Epping Forest District Council

Adopted Documents We Assess Against

Development plan: Epping Forest District Local Plan 2011-2033 (adopted 6 March 2023)

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.

Epping Forest District Council standards at a glance

1 numeric standards taken from Epping Forest District Council's own adopted documents, each shown with the paragraph it comes from. Figures differ between councils — these are this one's.

Design character

up to 50%

Half of each garden area is the most a basement may sit under - and on a big plot Epping Forest will expect less than that, not the full half. Epping Forest Local Plan Policy DM 9 (provisional citation)

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

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

Epping Forest District Local Plan 2011-2033

• Epping Forest Local Plan Policy DM 9 — Design character (2 checks) (provisional citation) Epping Forest expects extensions to respect or complement the form and detailing of the original house under Policy DM 9. Matching materials and rooflines is the safest starting point. Half of each garden area is the most a basement may sit under - and on a big plot Epping Forest will expect less than that, not the full half.
• Epping Forest Local Plan 2011-2033 (residential amenity policies) — Amenity neighbouring (provisional citation) Epping Forest will look at the effect on your neighbours' light, outlook and privacy. Show the relationship to their windows on your drawings.
• Epping Forest adopted guidance, searched 2026-08-05 — Rear extension depth Epping Forest do not publish extension dimensions. Their "guide to extending your home" is a building regulations booklet, not planning guidance, so do not read its figures as depth limits - the planning case is judged on design and neighbour impact.