Six tests instead of a tape measure
Some councils publish a table of depths for every kind of house. Hartlepool doesn't work like that. When an addition needs a planning application here, it is judged against Policy HSG11 of the Local Plan adopted in May 2018, which opens by saying the council supports homeowners who want to improve their homes.
Then come the conditions. The size, design and materials have to sit comfortably with the house you've got. The street's character mustn't suffer. Neighbours mustn't lose out through overlooking, overshadowing or a poor outlook. You must still be able to park on your own plot, keep enough private garden for normal family life, and not create a road safety problem.
Two of those catch people more than the rest. A side addition built over the drive can leave a semi with nowhere to put the car, and a long kitchen on a short terrace yard can eat most of the outdoor space. Neither is automatically refused, but an officer will ask about both.
The council's Residential Design SPD, adopted in September 2019, sits behind the policy. A planning committee report from 2020 described it as asking for at least 10 metres between an extension and the habitable rooms it faces. The same SPD says an addition shouldn't block a door or window or give a burglar an easy climb to the upper floor, so think twice about a flat roof sitting right under a bedroom window.
Which addition suits a Hartlepool house
Ordered by how often each one fits the town's semis, terraces and newer estates. Each links to a fuller guide.
Single storey at the back. Semis outnumber every other house type here, and a 3 metre addition on the back of one is normally permitted development with no application at all. Want 6 metres? Prior approval lets the council hear from neighbours and gives it 42 days to respond.
Kitchen. The usual brief on a semi or a West Hartlepool terrace. Measure a terrace yard first, because HSG11 expects enough garden to be left for drying washing, bins and sitting out.
Side return. Suits the Victorian terraces with a back offshot and a narrow strip of yard beside it. Permitted development allows it at one storey, no taller than 4 metres and no wider than half the house, except in a conservation area.
Two storey. Normally a planning application, since a two storey back addition under permitted development must stay 7 metres off the rear boundary, so measure the garden. Going sideways on a semi? Check you can still park off the road.
Open plan. Taking out the back wall of a brick terrace means a steel beam and an engineer's calculations. Hartlepool's in-house building control service will want those drawings before the wall comes down.
Wrap-around. Counts as a side addition, so it always needs permission in any of the eight conservation areas. Outside them it suits the wider plot of a semi or detached house better than a terrace.
Downstairs bedroom. Bungalows are around one home in eight in the council's figures, and they are the simplest to give a level access bedroom and shower room. If the plot is in a flood zone, raise the floor rather than step down into the new room.
Home office. Terrace yards are rarely big enough for a separate garden office to make sense. Attaching the room keeps the outdoor space HSG11 asks you to protect.
Planning. Look up what has already been approved on your road before you commission drawings. Newer estates often had permitted development rights taken away by a condition on the original approval.
Cost. No price from us here. Foundations in boulder clay, a flood level to build above or a natural slate roof to match all move the price, and only a builder who has seen the plot can say by how much.
The Grange and the Headland
Inside any of Hartlepool's eight conservation areas you lose the right to build sideways, or to put up a back addition taller than one storey, without permission. Cladding in render, timber or stone is out too.
The Grange goes further. Its Article 4 direction means an extension fronting a highway or public open space needs consent, and the appraisal written for the area has firm views. Additions should be subservient to the house and match its style and quality. It also notes that first floor rooms built over garages have started turning rows of semis into terraces in all but name, closing the glimpses of back gardens between them. A first floor side addition on Park Road or Linden Grove will meet that argument head on.
In the Park area the appraisal wants the balance between subdivided plots and open garden kept as it is. Big rear additions to the villas are judged with that in mind, and so are the trees around them.
Sea, becks and the flood map
The council's 2017 flood risk study says river flooding here comes mostly from Burn Valley Beck and The Slake, inside the town itself. The sea is the other threat. Without defence works, the study counted 562 properties at risk on the Headland over the next century, and it flags the Seaton Carew frontage for waves overtopping the defences. Homes on Valley Drive and Carisbrooke Road have flooded before when the Tunstall Farm Beck culverts couldn't cope.
If your house is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, any planning application must come with a flood risk assessment. For a householder addition under 250 square metres, the Environment Agency's standing advice for minor extensions covers what it should say, chiefly floor levels and flood resistant materials.
Where these facts come from
- Hartlepool Local Plan (adopted May 2018)
- Hartlepool Local Plan: proposed additional modifications (Policy HSG11 text)
- Hartlepool Planning Committee papers, 18 March 2020
- Residential Design SPD adoption statement (2019)
- Grange Conservation Area Character Appraisal
- Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal
- Hartlepool Strategic Flood Risk Assessment Level 1 (2017)
- Environment Agency: flood risk standing advice
- GOV.UK: Permitted development rights for householders, technical guidance
- Hartlepool planning applications search
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Questions people in Hartlepool ask
Does Hartlepool council use a 45 degree rule for extensions?
We haven't found one in its published guidance. Applications are judged under Policy HSG11 on overlooking, overshadowing and outlook, with the Residential Design SPD behind it. Draw the neighbour's nearest window on your plans anyway, because that is where the questions will start.
I'm in the Grange. Can I extend at the back without applying?
Often, yes. The Article 4 direction only bites where the work faces a road or open space, so a single storey addition hidden at the rear can still be permitted development. A corner plot is a different matter. Side and two storey rear additions need permission anywhere in the conservation area.
My house at Seaton Carew is near the front. What extra do I need?
Check the government's flood map for planning. In Flood Zone 2 or 3, a planning application needs a flood risk assessment, and the Environment Agency recommends floor levels at least 600mm above the estimated flood level for a minor extension, or 300mm where that level is known with high certainty.
Will a side extension over my drive be refused because of parking?
Not automatically, but HSG11 says an extension must not leave less than adequate parking within the curtilage. If the drive is your only space, show where the car will go on the plans.