Two numbers from the 2022 design guide
Scarborough's rulebook for adding to a house is newer than most. The Residential Design Guide was adopted in February 2022, and North Yorkshire Council still applies its section 8 across the old borough outside the National Park.
The first number is 45 degrees. For a two-storey addition, the planner draws a line out and up from the centre of your neighbour's nearest ground-floor living room or similar main window. No part of the new work should cross it. Single-storey jobs get an easier ride, because the line starts from the far edge of that window instead. There's a let-out too. If the line would run more than 12 metres before it reached your extension, the test doesn't apply at all.
The second number is 10 metres. The guide says a two-storey rear addition should typically sit no closer than that to a shared back boundary, and it is wary of first-floor windows looking over gardens shorter than 10 metres. On a lot of town-centre streets the yards are smaller than that, which rules out going up at the back before you've started.
The guide sets no maximum rear depth. It is blunt about two storeys on semis and terraces, though. They are hard to fit and usually take light from next door unless the upper floor steps well back from the boundary.
Side additions, flat roofs and what has to match
The council worries about streets of semis turning into terraces as every gap fills. So a side addition should usually be set back from the front wall of the house and set down below its ridge, with a roof that follows the pitch of the main one. Flat roofs are to be avoided on any elevation people can see from the street. Out the front, the guide only accepts extensions in exceptional cases, such as a detached house set well back.
Materials should match the original closely, and where they can't, the guide prefers something complementary to a poor copy. Red brick and rosemary tiles in North Leas or Newby are easy. Matching old grey slate on a terrace takes longer.
Weaponness, the seafront and the cliffs
Most of Scarborough keeps its national permitted development rights. Weaponness doesn't. Its 2009 Article 4 direction removes the right to extend a house at all, front, side or back, and the right to add a porch. So in that leafy corner of Arts and Crafts houses, even a small back kitchen needs planning permission. The Old Town direction from 2005 is different. It controls roofs, windows, chimneys and walls, but leaves extension rights alone, subject to the conservation area limits.
Along the front, the council's 2021 flood risk assessment picks out coastal risk to Foreshore Road and Sandside. A house in Flood Zone 2 or 3 needs a flood risk assessment with any application, and the Environment Agency's standing advice for minor extensions sets out what goes in it. In Scalby, the beck affects a small number of homes.
Then there's the cliff. In June 1993 about a million tonnes of glacial till slid off South Cliff and took Holbeck Hall with it. The British Geological Survey blamed heavy rain, poor drainage and water pressure in weak clay. Living near the top of either bay? Tell your engineer and building control early, and think hard about where the roof water from a new extension will go.
How each type fits a Scarborough house
Each links to a longer guide.
Single-storey rear. Our first pick for the inter-war and post-war semis. Outside a conservation area you can build 3 metres out from the original back wall of a semi or terrace, or 4 metres on a detached house, without applying. Up to 6 or 8 metres is possible through prior approval, where the council asks the neighbours and has 42 days to respond.
Kitchen. Spend on good frames before extra floor area. Roof lights bring light into a terrace kitchen without side windows looking into next door's yard.
Side return. Suits the byelaw terraces in the central streets that have a narrow passage beside the back offshoot. A side extension needs planning permission inside a conservation area, and a shared wall usually means a party wall notice.
Open plan. Taking out the back wall of a Victorian terrace means a steel beam. Near the cliffs, expect the engineer to ask about the ground first.
Wrap-around. Always an application, since the side part falls outside permitted development. Keep the side wing set back from the front and lower than the main roof, as the design guide asks.
Two-storey. Most likely to succeed on a detached house or a semi with room at the side. At the back, the 45 degree line and the 10 metre boundary distance decide most cases. Under national rules it can't be within 7 metres of the rear boundary anyway.
Ground-floor bedroom. A tall terrace with steep stairs is a hard house to grow old in. A bedroom and wet room at the back can keep someone at home.
Home office. Small back yards in town rarely have room for a separate cabin. Attaching the office to the house keeps the garden and puts the desk on the same heating and broadband.
Planning. In any of the 28 conservation areas you lose side extensions, rear extensions over one storey and cladding. In Weaponness you lose every extension right. Some newer estates have conditions removing permitted development, so check the Public Access register.
Cost and value. We don't publish prices. Reclaimed slate or a flood risk assessment can each move the figure, so get builders to see the house.
Where these facts come from
- Residential Design Guide SPD (2022): extensions and alterations
- Article 4: Weaponness conservation area
- North Yorkshire Council: Scarborough Article 4 directions
- Scarborough Borough and Ryedale Level 1 SFRA (2021)
- British Geological Survey: Holbeck Hall landslide
- Environment Agency: flood risk standing advice
- GOV.UK: householder permitted development technical guidance
- North Yorkshire Council: planning applications, Scarborough area
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Questions people in Scarborough ask
Our neighbour's living room window is a long way from where we'd build. Does the 45 degree rule still apply?
Maybe not. Scarborough's design guide says that if the 45 degree line would run more than 12 metres before reaching any part of the extension, the guideline need not apply. Overlooking and overshadowing are still judged.
We're in Weaponness. Can we add a small porch without applying?
No. The Weaponness Article 4 direction removes the porch right as well as the right to extend, so both need planning permission, whatever their size or which side of the house they're on.
We live near Foreshore Road. Can we still extend?
Usually, yes. The council's flood risk assessment names Foreshore Road and Sandside for coastal flood risk. If the house is in Flood Zone 2 or 3, send a flood risk assessment with the application, following the Environment Agency's advice for minor extensions.
Our back garden is short. Is a two-storey rear extension worth asking about?
Probably not on a semi or terrace. The guide says two-storey rear additions should typically stay 10 metres from a shared rear boundary. A single storey, or going up at the side, is the more likely route.