Whose grass is in front of your house?
Corby was laid out as a New Town, with open grass in front of a lot of its housing. Before you give up the garage and plan to park on the front instead, find out who owns that strip. North Northamptonshire Council's dropped kerb page says that in some towns, Corby and Wellingborough in particular, many of these grassed areas aren't public highway at all. They're council land, and crossing one with a new drive needs the council's separate permission on top of the kerb licence.
The licence itself has rules. You need a clear space inside your boundary at least 5 metres deep and 3 metres wide, the new access can't come within a metre of a street tree's trunk, and lamp posts or name plates in the way will stop it. Only contractors on the council's approved list may build it. A house on a classified road needs planning permission for the crossing before any of that.
So sort out where the car will go first, then talk to builders about the room.
What the county parking standards say about garages
The Northamptonshire Parking Standards, adopted in September 2016 and still used by North Northamptonshire when it assesses new development, are frank about garages. They don't count them as designated parking on new developments, because so many end up full of storage or turned into living space. Where a garage is built, the standard asks for 3.3 metres by 6 metres for a single, and a driveway space is 3 metres by 5.5 metres.
The document admits the extra cars then end up on the street. Under these standards it's the drive, not the garage, that counts as parking on a new estate. That doesn't cancel a condition in your own planning permission, so read it.
Conversion types for Corby houses
Integral. The garage sits under the main roof, so there's a ready floor, walls and ceiling to work with. On the newer estates at Priors Hall Park and Weldon Park, read the decision notice for your estate before paying for drawings, because a condition on a modern estate can take the garage right away.
Single. Enough for a decent study or bedroom once the door opening is walled in, usually on a fresh footing. On glacial clay or the filled ironstone pits around the town, the inspector will look hard at the ground under it.
Read our full guide: Single Garage Conversion: What Is Involved and What to Budget For →
Home office. A desk in the old garage keeps work downstairs and away from the bedrooms. It still counts as a habitable room, so building control will want it insulated and ventilated like one.
Bedroom. Building control will check how you'd get out in a fire. If the only way in is through another room, you'll need an escape window. Near the brook in the Old Village, look at the flood map before choosing a bedroom over a study.
Double. Turning half of it into a room and leaving a car bay beside it answers the parking question before anyone asks.
Utility or playroom. Often the cheapest way to win back a room in a three-bed semi. A playroom is a habitable room in building regulations terms, so it needs approval; a plain utility may be treated differently, so ask first.
Gym or studio. Best in a garage standing on its own. If it is linked to the house next door, sound lining on that wall saves a falling-out over dropped weights.
Detached. Used as a study or gym by your own household, it stays part of the home. Turn it into somewhere a person lives independently and it becomes a new home in planning terms, which needs permission.
Planning and approval. Keep the work inside the existing shell and planning is often not needed. Building regulations are another question, and a room people live in will almost always need sign-off.
Cost. We don't print Corby prices. A new footing on filled ground and a dropped kerb are what push a Corby quote up, so get several builders to price one set of drawings.
The new front wall, on old streets
Bricking up the door changes the face of the house, and in Corby's nine conservation areas that face is what the council protects. On the Lloyds estate the 2008 appraisal counts the loss of front hedges and boundaries to parking as harm, and calls a side car-port an undesirable suburban intrusion. Match the brick, line the new window up with its neighbours and keep the hedge.
Many Lloyds semis are half rendered. Tempting as it is to render the new panel to blend it in, the council lists render, timber, plastic, stone and tile cladding among the works that need permission inside a conservation area. In the Old Village, where several cottages are listed, the front wall of a listed house needs listed building consent too.
One more thing below the floor. The British Geological Survey says the Northampton Sand that fed the steelworks has the highest radon potential in the district, and radon protection can apply to conversions as well as new houses. Look up your address on the UKradon map, then ask building control whether the new slab needs a membrane.
For a small domestic job the council's building control takes a building notice. Keep the completion certificate with the deeds.
Where these facts come from
- North Northamptonshire Council: apply for a dropped kerb
- North Northamptonshire Council: highways plans and strategies (Northamptonshire Parking Standards, 2016)
- North Northamptonshire Council: rent a council garage
- Conservation areas (North Northamptonshire Council)
- Lloyds Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2008
- North Northamptonshire Council: building control applications
- Planning Portal: garage conversion planning permission
- Planning Portal: building regulations for a garage conversion
- LABC: garage conversion tips from building control
- BGS: Geology of the country around Kettering (Sheet 171)
- LABC: do I need to consider radon?
- Environment Agency: Willow Brook in Corby flood warning area
How FirQuote works in Corby: We connect you with local specialists who visit your property before giving you a price. You get up to 3 written quotes — no call centres, no estimates from photos, no obligation to accept any quote.
Questions people in Corby ask
I rent one of the council's garage blocks round the corner. Could I convert that?
No. The council lets its Corby garages for storing vehicles and household things, and tenants can't alter the door, walls or roof without written permission. Workshops and business use are ruled out too.
The grass outside my house isn't part of my garden. Can I still put a drive across it?
Possibly, but in Corby that strip is often council land rather than highway. You'd need the council's consent to cross it as well as a dropped kerb licence, so ask before you convert the garage you park in now.
We bought new at Priors Hall Park. Does our garage have to stay a garage?
Look up the planning permission for your phase on the council's planning register and read the conditions. If one keeps the garage for parking or removes householder rights, you'll need to apply rather than just build.
Can I render the bricked-up garage door on my Lloyds estate semi?
Not without permission. The estate is a conservation area, where cladding in render is one of the changes the council says needs consent. Matching brick is the simpler route.