Two-storey extension drawings for Olney homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Milton Keynes City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Milton Keynes City Council granted 92% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1.7000000000000028 points above the 90.3% England-wide householder average. The Olney conservation area's Article 4 direction removes PD rights on all extensions, alterations, porches and exterior painting, so even minor works need consent, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) and Victorian (1837–1901) 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. Olney carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Olney, Emberton and Clifton Reynes remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Olney is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Olney (a Georgian market town on the Great Ouse, under an Article 4 conservation area), Emberton (a limestone village and conservation area south of the town), Clifton Reynes (a small riverside village and conservation area across the Ouse), Weston Underwood (a historic estate village and conservation area to the west), Lavendon (a stone-built village and conservation area on the road to Bedford) and Warrington (an outlying hamlet on the Ouse near Olney) — these are the Olney pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Olney, Emberton, Clifton Reynes, Weston Underwood and Lavendon. Milton Keynes City Council weighs each proposal against Plan:MK (the Milton Keynes Local Plan 2019), where Olney sits in the rural north of the borough, well outside the New Town grid, with a listed Georgian core around the Market Place and church. On roofs the borough is pitched clay-tile, thatch and stone-slate roofs on the historic core and gabled roofs on the modern estates, over Georgian and Victorian market-town housing around the Market Place, limestone and brick cottages in the surrounding villages and later 20th-century estate housing on the town's edges.
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. Olney is largely Georgian and Victorian market-town housing around the Market Place, limestone and brick cottages in the surrounding villages and later 20th-century estate housing on the town's edges, and pitched clay-tile, thatch and stone-slate roofs on the historic core and gabled roofs on the modern estates 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 Olney conservation area's Article 4 direction removes PD rights on all extensions, alterations, porches and exterior painting, so even minor works need consent. The Olney conservation area carries an Article 4 direction: all dwellinghouses lose permitted-development rights for any extensions or alterations, porches, and the painting of exterior walls — introduced to safeguard the Georgian market town's character.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Milton Keynes City 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 Milton Keynes City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Milton Keynes City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Milton Keynes approves the large majority of householder applications, but Olney's Article 4 direction and Georgian conservation-area character make it the borough's most tightly controlled market town. 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 Olney, Emberton and Clifton Reynes, 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 georgian and victorian market-town housing around the market place, 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.
Olney sits in the rural north of the borough, well outside the New Town grid, with a listed Georgian core around the Market Place and church. 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 Olney. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Olney — a Georgian market town on the Great Ouse, under an Article 4 conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Emberton — a limestone village and conservation area south of the town — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Clifton Reynes — a small riverside village and conservation area across the Ouse — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Weston Underwood — a historic estate village and conservation area to the west — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Lavendon — a stone-built village and conservation area on the road to Bedford — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Warrington — an outlying hamlet on the Ouse near Olney — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Milton Keynes City 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 Milton Keynes City 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 Milton Keynes City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Olney postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Milton Keynes City 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 Milton Keynes City 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 Olney, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Milton Keynes City 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 Olney gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Milton Keynes City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Milton Keynes City 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 Olney 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 Olney address specifically. Milton Keynes City 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 Milton Keynes City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Olney 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 Olney address specifically. Milton Keynes City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Olney 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 Milton Keynes City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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