Policy information sourced from the Woking Development Management Policies Development Plan Document (DPD)

DM11: Sub-divisions, specialist housing, conversions and loss of housing

General Criteria

Proposals for:

  • the sub-division of existing dwellings of an appropriate size to two or more dwellings, including flats;
  • the conversion of existing dwellings or construction of new buildings to be used as houses in multiple occupation;
  • the intensification of existing houses in multiple occupation;
  • other forms of shared housing, including residential institutions
  • the conversion of existing dwellings to be used as overnight accommodation, as defined in paragraph 5.13; and
  • the conversion of existing dwellings of an appropriate size to be used as community facilities; will be permitted provided the following criteria are met:
    1. the proposal does not harm the residential amenity or character of the area;
    2. a good quality of accommodation is provided by meeting any relevant housing standards;
    3. there would be no detrimental impact on the visual appearance of the area or that of the building itself;
    4. any proposed alterations, extensions or additional areas of hard surfacing required to enable the conversion of the dwelling are appropriate in scale, form and extent to the site and its surroundings;
    5. maximum tree cover, mature planting, and screening is retained;
    6. boundary treatment to the street frontage of the property is retained and a sufficient area of amenity space is retained or provided;
    7. there is adequate enclosed storage space for recycling/refuse;
    8. access is acceptable and parking (including for cycles) is provided on site in accordance with the Council’s standards. Car parking (including drop-off points if relevant) will not be permitted in rear gardens or in locations which might cause a nuisance to adjoining residential properties;
    9. the traffic impacts of the proposal are considered acceptable;
    10. the internal layout of the rooms within the proposed conversion will not cause undue disturbance to adjoining residential properties in the building;
    11. an appropriate contribution is made to avoid harm to the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Areas, as set out in Core Strategy Policy CS8, where relevant;
    12. there is a safe access and egress route during flood events.

Where relevant, the Council will attach a condition to restrict occupancy and use of the development to the relevant standards.

Dwelling Sub-Divisions

In addition to the ‘General Criteria’ above, the sub-division of dwellings of an appropriate size to two or more dwellings will only be permitted where:

  1. the proposal would not result in an overall loss of a family home; and
  2. each proposed dwelling has access to a suitable area of private amenity space.

Conversion to Mixed-Use Developments

In addition to the ‘General Criteria’ above, the conversion of existing dwellings into mixed-use developments, including overnight accommodation and community facilities, will be permitted where:

  1. the proposal accords with other relevant Development Plan policies, including the protection of amenity of the people who will occupy the dwellings and those living nearby;
  2. the proposal is on a small scale, appropriate to its location; and
  3. an element of self-contained residential use is retained within the development.

Loss of Housing

Development which would lead to the net loss of dwellings (including affordable housing), in particular, of a family home, will be resisted unless:

  1. the proposal is granted under permitted development rights (subject to any prior approval requirements); or
  2. the proposal involves combining separate flats within an original house to create a family sized house or family-sized flat of at least two bedrooms with access to private amenity space; or
  3. the proposal involves the change of use of residential accommodation above a non-residential use to other appropriate town centre use within the Town, District or Local Centres of the Borough; or
  4. the applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Council that the dwelling to be lost is in an unsustainable location and/or the benefits of the proposed use to the objectives of the Core Strategy will significantly outweigh the use of the building as a dwelling.

All proposals must meet the requirements of policy CS21 and other relevant policies of the Development Plan, and have regard to the criteria in supplementary guidance including the Woking Design SPD, Parking Standards SPD and Outlook, Amenity, Privacy and Daylight SPD.

For more information please see the Development Plan Document