Prior approval for a larger rear extension in Barking and Dagenham: drawing for the neighbour who reads it
Barking and Dagenham's council let 501 larger home extension notifications through as "prior approval not required" over the eight quarters from 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2, but of the 85 that needed a decision it refused 71. The difference is usually one neighbour's wall. We draw the set so that wall is easy to judge, for a fixed £595.
Fixed fee from £395 drawings + £200 survey (£595 total) · all prices
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What the register says for this borough
MHCLG publishes each council's larger home extension outcomes every quarter. For Barking and Dagenham, across the eight quarters from 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2, the council recorded 501 notifications where prior approval was not required, 14 granted and 71 refused.
So most notifications here are a go-ahead: "not required" means the council saw nothing it needed to decide. Of the 85 that did need a decision, 71 were refused. That is about 84% by our calculation from those counts, and it is a statement about this borough's register, not a prediction for your house.
Prior Approval Extension Barking and Dagenham
from £595
£395 drawings + £200 survey (£595 total)
Every price is the full fixed fee you pay. No VAT is charged. Council application fees are paid to the council separately.
What you get
- A measured survey visit to the house and garden
- Site plan showing the extension and the boundaries it runs along
- Existing and proposed ground floor plan and rear elevation
- Depth, maximum height and eaves height written out for the council
- The list of adjoining addresses the council must notify
- Submission as your agent, with replies to the council's questions
- Find the tight boundary
We measure the wall and window nearest each neighbour on the survey day.
- Fix the height there
Eaves and roof pitch are set so the wall by the neighbour is as low as it can be.
- Draw it plainly
The elevation shows that height against the neighbour's wall, so nothing is left to imagine.
- Send and wait
The council writes to neighbours; work may start if it says nothing within 42 days.
Why a refusal here is about one wall
The council can only judge the effect on the adjoining homes, not the design. A refusal therefore tends to follow a neighbour who wrote in about light or outlook, and a set of drawings that left the boundary height to guesswork.
The cure is on the drawing. We show the depth along each boundary, the eaves height and the maximum height, and we set the roof so the wall beside the nearest neighbour stays low. Where the 6 m depth looks hard to defend against a close neighbour, we say so on the survey day and price a shallower scheme or the householder route before anything is submitted.
The scheme gives up to 6 m behind the original rear wall of a house other than a detached one, and 8 m for a detached house, at no more than 4 m high.
Conservation areas and Article 4 directions
The Planning Data Platform lists 4 live conservation areas in the borough. The 6 m and 8 m depths do not apply in a conservation area, so a house inside one needs a planning application for a deeper extension.
The same register shows 2 Article 4 direction areas that withdraw the Class A extension rights. Inside one, the larger home extension route is not available. We check the council's map for your address on the survey day, before you pay for drawings you could not use.
The limits that still apply
The scheme gives up to 6 m behind the original rear wall of a house other than a detached one, and 8 m for a detached house, at no more than 4 m high. The council has 42 days from a complete notification; if it has not notified a decision by then, work may start. The council's own fee is £249, paid direct.
Read the full rules on our prior approval service page. Prior approval is a planning answer only: you still need building regulations approval, and party wall notices if the work touches a shared wall.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 6 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(g): larger single-storey rear extension, maximum depth beyond the rear wall for a house other than detached, subject to prior approval under A.4 (source wording: "6 metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 8 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(g): larger single-storey rear extension, maximum depth beyond the rear wall for a detached house (source wording: "8 metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 4 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(f)-(g): a single-storey rear extension may not exceed 4 metres in height (source wording: "exceed 4 metres in height") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 42 days | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.4(10)(c): work may start if the council has not notified a decision within 42 days of receiving the information (source wording: "the expiry of 42 days") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £249 | Statutory fee from 1 April 2026: prior approval for a householder larger rear extension (GPDO Part 1 Class A) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 501 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 14 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 71 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 4 | Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area register (extracted 19 Oct 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 2 | Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform article-4-direction-area register (extracted 19 Oct 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
Do most larger extension notifications in Barking and Dagenham go through?
Why are so many decided cases refused?
Can I use the 6 m depth in a conservation area?
Is there an Article 4 direction on my street?
What does the council charge?
Photographs: Des Blenkinsopp (CC BY-SA 2.0).
