Westminster Council announces changes to basement extensions

The PD right allows some basement extensions to be carried out without the need to obtain any planning permission. After the Council has introduced the new article 4 direction, anyone who wishes to extend their basement in a residential dwelling will need to submit a full planning application and cannot benefit from PD rights.

The consultation is open for a period of six weeks and will close on 11 September 2015. The Council will then review the responses and hope to confirm the article 4 direction by 31 July 2016.

The Council has also made changes to its City Plan: Strategic Policies regarding basement works. The revisions outline detailed guidance that applicants must follow when completing basement extensions.

The document limits the size of basement extensions to not more than "50% of the site curtilage. On small sites, where the longest distance between the existing building and any site boundary is less than 8m, an exception will be made to allow the basement to extend up to 4m from the building in that direction."  This will leave a "margin of undeveloped garden proportionate to the scale of the development around the entire site boundary".

It also limits the depth of extensions to not more than "one storey below the lowest original floor," unless certain exceptions have been satisfied.

The revised policy contains further guidance in relation to basement works, including direction on landscaping, loss of trees, energy efficiency and protecting the character of the original building.

Planning expert Victoria Lindsay of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "The construction of basements and particularly 'mega-basements' without planning permission is often of concern to residents and Westminster Council has responded to these concerns by consulting on an Article 4 direction to remove PD rights for basement development works.  Article 4 directions are historically rarely used and in very specific areas rather than across a whole borough. "

"Other London boroughs look set to follow suit with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea looking to introduce an Article 4 direction in April 2016 to withdraw PD rights in their borough for basement development. It is likely that such an imposition will put more pressure on the borough's planning department with greater officer resource needed to deal with these applications," said Lindsay.