- Planning authority
- Cornwall Council
- Postcodes
- TR18, TR20
- Noon sun, 21 March
- About 40°
- Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
- About 6.0 m
- Planning plan
- Local Plan
- County
- Cornwall
Before you decide in Penzance
Access usually decides what a Penzance garden can take. An annexe can often share your drive because it is used with the house, but a separate home needs an access Cornwall Council will accept for a dwelling in its own right, with room for cars, bin collection and emergency vehicles. We cover homes in Penzance and around Camborne, Redruth and Falmouth, and on every plot we measure the drive width, the view along the road where the access joins it, and how far bins would need to travel, before anyone draws a plan.
How we’d take it forward in Penzance
Here’s what happens next for a family home in Penzance. You tell us about your plot and who the home is for, and we carry out a free desktop appraisal of access, space and the planning context. If it looks viable we visit, then set out the annexe and separate-home options. With your go-ahead we survey, design and give you a written quote, then prepare the application for Cornwall Council.
Free plot appraisal
We look at your plot, access and the planning picture from the desk, talk through who will live in the new home, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.
Survey and design
A measured survey, then a design built around the person moving in: step-free routes, a ground-floor bedroom if needed and privacy for both households. You get a written quote after design and survey.
Planning and approvals
We prepare and submit the planning application and manage it with the council, which makes the decision. Before work starts, approval under the Building Regulations is in place and any CIL exemption has been claimed.
Build and handover
We build while you carry on living next door, with access, deliveries and working hours agreed up front. At handover you get the completion certificate and the paperwork you’ll need for council tax, lenders and any VAT claim.
Worth checking early
- An annexe tied by planning condition usually can’t be sold or let separately, which limits flexibility later.
- A separate home needs its own garden, parking, bins and access, so it needs more land than an annexe.
- VAT savings available on a separate dwelling often don’t apply to an annexe; take advice from a tax adviser before choosing.
Your questions, answered for Penzance
How long will building work disrupt my home in Penzance?
A single garden home usually takes several months on site, with the noisiest work, such as groundworks, drainage and heavy deliveries, concentrated near the start. We agree working hours, access and parking with you up front, and with the people next door where it affects them, so your household knows what each week will look like.
Will an annexe in Penzance put up my council tax?
It might. Annexes can be banded separately, but exemptions exist for annexes lived in by certain dependent relatives, and in some cases a discount applies where family live there or the annexe is used as part of the main home. Who qualifies depends on the relative’s circumstances and how the annexe is used. Cornwall Council’s council tax team can tell you how the rules apply to your household.
Is CIL payable on a family home in Penzance?
Only if Cornwall Council has adopted the Community Infrastructure Levy, which its website will confirm, and we check it for you during the appraisal. Where it applies, self-build and residential annexe exemptions exist, but both must be claimed before work starts and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years of completion.
Who owns an annexe built in my Penzance garden?
You do. An annexe stays on the title of your house and usually carries a planning condition tying it to the main home, so it can’t be transferred to the relative living in it. If a family member is paying towards it, record what they’ve put in and what happens on a sale in a written agreement drawn up by a solicitor.
Other options in Penzance
- Plot feasibility and design
- Tandem and landlocked plots
- Planning promotion for your garden plot
- Sell part of your garden
- Planning permission for a garden plot
- Large rear gardens