Atlantic Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, B44 8LN.

 

Householder Planning Application Approved for house extensions and re-modelling, and a new detached garage and home office.

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The Planning Application

 

Following an initial free consultation with the applicants En-Plan drafted a scheme for the re-modelling of the property and the creation of a new garage and home office that was subsequently submitted to and approved by Birmingham City Council Planning Department.  The application has gained permission for a new porch extension to the fore and a rear extension that adds a new utility room and a new contemporary conservatory added to the rear of the property.  A new detached garage and home office was also added to the planning application and all elements add real value to the property and demonstrate the development potential at the property.

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It should be noted that you can create a porch extension up to three square metres without planning permission but it was felt better to include all elements of the development in the application so there is no question in the future over the acceptability of the development.  The same is true of the garage where if the design ensured the height of the garage were kept to 2.5 meters it would not require planning permission but as it was over 2.5 metres in height and located within two metres of the boundary therefore the guidance covering outbuildings required planning approval.

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Where is Great Barr in Birmingham?

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Great Barr is loosely defined area to the north-west of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Birmingham district. Other areas known as Great Barr are in the Metropolitan Boroughs of Walsall and Sandwell.

 

What is the history of Great Barr?

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Great Barr was largely rural until the early 20th century, though it was influenced by the early stages of the industrial revolution which affected the nearby towns of Birmingham and the Black Country. The Staffordshire parish of Barr straddled the route from Birmingham to Walsall. Birmingham's historian William Hutton was surprised to see so many nail-making workshops in the area. He noted that "in some of these workshops I observed one, or more, females, stripped of their upper garments, and not overcharged with the lower, wielding the hammer with all the grace of their sex".

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The rural economy was dominated by four great landowning families, the Wryley Birches, Dartmouths, Scotts and Goughs. The parish was series of tiny hamlets: Howell's Row, Sneal's Green, Newton, Margaret's Lane, Queslett, the Common, Bourn Pool, Bourn Vale, the Tamworth Road, the Gough Arms Inn (later called the Beacon Inn) and around Barr Hall In 1817 there were 120 houses occupied by 127 families, 78 of whom were engaged in agriculture and 30 in trade. These trades included a tailor, boarding house owner, a wheelwright, a butcher, a grocer, who doubled as a constable, a shoemaker, two brick makers, a maltster, gun lock maker, three blacksmiths, and four spectacle frame makers.

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The urban district of Perry Barr was ceded to Birmingham, then in Warwickshire, in 1928. By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 it was a very busy residential area with good road connections to West Bromwich, Walsall and Birmingham. Expansion continued after the war, and during the 1960s the area received a motorway link when Junction 7 of the newly built M6 motorway was opened on the A34. It is also located close to the starting point of the M5, which can be accessed just one mile (1.6 km) northwards on the M6. On 11 August 1975, eight-year-old local schoolgirl Helen Bailey was found dead from a single knife wound, in woods near Booths Farm.

 

Geography of Great Barr

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The traditional centre of Great Barr is focussed on the busy junction of the A34 and A4041 roads, at the Scott Arms public house and shopping centre. This is named after the Scott family of Great Barr Hall, which was once home of Samuel Galton and a meeting place of the Lunar Society.

 

The Scott Arms junction, the traditional centre of Great Barr. However, the name is also loosely applied to a swathe of the West Midlands bounded by junction 8 of the M6 motorway in the west, the Birmingham – Walsall railway line (part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837, and including Hamstead railway station, formerly called Great Barr station) and Perry Barr to the south, Kingstanding to the east, and the open countryside of Barr Beacon to the north.

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Is building regulations approval needed for an outbuilding?

 

If you want to put up small detached buildings such as a garden shed or summerhouse in your garden, building regulations will not normally apply if the floor area of the building is less than 15 square metres and contains NO sleeping accommodation.

If the floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, you will not normally be required to apply for building regulations approval providing that the building contains NO sleeping accommodation and is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed substantially of non-combustible materials.

This section provides you with general information to help you comply with the Building Regulations when constructing a new outbuilding within the boundaries of an existing property, such as:

• garage or carport

• summerhouse or shed

• greenhouse

Building a new garage attached to an existing home would normally need building regulations approval.

Building a new attached carport (open on at least two sides) would not normally require building regulations approval if it is less than 30 square metres in floor area.

Building a detached garage of less than 30 square metres floor area would not normally need building regulations approval if:

• the floor area of the detached garage is less than 15 square metres.

• the floor area of the garage is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, provided the garage is at least one metre from any boundary, or it is constructed substantially of non-combustible materials.

If you want to convert an integral or attached garage into habitable use, building regulations will normally apply, view specific information for garage conversions.

In many cases, these structures will be exempt from requiring approval under the Building Regulations if they meet certain exemption criteria.

If the Regulations do apply to the building then it must be built to reasonable standards.

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If you would like to find out more about how our Planning Consultancy and Architectural Design Services can work in perfect sync to achieve a successful outcome in the planning system please CONTACT US and we will be only too happy to talk through any questions or development proposals you may have.

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