Builders in Slinfold

Slinfold is four miles west of us, and it is the most constrained village in Horsham District for anyone wanting to extend. Not because of the conservation area — 38 other places have one of those — but because of what sits on top of it.

No permitted development rights for extensions. None.

Slinfold Conservation Area is covered by an Article 4 direction that removes Part 1 Class A, in force since 19 December 1997.

Class A is the extension right. A modest single storey rear extension that would be permitted development anywhere else in the district requires a full householder planning application here, at any size.

This is not a reduced allowance. There is no allowance.

And the conservation area restrictions on top

Slinfold is also one of the district’s 39 conservation areas, which makes it article 2(3) land. Independently of the Article 4 direction, that removes:

• Permitted development loft conversions entirely — every dormer needs permission
• Cladding of any kind
• Side extensions and two-storey rear extensions

It also means every tree with a trunk over 75mm in diameter, measured 1.5 metres above the ground, is protected. Six weeks’ written notice is required before any work to one, including in your own garden. Applications for work to protected trees are free, and unauthorised work to a protected tree is a criminal offence.

Replacing windows and external doors needs permission here too, which catches people planning what they think is like-for-like maintenance.

What this means for your project

Budget for a full application from the outset. A householder application is currently £548, with a statutory eight week determination period from validation — and validation itself takes a week or two if anything is missing.

Expect the design to be scrutinised. The council has gone out of its way to reserve control here. Materials, window proportions, roof form and visibility from the street will all matter. Slinfold’s conservation area has an adopted character statement, and it is effectively the brief — read it before anyone draws anything.

Pre-application advice is worth it here more than anywhere. Horsham District Council charges £105 for written advice on extensions with a 28-day response. On a project where the council can and does say no, £105 to find out what they will accept before commissioning detailed drawings is the cheapest money on the job.

A lawful development certificate is not available for an extension here. A certificate confirms a right exists; the Article 4 direction has removed it, so there is nothing to certify.

Do not reason from what a neighbour built. Work done before December 1997 was under different rules. Work since either had permission you did not see, or did not.

The full detail on the Slinfold direction.

It is still very buildable

None of this means you cannot extend in Slinfold. It means the route is a planning application rather than permitted development, and that the design needs to be right first time. Plenty of extensions get consent here. They are the ones that were designed with the character statement open.