What it does
Enter a postcode or address and the checker looks up every published planning designation at that location — conservation areas, Article 4 directions, listed buildings, National Parks, National Landscapes, World Heritage Sites, protected trees and flood zones. It then applies the national permitted development rules to tell you which common projects you can likely build without applying, and which need planning permission.
The free check covers the designations and your headline allowances. The Permitted Development Report (£14.99) works out the exact limits for every project at one house, as a dated record you can share with a builder, architect or the council.
The rules we apply
The limits come from The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2 — the same order your council applies. Each project page and guide names the part and class it relies on.
Where the data comes from
All designation data is public and published under the Open Government Licence. We cover all 308 local planning authorities in England.
- Conservation areas and Article 4 directions
- Local planning authorities, via planning.data.gov.uk
- Listed buildings
- Historic England’s National Heritage List, via planning.data.gov.uk
- National Parks, National Landscapes, World Heritage Sites
- Natural England and others, via planning.data.gov.uk
- Tree Preservation Orders and flood zones
- Local planning authorities and the Environment Agency
- Planning authority boundaries
- planning.data.gov.uk and the national organisation register
- Addresses and postcodes
- Postcodes.io (ONS and Ordnance Survey open data)
What it can’t see
Councils publish to the national dataset at different levels of detail, and some restrictions aren’t published anywhere — most importantly, conditions on the original planning permission for your house, which can remove permitted development rights on newer estates. Every result lists what was and wasn’t available.
Guidance only — not an official council check. Built from public planning data, which is incomplete and varies by council. Confirm with your council, or get a Lawful Development Certificate, before you start work.
Contact
Questions, corrections or data problems: hello@permitteddevelopmentchecker.co.uk. Permitted Development Checker is a sister site of TPO Checker, which checks Tree Preservation Orders.