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Do I Need Planning Permission To Remove a Chimney Stack?
LETS LOOK AT WHETHER OR NOT YOU NEED PLANNING PERMISSION TO REMOVE A CHIMNEY STACK...
Do I need Planning Permission To Remove A Chimney Stack?
Whilst it may have seemed like a good idea to have a chimney and a chimney stack on your property back in the day. It seems that not so many people are fans of chimney stacks of late.
In fact, if you want to make changes or repairs to your home, then you may find that building around a bulky, outdated chimney breast or chimney stack is not the most ideal situation to have to cope with.
The good news is that chimney stack removals are possible.
However, they do require professional help as they can be tricky to do and are key to the structural integrity of your home. Not only this, but you also need to think about any council approvals, planning permissions and building regulations that are going to come into force should you want to remove the chimney stack in your home.
To help to make sure that you understand more about planning permission and how it relates to chimney stack removal, take a look through our guide.
Do I need planning permissions?
Generally speaking You normally only need to ask for planning permission for alterations that affect the outside appearance of your home.
Therefore if you are planning on changing the outside or add on things that can make it appear different from the outside then these are areas that Planning will need to be considered.
Therefore if you are planning to remove the chimney from above roof level, you would be required to seek planning consent in order to do this.
That said, it is usually the case that you don’t need to request planning permission to remove a chimney stack from inside your home however there are also some key considerations that you need to keep in mind that could impact whether or not this is the case.
In order to remove your chimney stack without permission you are going to need to make sure that your building is not a listed building. It also needs to not be in a conservation area. You also need to ensure that you use materials which match the materials that have already been used on the property when it was built.
What About Building Regulations?
It is also worthwhile mentioning you need to ensure your building work meets Building Regulations Guidlines.
These regulations cover more about how buildings are designed, built and altered, should you wish do this.
Whilst building regulations do look at the appearance of the property, in the most part they are set out to ensure that the health and safety needs of those who enter the building, use it or who are located in the area, are safe.
Not only this, but building regulations will also look at the energy efficiency of the building and how easy it is to access a building and move around.
It can be hard to know whether or not you need to apply for planning permission, however, the advice that we give our customers is to always err on the side of caution when it comes to dealing with your local authority.
The last thing that you are going to want is to find that all the work that you have paid for and planned for is for nothing and will need to be reinstated at significant additional cost.
In fact, the best thing to do if you are planning on having a chimney stack removed from your property, is to speak to an expert in planning and building regulations. This is something that we can help you with. We understand the process and which regulations are required and can help you through the entire process.
With our help and proper planning, you can make sure that your chimney stack is properly removed, freeing up the space that you need in your home, not breaking any rules or regulations and also ensuring that the structural integrity of your home is never compromised too.