Dartford counted the cars and found most weren't there
Dartford didn't wait for the county. In July 2012 the borough adopted its own Parking Standards SPD, and it opens the garage question with a finding from its own evidence: under half of the garages on developments in the urban area were being used to park cars. Anyone with a garage full of bikes and paint tins could have told them.
So the SPD lets a garage count towards a new home's parking, but only up to half of the total, and only if it meets a minimum internal size. For a single that is 5.5 by 3.6 metres, or 7.0 by 3.0. Measure yours. If it falls short, it was never much of a car space.
The same paragraph warns that losing garages can leave an estate short of parking, and where an application is needed the council expects sound evidence that the change won't harm highway safety or the neighbours. Your best evidence is the drive. A car space in the SPD is 5.0 by 2.5 metres. Put the drive's measurements on the drawings.
Car barns are a different animal
Open car barns and car ports are treated differently. The 2012 SPD counts them in full as parking, and says the council will attach conditions to stop owners fitting lockable doors later. If you have one, read the original permission before you price anything.
Ordinary garages have their own trap. The council says some properties built after 1990, and some in the Green Belt, had permitted development rights removed when they were approved. The Planning Portal says this is more likely on a new housing development. Ask the council for your house's original decision notice and read every condition.
Which conversion fits which Dartford house
Each type below links to a full guide.
Integral garage. Detached houses make up about a third of homes around Longfield, New Barn and Southfleet. Where one has the garage built into it and dates from after 1990, check for a condition before anything else.
Single garage. Where the door comes out, the new infill wall needs a footing that can take its weight. Dartford ground varies from chalk to soft river deposits, so building control will want to see under the old door.
Read our full guide: Single Garage Conversion: What Is Involved and What to Budget For →
Utility or playroom. Fitting out the back half and keeping the up-and-over door on the front keeps the frontage as it is. On a street where the front matters to the planners, that can save an application.
Double garage. Convert one bay and keep the other. Under the SPD a double needs to be 5.5 by 6.0 metres inside to count as parking.
Bedroom. A family that has outgrown a three-bed semi in Wilmington or Joyden's Wood often looks here first. The room has to be insulated, ventilated and lit as a habitable room, with a safe way out in a fire. Near the Darent or the Thames, check the flood map before anyone sleeps downstairs.
Home office. A sensible use if you only travel into London some days. It still has to be insulated as a habitable room.
Gym or studio. Where the garage shares a wall with next door's, weights and drums both travel through it, so budget for a floor and wall that absorb sound.
Detached garage. Kept in household use as a hobby workshop or gym, the Planning Portal says permission is typically not needed, conditions aside. Turning it into a separate home for someone to live in is a different matter and may need permission whatever the works.
Planning and building control. Planning depends on your house's conditions and where it sits. Inside the Ebbsfleet garden city area the Development Corporation decides most applications. Building control approval is needed for every conversion to a lived-in room.
Cost and value. We don't print prices. A deeper footing on soft ground or a planning application on a conditioned estate both move the figure, so get quotes from builders who have stood in the garage.
The front of the house, and who signs it off
Dartford has 13 areas of special character, from Chaucer Park and New Barn to Shepherds Lane and Westwood. They don't take away your rights, but two criteria in their 2000 appraisals read like a garage checklist. One is the absence of unsympathetic conversions. The other is inconspicuous car parking. If you need an application there, a matching window and a modest drive will help.
In the six conservation areas, swapping a door for a window and a wall changes the front elevation, so talk to the planners first. On the Greenhithe properties under the 1984 Article 4 direction, even front walls, gates and repainting need consent.
Building control is the council's own team. The council notes that a building notice comes with no plan approval, which some lenders ask for. For a garage with a new footing and a rebuilt floor, full plans is the safer route. Check your address on the UKradon map too, as a new habitable room in a higher-radon spot may need protection in the floor.
Where these facts come from
- Parking Standards SPD, 2012 (Dartford Borough Council)
- Areas of special character (Dartford Borough Council)
- Chaucer Park area of special character appraisal, 2000 (Dartford Borough Council)
- New Barn area of special character appraisal, 2000 (Dartford Borough Council)
- Householder development (Dartford Borough Council)
- Building notice route (Dartford Borough Council)
- Greenhithe conservation area Article 4 direction (Dartford Borough Council)
- Garage conversion: planning permission (Planning Portal)
- Converting a garage into a workshop (Planning Portal)
- Garage conversion tips (LABC)
- Radon and building work (LABC)
- Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (GOV.UK)
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Questions people in Dartford ask
Our estate has car barns, not garages. Can we put doors on and use it as a store or room?
Look at the planning permission for the estate first. Dartford's 2012 parking standards say the council attaches conditions to car barns to stop lockable doors being fitted later. If yours has one, you'd need permission to change it, and the council would want to know where the car goes instead.
Our 1990s house has a single garage that's too narrow for our car. Does it still count as parking?
Probably not by the council's measure. The SPD only counts a single garage that is at least 5.5 by 3.6 metres or 7.0 by 3.0 inside. That won't remove a condition on your house, but it is a fair point to make if an application is needed.
We live in New Barn. Does the area of special character stop us converting?
No. It doesn't remove permitted development rights. It matters if your conversion needs an application for another reason, when the officer will read the 2000 appraisal and its points about conversions and parking.
How many spaces does a four-bed house in Dartford need?
For new homes north of the A2, outside the town centre and the Green Belt, the SPD asks for two spaces. That is for new homes, but it shows what the council has in mind.