Two-storey extension drawings for Sevenoaks homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Sevenoaks District Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Sevenoaks District Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Around 93% of the district is Metropolitan Green Belt, one of the most green-belt-constrained districts in England, so most countryside development faces a very-special-circumstances test, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), 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. Sevenoaks carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Sevenoaks High Street, The Vine and Sevenoaks Weald remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Sevenoaks is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Sevenoaks (the historic market-town core around the High Street and The Vine, with a Georgian and Victorian townscape), Westerham (a historic market town with a conservation-area centre), Kemsing (a downland village where front gardens and boundaries are controlled by an Article 4 direction), Otford (a historic green-belt village of vernacular cottages around the pond), Edenbridge (a small town on the district's southern High Weald edge) and Swanley (a denser, more suburban postwar settlement to the north) — these are the Sevenoaks pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Sevenoaks High Street, The Vine, Sevenoaks Weald, Hartslands, Westerham and Kemsing. Sevenoaks District Council weighs each proposal against the Sevenoaks Core Strategy (adopted February 2011) and the Allocations and Development Management Plan (adopted February 2015), where over half the district lies within the Kent Downs or High Weald National Landscapes (AONBs), where landscape protection shapes design and siting. Converted flats and maisonettes appear around Sevenoaks town and Swanley, 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 steep tiled and hipped roofs on the vernacular village cottages, over Victorian and Edwardian villas and terraces around Sevenoaks town, interwar and postwar detached and semi-detached commuter housing, historic vernacular cottages in Kentish ragstone, weatherboarding and tile-hanging across the green-belt and AONB villages and larger country properties in the rural south.
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. Sevenoaks is largely Victorian and Edwardian villas and terraces around Sevenoaks town, interwar and postwar detached and semi-detached commuter housing, historic vernacular cottages in Kentish ragstone, weatherboarding and tile-hanging across the green-belt and AONB villages and larger country properties in the rural south, and dual-pitch tiled roofs on the town villas and terraces and steep tiled and hipped roofs on the vernacular village cottages 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.
Around 93% of the district is Metropolitan Green Belt, one of the most green-belt-constrained districts in England, so most countryside development faces a very-special-circumstances test. The Kemsing conservation area Article 4 direction (adopted 2023) brings the loss or alteration of front boundary treatments and front gardens under planning control, and the district's many conservation areas such as Westerham and the Sevenoaks High Street layer further restrictions on external changes.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks District Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Sevenoaks District Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Sevenoaks grants a fair share of applications broadly in line with the national picture, with pervasive Green Belt and AONB coverage the defining pressure on anything beyond modest householder work. 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 Sevenoaks, Westerham and Kemsing, 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 villas and terraces around sevenoaks town, 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.
Over half the district lies within the Kent Downs or High Weald National Landscapes (AONBs), where landscape protection shapes design and siting. 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 Sevenoaks. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Sevenoaks — the historic market-town core around the High Street and The Vine, with a Georgian and Victorian townscape — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Westerham — a historic market town with a conservation-area centre — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Kemsing — a downland village where front gardens and boundaries are controlled by an Article 4 direction — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Otford — a historic green-belt village of vernacular cottages around the pond — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Edenbridge — a small town on the district's southern High Weald edge — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks District Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Swanley — a denser, more suburban postwar settlement to the north — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks District Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Sevenoaks postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Sevenoaks District Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks address specifically. Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks address specifically. Sevenoaks District Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks District Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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