Two-storey extension drawings for Mole Valley homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Mole Valley District Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Mole Valley District Council granted 83% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 4 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Metropolitan Green Belt covers the bulk of the district and the adopted plan releases well under one per cent of it, so countryside development is tightly controlled, 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. Mole Valley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Dorking, Leatherhead and Brockham remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Mole Valley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Dorking (a historic market town with a Victorian and Edwardian core, a conservation area and an Article 4 direction), Leatherhead (a market town of mixed period and postwar housing with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction), Great Bookham (an affluent commuter village with its own conservation-area character), Fetcham (largely interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses near Leatherhead), Brockham (a green-belt village around a classic green with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction) and Westhumble (a small Surrey Hills village of detached rural stock below Box Hill) — these are the Mole Valley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Dorking, Leatherhead, Brockham, Great Bookham and Little Bookham. Mole Valley District Council weighs each proposal against the Mole Valley Local Plan 2020–2039 (adopted October 2024), where the Surrey Hills National Landscape (AONB) covers much of the south and west around Dorking and Box Hill, where landscape scrutiny is heightened. Converted flats appear around Dorking and Leatherhead town centres, and none of them hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is dual-pitch tiled roofs on the town villas and terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar suburban semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas in the market towns of Dorking and Leatherhead, interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses around the towns, substantial detached housing and period cottages in the green-belt and Surrey Hills villages and larger rural country properties to the south and west.
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. Mole Valley is largely Victorian and Edwardian terraces and villas in the market towns of Dorking and Leatherhead, interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses around the towns, substantial detached housing and period cottages in the green-belt and Surrey Hills villages and larger rural country properties to the south and west, and dual-pitch tiled roofs on the town villas and terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar suburban 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.
Metropolitan Green Belt covers the bulk of the district and the adopted plan releases well under one per cent of it, so countryside development is tightly controlled. Mole Valley has Article 4 directions removing permitted-development rights in the Dorking, Leatherhead and Brockham conservation areas, so that features contributing to their character cannot be altered without consent.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Mole Valley District Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Mole Valley grants a lower share of applications than the national average, with near-total Green Belt coverage and the Surrey Hills AONB the constraints behind most refusals of larger schemes. 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 Dorking, Leatherhead and Great Bookham, 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 victorian and edwardian terraces and villas in the market towns of dorking and leatherhead, 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.
The Surrey Hills National Landscape (AONB) covers much of the south and west around Dorking and Box Hill, where landscape scrutiny is heightened. 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 Mole Valley. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Dorking — a historic market town with a Victorian and Edwardian core, a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Leatherhead — a market town of mixed period and postwar housing with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Great Bookham — an affluent commuter village with its own conservation-area character — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Fetcham — largely interwar and postwar suburban semis and detached houses near Leatherhead — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Brockham — a green-belt village around a classic green with a conservation area and an Article 4 direction — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Westhumble — a small Surrey Hills village of detached rural stock below Box Hill — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Mole Valley postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Mole Valley District Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Mole Valley District 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.
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 Mole Valley address specifically. Mole Valley District 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 Mole Valley District Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings.
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 Mole Valley address specifically. Mole Valley District Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Mole Valley 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 Mole Valley District Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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