation area appraisal, where generous interwar plots make rear and side extensions viable, but officers guard the spacing and building lines of paired semis. On roofs the borough is pitched and pantiled roofs on the village core and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over historic village-core cottages around Acomb Green, interwar and postwar semi-detached houses and Edwardian terraces linking Acomb to Holgate.
Adding at first floor changes the question the case officer asks. A single-storey extension is judged mostly on daylight and garden loss; a two-storey extension is judged on overlooking, bulk against the neighbouring roofline, and whether it reads as part of the house or bolted onto it. Acomb is largely historic village-core cottages around Acomb Green, interwar and postwar semi-detached houses and Edwardian terraces linking Acomb to Holgate, and pitched and pantiled roofs on the village core and hipped roofs on the interwar semis set what a matching roof actually means here.
The permitted-development route exists but is narrow: 3 metres of rear projection, a 7-metre stand-off from the rear boundary, eaves and ridge no higher than the original, and side-facing upper windows obscure-glazed and non-opening below 1.7 metres above floor level. Most two-storey schemes fail one of those, usually the 7-metre boundary rule on a shorter garden, and go in as a full application instead. We establish which route applies before designing, because it changes the drawing set.
The historic village green and building line in the conservation area constrain frontage changes and infill near Acomb Green. The Acomb conservation area protects the historic village green and church, and York's citywide Article 4 direction requires planning permission for any change of use to an HMO across the wider suburb.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to City of York Council if any of these apply:
We set the projection and boundary distance on the site plan, prove the roof-pitch match on the elevations, and specify obscure glazing on the side windows — the three things City of York Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is City of York Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. City of York grants the large majority of householder applications in Acomb, with the historic village-green conservation area the tightest constraint and the suburban semi stock otherwise offering good extension potential. Two-storey schemes attract more neighbour comment than any other householder work, so the overlooking and daylight case has to be made on the drawings.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
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Across Acomb Village, Front Street and Chapelfields, the schemes that succeed set the first floor back from the ground floor, keep the ridge below the original, and treat the flank wall as blank or obscure-glazed. On historic village-core cottages around acomb green, matching the eaves line matters more than matching the brick: an extension that carries the existing eaves through reads as original even in a different material.
Generous interwar plots make rear and side extensions viable, but officers guard the spacing and building lines of paired semis. We draw the 45-degree daylight test from the neighbour's nearest habitable window, show the window positions in section, and set out the steel and foundation implications early — a two-storey extension changes the load path, so the structural design and the planning design have to be developed together rather than in sequence.
We draw two-storey extensions across Acomb. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Acomb Village — historic cottages and church around the green in the conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to City of York Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Front Street — the suburb's traditional shopping street with flats over shops — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to City of York Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Chapelfields — postwar semi-detached suburban housing to the west — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to City of York Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Westfield — interwar and postwar estate housing on generous plots — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to City of York Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Hob Moor — housing edging the protected Hob Moor common land — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to City of York Council's guidance.
The first-floor limits are tighter than the ground-floor ones. This is how the common cases compare.
| Scheme | Permitted development? | Deciding limit | What City of York Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-storey rear, 3m projection, 7m+ to boundary | Often yes | 3m projection / 7m boundary | Roof match, side-window glazing |
| Two-storey rear, under 7m to boundary | No — full application | Rear-boundary distance | Overlooking, daylight, garden loss |
| Two-storey side extension | No — full application | Side elevation | Gap to boundary, street rhythm |
| Two-storey wraparound | No — full application | Combined footprint | Bulk, massing, neighbour amenity |
| Any two-storey on designated land | No — full application | Designation | Character and appearance |
Limits from the GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A — two-storey rear extension conditions.
A fixed process built around how City of York Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Acomb postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live City of York Council decisions.
We measure the original rear wall, eaves and ridge heights, garden depth and every neighbouring window that faces the site — the inputs the daylight and overlooking case is built from.
Chartered designers develop the two-storey addition to your brief with the roof and eaves resolved, and we coordinate the load path so the structural scheme and the planning scheme are the same building.
We submit the application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until City of York Council issues its decision.
Often, but not always. A two-storey rear extension can be permitted development if it projects no more than 3 metres, sits at least 7 metres from the rear boundary, does not exceed the existing eaves and ridge, and has obscure-glazed non-opening side windows below 1.7 metres. In Acomb, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to City of York Council.
No part of a permitted-development two-storey rear extension may come within 7 metres of the boundary opposite the rear wall of the house. It exists to protect the neighbour behind you from being overlooked at first floor. On shorter Acomb gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. City of York Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to City of York Council. They are assessed on the gap to the boundary, whether the street's rhythm of spaces between houses survives, and whether the extension is subordinate to the original. Setting the first floor back from the front building line and down from the ridge is what usually makes the difference. This applies to your Acomb address specifically.
Overlooking is the most common objection, and it is answerable on the drawings. We position habitable-room windows away from neighbouring gardens, obscure-glaze and fix shut anything on the flank below 1.7 metres, and show the sight lines in section. Where the geometry is tight, a rooflight or a high-level window gives the same daylight without the mutual overlooking that draws objections. This applies to your Acomb address specifically. City of York Council is the decision-maker.
Almost certainly. Excavating within 3 metres of a neighbouring structure and building on or up to the boundary both trigger the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and a two-storey extension usually does both. It is entirely separate from City of York Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Acomb address specifically.
Yes. Adding a floor changes the load path from roof to foundation, so beams, padstones and foundation depths all need designing and calculating for building control. Planning and building regulations are separate consents, and the structural set is what building control assesses — we prepare both so the approved scheme is the buildable one. This applies to your Acomb address specifically. City of York Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Acomb two-storey extension individually, because plot depth, roof form and structural complexity vary house to house, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the drawing pack with free revisions until City of York Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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