Few places are as beautiful, peaceful, and spacious as the English countryside – and few places are as protected under planning permission laws. But it isn’t impossible, with the assistance of a Paragraph 84 architect, you can earn approval to build a home in the countryside.
We are Johnson Design Partnership, a residential architect firm based in Shropshire, and experts in Paragraph 84 home design. In this article, we’ll go over exactly what Paragraph 84 is, how its criteria must be met, and how a Paragraph 84 architect can help you create a home that fits all criteria.
It’s a section of the NPPF that details the circumstances where new dwellings can be built in the open countryside. Normally, strict planning permission laws protect rural areas from urban development; the paragraph provides valid exemptions to these rules to allow rural development.
The NPPF has been edited significantly over the years, so you may know this section as Paragraph 80 (2021), Paragraph 79 (2018), or Paragraph 55 (2012). The paragraph itself has remained relatively unchanged, with a few adjustments to the rules and phrasing.
Under Paragraph 84, home designs could have their planning permission approved if one or more of the following circumstances apply:
Paragraph 84 can be applied to any plan to build isolated homes in the open English countryside, or to redevelop existing buildings into homes. It doesn’t apply to projects in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.
That is what we call a property that fits, or aims to fit, the criteria for Paragraph 84. If an architect firm, like ours, specialises in paragraph 84 home design, they may refer to the proposed dwelling with this name.
The application documents you submit to your local planning authority, or LPA, need to demonstrate that multiple criteria of Paragraph 84 have been met. This is easiest done in consultation with a residential architect firm that specialises in paragraph 84 home design, like Johnson Design Partnership.
Your chosen architect firm should be able to advise on and coordinate the application documentation. From site surveys to the house plan design, a paragraph 84 architect can ensure your plan fits part (e), where the design needs to be of exceptional quality.
This can be difficult for some people to wrap their heads around, as it doesn’t mean by how beautiful, expensive, or unique the proposed dwelling is.
This relates to the quality of the house plan design. A plan that focuses on high-quality craftsmanship, sustainable practices and materials is much more likely to be approved. A house plan designer worth their salt should employ design techniques, features, and technologies surpassing those used for the average house you can find on urban land.
A project that exemplifies this is the two-bedroom Paragraph 84 home Johnson Deisgn Partnership designed near Bridgnorth. Our paragraph 84 architects used innovative trussed structures combined with rural vernacular forms to robustly link a series of structures over several watercourses that ran through the site. We took full advantage of the location, including rainwater harvesting and water-source heat pumps in the design. You would seldom find a home with these features in more urban areas.
