Planning rules eased for home improvements

From today, the rules change over what can be done to alter houses and flats without needing planning permission.

Alastair Banks, OIC’s planning manager said: “The new rules are contained in a Scottish Government Order and are quite complex – so it still makes sense for anyone interested in altering their house or flat to contact a planning officer at the council to check to see if the alterations would need planning permission or not.”

Among the changes, the new rules will allow extensions to houses that could be up to the same size again of the footprint of the original house, provided that no more than 50 per cent of either the rear or front areas of spare land in the curtilage of the house are going to be built on and provided the extensions do not project towards a road from the principal or side elevations of the house. The existing rules for air source heat pumps and wind turbines in the curtilage of a house remain the same.

A critical consideration for Orkney is that almost none of the new permitted development rights can be applied in conservation areas or in the curtilages of listed buildings.

The new permitted development rights and the rules governing them are all in The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2011 which can be accessed via http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2011/357/contents/made

For more information, or advice, contact the council’s planning team on 873535 or email planning@orkney.gov.uk