Planning Permission in Newcastle: A Homeowner's Guide

Newcastle City Council administers planning across a city built on coal, shipbuilding and heavy engineering, whose most distinctive housing type - the Tyneside flat, a purpose-built terrace split into upstairs and downstairs units - is unique to the North East. This is a general guide, not planning advice for your specific property.

What's usually permitted development

• A single-storey rear extension within standard size limits, for full houses
• A rear-facing loft dormer within a set roof volume, not visible from the principal road
• Most internal alterations that don't affect structural walls

Tyneside flats change the practical picture

Because a Tyneside flat shares a building with a separately-owned flat above or below, many changes that would be a straightforward planning question for a full house owner need agreement from the other flat's owner first - not a planning requirement exactly, but a practical one that affects almost every project.

Conservation areas

Parts of Jesmond and the Grainger Town area around Grey Street carry conservation area status, restricting alterations that would otherwise be permitted development elsewhere in the city.