Do I need planning permission for a veranda, balcony, decking area or raised platform?

Verandas, balconies and raised platforms are not permitted development and will require planning permission. The only exceptions to this are for Juliette balconies where no platform or external access would be created and in respect of raised platforms where the following applies:

• It is not more than 300mm in height.
• It is not located on any part of the roof of a house or outbuilding within the grounds of a house.
• It would not be located between the front or principal elevation of the house and a road.
• The total area of ground it covers would exceed 50% of the total area of the curtilage (excluding the ground area of the original dwellinghouse).
• It would be located in the grounds of a listed building.
• Your property is in a conservation area or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the raised platform is located to the side of your house.
• Was the use of your property as a house granted through permitted development rights?

Please note that if you want to build a veranda, balcony, decking area or raised platform in the grounds of a flat then planning permission will always be required.

In addition if a building to which it relates is a listed building, then both planning permission and listed building consent would be required.

Definitions:

Curtilage usually the area of land within which the house sits, but for some houses, may be a smaller area).

A veranda is usually defined as a gallery, platform, or balcony, usually roofed and often partly enclosed, extending along the outside of a building at ground level.

A balcony is defined as a platform with a rail, balustrade or parapet projecting outside an upper storey of a building.

A "Juliet" balcony, where there is no platform and therefore no external access would normally be permitted development.