One design guide, two old policies
When an addition here needs planning permission, the officer reaches for three things. Policies DC1 and CS5 of the Core Strategy, adopted in 2008, deal with neighbours' living conditions and with the look of the street. Behind them sits the Urban Design SPD, adopted in January 2013. There's no separate householder guide. Policies change over time, so ask your designer which ones apply on the day you submit.
The SPD doesn't cap floor area. A planning inspector looking at a two storey side scheme on appeal said as much, and accepted that pulling the upper floor back from the front of the house was the approach the SPD looks for. On a pair of semis the set-back keeps a visible break between neighbours.
Building out at the front is a harder sell. Another inspector quoted the SPD as saying front additions are generally unacceptable in principle, though a small, well designed one can sometimes pass.
We haven't found a 45 degree rule or a maximum depth in anything the council publishes. Expect the officer to judge daylight and outlook from the neighbour's nearest window instead, so put it on the drawings. A council report from 2021 also repeats the SPD's advice of 21 metres of clear distance between facing homes, which matters if upstairs windows move closer to the house behind.
Matching the addition to the house
Semis outnumber every other house type in this town, so the list starts with what suits them. Each entry links to a fuller guide.
Single storey at the back. On a semi or terrace outside the conservation areas, 3 metres is normally permitted development, and 4 metres on a detached house. Prior approval can stretch that to 6 or 8 metres, with neighbours told and a 42 day wait for the council's answer.
Kitchen. The usual reason people build onto a post-war semi. Get the glazing and the new layout drawn together, not one after the other.
Two storey. Usually a planning application. Over the drive of a semi, step the upper floor back from the front wall, as the SPD expects. At the rear, permitted development stops at 3 metres deep and needs 7 metres to the back boundary.
Wrap-around. Part of it is a side addition, so it needs consent in any of the eight conservation areas. Elsewhere it suits a detached house in Nunthorpe or Marton better than a semi with a shared drive.
Open plan. Knocking through a post-war back wall almost always means a steel beam on padstones. The council's own building control team, at Fountain Court, will want the engineer's calculations first.
Side return. Only a fit for the older terraces with a back offshot, and plenty of the town's first terraces were demolished long ago. Permitted development allows it at one storey, up to 4 metres tall and half the house's width.
Downstairs bedroom. A wide semi plot gives room for a level access bedroom and shower room on the side. If you're near one of the becks, raise the floor rather than stepping down into it.
Home office. In Linthorpe a separate garden building is covered by the Article 4 direction too, so a detached office there loses its main advantage.
Planning. Check the council's planning register for your road before paying for drawings. Newer estates such as Coulby Newham and Hemlington Grange may have had permitted development removed by conditions on the original consent.
Cost. No figure here. Deep foundations in clay, a sewer connection instead of a soakaway, or natural slate to match in Linthorpe all move the price. A builder on site can tell you how far.
Linthorpe, Albert Park and the other protected streets
Middlesbrough has eight conservation areas. In all of them, any addition beyond a side wall needs consent, a back addition can only be one storey without it, and you can't clad the outside in render, timber or tiles.
Linthorpe also has an Article 4 direction, in force since 2010. It takes away the right to enlarge or alter a house on the front, and sometimes the sides, without permission. Outbuildings are caught as well. The council asks for natural slate on roofs and wants chimneys kept, so a new pitched roof on a side addition should follow suit.
Around Albert Park, the council's 2012 draft appraisal is blunt. Additions on the front should be avoided, the side or rear is preferred, and anything new should be subordinate to the house in similar or complementary materials. It also warns against overdeveloping the big plots and losing gardens, and against felling trees.
Becks, clay and where the rain goes
There's no coast here, so flood risk comes from the becks and from rain that can't get away. The council's flood strategy, published in 2016, names Marton West Beck, Newham Beck, Middle Beck and Ormesby Beck, and estimates 2,300 properties could be hit by surface water in a severe storm. Marton West Beck flooded around 230 homes near Marton Road in 2000 and 2002. A scheme finished in December 2021 now protects about 500 homes and businesses in the middle of town.
Look your address up on the government's flood map for planning. In Flood Zone 2 or 3 an application has to come with a flood risk assessment, and for a householder addition the Environment Agency's standing advice sets out what goes in it. Floor levels are the main point.
Then there's the ground. A study the council commissioned for land at Hemlington found low-permeability clay soils over glacial till, which it said can't take surface water by infiltration. If your plot is similar, a soakaway for the new roof may fail its test, and the rainwater will need another route.
Where these facts come from
- Middlesbrough Council: supplementary planning documents (Urban Design SPD, 2013)
- Middlesbrough Council: Linthorpe Article 4(2) direction
- Albert Park and Linthorpe Road draft conservation area appraisal (2012)
- Middlesbrough Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (2016)
- Hemlington flood risk assessment and drainage strategy (2018)
- GOV.UK: Marton West Beck flood scheme complete
- Environment Agency: flood risk standing advice
- GOV.UK: Permitted development rights for householders, technical guidance
- Middlesbrough Council: building control
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Questions people in Middlesbrough ask
Does Middlesbrough council use the 45 degree rule for extensions?
Not in any guidance we could find. Applications are judged against Core Strategy policies DC1 and CS5 and the 2013 Urban Design SPD, which look at light, outlook and privacy for neighbours. Show the nearest neighbouring window on your plans anyway.
We're in Linthorpe. Can we build a kitchen on the back without applying?
Possibly. The Article 4 direction there bites on the front of the house and sometimes the sides, so a single storey rear addition can still be permitted development within the normal limits. Anything to the side, or taller than one storey, needs consent in a conservation area. Ring the conservation officer before you commit.
Our house backs onto Ormesby Beck. What extra will an application need?
Check the flood map for planning first. If you're in Flood Zone 2 or 3, include a flood risk assessment. For a minor addition the Environment Agency recommends floor levels at least 600mm above the estimated flood level. Where that can't be done, it wants flood resistant construction to the same height instead.
We're in Hemlington. Will a soakaway work for the extension roof?
Don't count on it. A drainage study for council land at Hemlington found clay soils unsuitable for infiltration. Have a percolation test done early, and ask your builder what the fallback is if it fails.