UK planning permission is a minefield of complications that can take years to get some approval through the planning committees, but there are certain home and garden improvements which do not need planning applications.

Permitted development rights allow changes to your house and garden, but it is always advisable to check with your local planning authority before starting work. Items such as adding a shed to your garden or a summerhouse or putting a fence up that wasn’t already there probably wont need permission but they potentially could in certain circumstances.

You will definitely need planning permission, if for instance, you are building at the front of your property, or is more than one floor high. Structures like sheds or greenhouses need to be sited more than 2m away from boundaries of your property and be less than 2.5m tall. If you are in a conservation area or on a property that has listed status you will need permission for everything. Failure to get the right permissions not only means you face having to remove or restore to the original state, but hefty fines can be imposed as well – the emphasis has always been that you need to find out if permission is needed – not that the local authority should have told you.
Structures like summerhouses need planning permission if they contain a veranda; a balcony or are sited on a raised deck. Treehouses could be violating your neighbours privacy. Changing your front garden into a parking space also needs permission as you need to factor in the problem of changing a grass or landscaped area, which will allow rainwater to soak through, to something where your home and neighbours properties could be adversely at risk of flooding

Even your humble yearly pruning of trees in the garden could fall foul of laws, as you may reside in an area of preservation – in these instances local tree consultants and workers will know what the rules are in that area. Felling of trees will usually require permission and are approved almost automatically when a building or structure is in danger from a tree, or the tree itself is dying or has a disease where a nearby structure or the public could be compromised.