Planning and building regulation drawings in South Croydon (CR2)

Sanderstead grew as an interwar suburb after the railway arrived, and its housing is mostly detached and semi-detached, on raised, well-planted plots with gaps between them. Mitchley Hill, Hook Hill, Church Way and Briton Hill Road are among its roads. Common projects are a single-storey rear extension, a side addition or a loft, and the questions that follow are about matching the original brick, render and tile-hanging, keeping the space between neighbours, and how a new roof sits on a hillside street where neighbouring ridge lines step up and down.

Croydon's guidance and any designation on the street decide how much of this you can do without a full application. Before we draw anything for a CR2 address we work out which of those situations the house is in.

Planning in South Croydon: what to know before you apply

Croydon deals with householder work through its design guidance and a small number of area-specific controls, so the first job is always to find out which apply to the house. The Waldrons conservation area has an Article 4 direction that brings hard surfacing in front gardens and new or altered walls, fences and gates into the planning system, and Croham Manor Road has its own conservation area protecting the planned 1930s houses. Inside any conservation area, roof enlargements, side extensions and rear extensions of more than one storey are not permitted development, so those go in as full applications. Croydon also requires permission to turn a house into a small HMO for three to six unrelated sharers; records differ on whether that direction is borough-wide or limited to certain wards, so we confirm it. Where the Sanderstead roads need an application, spacing, planting, materials and how the extension reads against the original house are the main points the council assesses.

Applications are decided by Croydon Council — its planning pages.