London Borough of Croydon

Adopted Documents We Assess Against

Development plan: Croydon Local Plan 2018 (adopted 27 February 2018)

Documents are re-checked against the council's own website weekly. A detected change flags "Policy Update Available" for human review — live assessment standards are never replaced automatically.

London Borough of Croydon standards at a glance

5 numeric standards taken from London Borough of Croydon's own adopted documents, each shown with the paragraph it comes from. Figures differ between councils — these are this one's.

Rear extension depth

up to 3.5m

On a Croydon terrace or semi the guide is 3.5 metres deep and generally under 4 metres high. If the extension is L-shaped, each leg is measured separately from its own rear wall. Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.11.1

Design character

up to 1.5m

Croydon look for front extensions no more than 1.5 metres deep, and they care about whether it breaks the building line of the street. Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.14.1

Side extension form

at least 1m

A Croydon two-storey side extension needs its first floor held back a metre from the front, the ground floor back about a brick's width, and the roof kept below the existing ridge. Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.17.1

Roof form

up to 66.7%

The council limits a dormer or side roof extension on a semi-detached or detached house to two-thirds of the roof width - a mid-terrace is treated differently and may take a full-width dormer. Suburban Design Guide SPD2 chapter 4

Roof alterations

at least 0.3m

Croydon want the bottom of the dormer set back at least 0.3 metres from the eaves, and the top no higher than the existing ridge. Suburban Design Guide SPD2 chapter 4

Standards are what the council normally expects, not a guarantee. A scheme outside them can still be approved on its merits, and one inside them can still be refused for another reason.

Authored Policy Library

9 local policy checks, each citation-locked to the adopted document. National policy (NPPF, national space and daylight standards) applies alongside these.

Croydon Local Plan 2018

• Croydon Local Plan Policy DM10 — Design character (provisional citation) Croydon judges all your extensions together, not one at a time. A rear extension plus a first floor extension plus a loft conversion can add up to something they consider too dominant, even if each part would have been fine alone.
• Croydon Local Plan Policy DM10 — Amenity neighbouring (provisional citation) It is not only about daylight. Croydon will refuse an extension that simply looms over the neighbour - a long, tall wall right along the shared boundary creates a sense of enclosure they treat as harm in its own right.

Croydon Suburban Design Guide SPD2, chapter 4: Residential Extensions and Alterations

• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.11.1 — Rear extension depth (2 checks) On a Croydon terrace or semi the guide is 3.5 metres deep and generally under 4 metres high. If the extension is L-shaped, each leg is measured separately from its own rear wall. On a Croydon detached house you get whichever is more generous: 3.5 metres, or wherever a 45-degree line from your neighbour's nearest window falls. That line needs to be on the drawing.
• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.14.1 — Design character Croydon look for front extensions no more than 1.5 metres deep, and they care about whether it breaks the building line of the street.
• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.17.1 — Side extension form A Croydon two-storey side extension needs its first floor held back a metre from the front, the ground floor back about a brick's width, and the roof kept below the existing ridge.
• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 para 4.21.1 — Roof form On a Croydon semi or detached house a dormer should be no more than two-thirds the width of the roof. On a mid-terrace they will accept the full width. Either way it must stay below the ridge and must not look into the first 10 metres of next door's garden.
• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 chapter 4 — Roof form The council limits a dormer or side roof extension on a semi-detached or detached house to two-thirds of the roof width - a mid-terrace is treated differently and may take a full-width dormer.
• Suburban Design Guide SPD2 chapter 4 — Roof alterations Croydon want the bottom of the dormer set back at least 0.3 metres from the eaves, and the top no higher than the existing ridge.