Roofs that face the street
Chichester's conservation area has covered the old city since 16 March 1970, and it has been pushed outwards several times since, with Westgate in 1981, the Canal Basin in 1990, College Lane in 1994 and more after a 2008 review. In 2016 it took in parts of Whyke and the Orchard Avenue side of town. So it reaches well beyond the walls, into suburbs many people wouldn't think of as historic.
Roof slopes in the city usually face the street, as the conservation area appraisal points out, because gables to the street were thought old fashioned. That is exactly the slope the Article 4 direction protects. The direction the Cabinet approved in 2018 takes away the right to alter a roof slope facing a road, open space or waterway, and a second direction covers solar panels on roof slopes. Dormers in a conservation area always needed permission anyway. What catches people out is the rooflight on the front slope, which in most towns would be allowed.
None of this rules a loft out. In the Pallants the appraisal records that dormers are not uncommon but usually kept small, and that's a fair guide to what the planners will accept anywhere in the old city. Match the existing materials. Up to 1800 nearly every roof here was handmade clay tile, and Welsh slate took over after the railway came in 1846, so check which one you have before you price the dormer cheeks.
Summersdale, East Broyle and the newer edges
North of the city the roofs change character. Summersdale was laid out after Charles Stride bought the farm in 1894, and The Avenue, Highland Road, The Broadway and Summersdale Road went up between about 1901 and 1911. The residents' own appraisal describes red tiled roofs, steep gables and turrets, with flint-faced pairs on The Broadway and Summersdale Road. Steep Edwardian roofs often hide good headroom. Turrets and tile-hung gables make the design trickier, though, and I'd want a surveyor in the loft before anyone promises a layout.
Further west, East Broyle was built from the 1960s and finished in 1975, mostly three-bedroom detached houses and semis on decent plots. Newer still are Graylingwell Park on the old hospital site, the former Roussillon Barracks off Broyle Road, and Whitehouse Farm, where the Local Plan allows up to 1,600 homes west of the city. Expect trussed roofs there, and read your estate's planning conditions before assuming permitted development applies.
This is how each type of conversion tends to suit Chichester houses, with a full guide behind each one.
Rooflights. Inside the conservation area, rooflights on the back slope are usually the easiest win. On a slope facing the street the Article 4 direction means an application first.
Rear dormer. Outside the conservation area, on an East Broyle house for example, a rear dormer normally goes through as permitted development. Inside it, you need permission, and a modest dormer stands a far better chance than a full-width box.
Hip to gable. Worth asking about on any post-war detached house or semi whose roof slopes down at the end. More than a third of the district's homes are detached, so local firms see a lot of these.
Read our full guide: Hip-to-Gable Loft Conversions: What It Involves and Which Houses It Suits →
L-shaped dormer. Only works where a terrace has a back addition to build over. In Somerstown or Whyke, both in the conservation area, it will need a full application and careful drawings.
Mansard. Hard to get past the planners in the old city, where the street roofline is part of what the conservation area protects. Talk to an architect before you spend anything.
Bedroom. The obvious use for most lofts. The pre-plaster inspection checks the staircase and the fire precautions together, so have them finished before you book it.
En-suite. Building control inspects drains before they are covered and again on test, so the soil pipe route has to be settled early. On a listed building, that route can decide whether the bathroom happens at all.
Home office. A good use for a smaller Somerstown or Little London loft, where a full bedroom with a proper staircase may not fit.
Read our full guide: Loft Home-Office Conversion: What Works Well Up There and What to Specify →
Planning. Look up the conservation area boundary and the Article 4 list before anything else. If you're inside the South Downs National Park, the National Park decides rather than the district.
Cost. No price here. A flint-faced Edwardian pair and a 1970s detached house are different jobs, and conservation work adds time you can't guess from a web page. Get three site visits.
Who decides, and who inspects
Planning applications go to Chichester District Council. The City Council is consulted too. Its planning adviser reviews over 500 applications a year and the bigger ones go to its Planning and Conservation Committee, but the district makes the decision. If you live north of the city in the South Downs National Park, your application is handled through the National Park's own planning portal instead.
Building control sends a surveyor at set stages, from the first day, through the structure and drains, to the finish. Book each visit online the day before. Expect them to ask for more structural detail once the old roof is opened up. Their own inspection schedule warns about it. Miss an inspection and you may not get a completion certificate, which a buyer's solicitor will want to see.
Where these facts come from
- Chichester District Council: conservation areas
- Chichester Conservation Area Character Appraisal
- Chichester District Council: Article 4 directions
- Cabinet report: Article 4 directions for Chichester Conservation Area (2018)
- Summersdale Appraisal (2008)
- CDC building control: rooms in roof inspection schedule
- Chichester City Council: planning and conservation
- Chichester District Council: nutrient neutrality
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Questions people in Chichester ask
Can I put a rooflight on the front of my house in the city conservation area?
Not without asking first. The Article 4 direction for the Chichester Conservation Area removes the right to alter a roof slope that faces a road, open space or waterway. A rooflight at the back is a different matter and is often fine.
My house is in Summersdale. Is it in a conservation area?
Possibly, depending on the road. When the city conservation area was reviewed in 2016, the Chichester Society reported that the older parts of Summersdale could be looked at as an extension to the Graylingwell conservation area. Check the council's maps for your own road before you pay for drawings.
I live in a village north of Chichester. Who handles my planning application?
If the village is inside the South Downs National Park, the National Park Authority's portal holds the application and its references start with SDNP. The district council's own email alerts don't cover addresses in the park.
Could I turn my loft into a separate flat to let?
That's a new home, not a loft conversion, so it needs full planning permission. Around Chichester Harbour it may also need a nitrogen budget, because the council asks for one on development involving an overnight stay that drains to the harbour.