What the houses are like

Stony Stratford is Georgian at its heart, with a wide High Street built for coach traffic on the old Watling Street, and it is one of the borough conservation areas. Behind the frontages sit deep, narrow burgage plots, which is exactly the shape that suits a rear extension and exactly the shape that makes access awkward.

Planning authority: Milton Keynes City Council

Finished side path in slate paving with a brick retaining edge and reinstated lawn

Access is usually the constraint

Long narrow plots with no side access are the defining feature here. Where a digger cannot reach the back, muck tends to come out by barrow and concrete goes in by pump or by barrow as well. That is not a reason to avoid the job, but it does affect both the price and the programme, and it is a good reason to be wary of any quotation given without someone walking the access first.

Conservation area considerations

Within the Stony Stratford conservation area the front elevation generally attracts close attention. Windows, doors, roof coverings and anything else visible from the street are usually looked at carefully, and permitted development rights can be tighter than elsewhere in the borough.

Rear work is often more straightforward. Extensions at the back of these houses, built in a matched stock brick with a slate or plain tile roof, tend to be received more favourably, though every application is judged on its own merits and nothing can be taken for granted. Milton Keynes City Council can confirm the position for a particular property.

Attentive and professional. The final work was exactly as imagined and the attention to detail and finishing touches has made all the difference. Couldn’t recommend Charlie highly enough.

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