Planning Advice

Do you need planning consent for you timber carriage house, garage, garden studio, stables or field shelter?

It's the first question many people ask when considering a new timber building.

Read our guide to planning permission for timber outbuildings, garages and stables below.

Read our guide

Guide to planning permission

Planning is a specialist subject and different locations, buildings and local authorities all have different requirements and restrictions.

Do I need planing consent for my new timber building?

This is one of the most common questions that we are asked, but also one of the hardest to answer as there are so many considerations.

In many cases, planning consent is not required, and you can install one of our timber buildings under a provision called permitted development. But there are some caveats.

The advice on this page is for guidance only and we strongly recommend that you speak with your local planning department and ask for clarification relating to your specific location and building as we are unable to offer definitive planning advice.

Permitted Development

Assuming that you do not live in a conservation area, area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) or a listed property, there are some general guidelines:

Your timber garage, car port or garden office should not be sited forward of the main front wall of your house (the one that faces the highway).
The eaves height should not be more than 2.5 meters and the maximum ridge height should not be more than 4 meters for a dual pitched roof or 3 meters for any other roof.
If the building is within two meters of your property boundary the maximum height (highest point of the building) is reduced to 2.5 meters.
You can not cover more than half of the area of original land around your property with buildings.

In certain types of conservation area, national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty the rules can vary significantly and can be localised. You should expect that as a minimum, your building size will be limited. Due to these variations there is no 'one-size-fits-all' answer but it would be worth keeping in mind the following which may apply to you:

If more than 20 meters from the house, you may be limited to a timber building of no more than 10 square meters without planning consent.
The maximum eaves height and or maximum height of the building is likely to be limited to 2.5 meters without planning consent.

If you live in a listed building it is very likely that you will need planning permission/listed building consent for any works and construction even in your garden as it will be in the curtilage of the listed building.

The good news is that we are able to provide elevated drawings should permission be required which can be submitted as part of your application.

By their nature, mobile field shelters and mobile stables are usually considered as ‘not fixed’ and thus should not require planning permission. But as ever, please do check with your local authority planning department.