Seven metres by 3.3, and why that number matters
BCP Council's parking standards, adopted in 2021, set a high bar for what counts as a car space. It only counts a garage if it measures at least 7 metres long and 3.3 metres wide inside, clear of clutter. The same document admits that in many developments less than half of all garages are actually used to park a car.
Measure yours. If it falls short, the council's own standard doesn't treat it as a parking space, and turning it into a room loses you nothing on paper.
The drive matters more. The standard asks for at least 5.3 metres in front of a garage, or 6 metres to keep a car clear of the pavement. If the drive is long enough for the car, the garage behind it is free to become something else.
Low walls, villa frontages and the new front wall
Twenty of BCP's conservation areas are in Bournemouth, and in all of them the householder rules are tighter. The right to alter a house still lets you brick up a garage door and put in a window, but the materials have to look like the rest of the house. You lose the right to clad any part of the outside in render, timber, tiles, plastic, stone or pebble dash. On a pebble-dashed 1930s house in a conservation area, matching the infill means an application, or at least a word with the planners first.
The Meyrick Park and Talbot Woods appraisal describes houses set back behind well-sized front gardens and low brick boundary walls, with a mix of hedges and fences. Paving over the front to replace the garage space is how those streets get spoiled. Demolishing a wall beside the road can need consent there.
Outside a conservation area, a permeable drive of any size needs no planning permission, and an impermeable one over 5 square metres does unless it drains onto a lawn or border. A new dropped kerb always needs the council's agreement.
Flats are the other catch. Over a third of BCP's households live in flats, and flats have no householder permitted development rights. If your flat comes with a garage, turning it into a room with a window is an outside change, so expect to apply.
Picking the right conversion
Each type has a full guide. Here is how they sit with Bournemouth's houses and rules.
Integral garage. Expect it on postwar and later houses rather than the Victorian villas. Look up the original permission for the house in case a condition took away the right to convert.
Single garage. If it's under the council's 7 by 3.3 metre size, you won't lose a counted space. The work centres on the door opening and the floor.
Read our full guide: Single Garage Conversion: What Is Involved and What to Budget For →
Home office. A sensible use for a garage too narrow for a modern car. Keep the drive for parking and the office stays part of the house.
Bedroom. It needs light, air and a safe way out in a fire. Near the Stour at Throop or Iford, look at the flood map before anyone sleeps on the ground floor.
Detached garage. More likely on the bigger plots. Used by the household as a workshop or office it usually needs no planning permission. Once someone lives in it independently it becomes a change of use, and within 400 metres of protected heath a self-contained unit isn't allowed.
Double garage. Usually beside a detached house. Convert one bay and keep the other at full size, and you keep a space the council would count.
Utility or playroom. Converting the back half and leaving a store behind the old door keeps the frontage untouched, which helps in a conservation area.
Gym or studio. In a row or block you share walls with the neighbours. Soundproof it properly or expect complaints.
Planning and building control. Two separate checks. Planning turns on the outside wall, your house's history and whether you own a flat. Building Regulations approval is needed in almost every case.
Cost and value. No prices from us. Matching old brick on a villa costs more than blockwork and render on a 1970s house. Three quotes will show the gap.
What BCP building control looks at
Building control in Bournemouth is the council's own team, and a garage becoming a room almost always needs their approval. Start with the door opening. The Planning Portal warns that the new wall may need its own foundation, and sometimes there's nothing under the old door but a slab.
Then the floor. The old slab usually sits lower than the hall, with no damp membrane. The new floor needs one, lapped into the damp course in the walls, and insulation above it. A room you can only reach through another room needs a window big enough to escape from, and a smoke alarm outside it.
Check your address on the UKradon map, and ask building control whether the new floor needs radon protection. At the end you get a completion certificate. Keep it, because a buyer's solicitor will ask.
Where these facts come from
- BCP Council: Parking Standards SPD (version for adoption)
- Planning Portal: garage conversion, planning permission
- Planning Portal: garage conversion, building regulations
- Planning Portal: is Building Regulations approval needed for a garage conversion?
- Planning Portal: converting a detached garage into self-contained living space
- General Permitted Development (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2
- GOV.UK: permitted development rights for householders, technical guidance
- GOV.UK: permeable surfacing of front gardens
- BCP Council: Meyrick Park and Talbot Woods Conservation Area Appraisal (2009)
- BCP Council: building control
- Dorset Heathlands Planning Framework 2020 to 2025 SPD
- Environment Agency: Lower Stour from Longham to Christchurch flood warning area
- LABC: garage conversion tips from building control
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Questions people in Bournemouth ask
Our garage is too small for our car anyway. Does the council still count it as parking?
Not under BCP's parking standards. It counts as a space only if it is at least 7 metres by 3.3 metres inside and clear. Check the drive is long enough for the car before you give the garage up.
We own a flat in Boscombe with a garage in the block behind. Can we turn it into a studio?
Possibly, but plan on a planning application for the new window and wall, because flats have no householder permitted development rights. You'll also need building control approval and, usually, the freeholder's consent.
We're in Talbot Woods and the house is rendered. Can we render the new wall?
Not under permitted development. In a conservation area the householder rules exclude render cladding. Talk to the planners or apply first. Brick to match is the easier route if the house has brick at ground level.
Can my son live in our detached garage near the heath?
If it becomes a self-contained home, it needs planning permission and, within 400 metres of protected heathland, the framework doesn't allow it. A room he uses while sharing the main house's kitchen is treated as part of the house.