Build a home for family in your garden in Ashton-under-Lyne

Two households, one plot: that’s the idea behind a family home in a Ashton-under-Lyne garden. Done well, each has privacy and a front door, yet help is a few steps away. Done badly, it can strain relationships and leave a building nobody can use when circumstances change.

The difference lies mostly in the planning route and the layout. Backland Development is a new S&K Group brand offering design and build to homeowners in Ashton-under-Lyne and the surrounding area, and each project begins with a free plot appraisal that weighs an annexe against a separate home for your family.

Single-storey garden home with wide glazed doors and a covered porch at the back of a family garden
Planning authority
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Postcodes
OL6, OL7
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.8 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Greater Manchester

What the council will look at in Ashton-under-Lyne

Access usually decides what a Ashton-under-Lyne garden can take. An annexe can often share your drive because it is used with the house, but a separate home needs an access Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council will accept for a dwelling in its own right, with room for cars, bin collection and emergency vehicles. We cover homes in Ashton-under-Lyne and around Dukinfield, Stalybridge and Droylsden, 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.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Ashton-under-Lyne: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 13 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.8 m21 Dec, noon: sun 13°, shadow 21.5 mExistingNew home
Noon sun in Ashton-under-Lyne on 21 March sits about 37° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line (about 5 m) throws a shadow of roughly 6.8 m. In December the sun is only about 13° up and shadows stretch much further. Drawn for a garden facing north, where it matters most.

From first call to decision

From first call to keys, a family home in Ashton-under-Lyne follows a clear order. Free appraisal and site visit; measured survey and design around the person moving in; a planning application to Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council; approval under the Building Regulations and any CIL exemption claimed before work starts; then the build, with you living next door throughout. You receive a written quote after design and survey, and we keep the household updated at each stage.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  • VAT savings available on a separate dwelling often don’t apply to an annexe; take advice from a tax adviser before choosing.
  • CIL exemptions are lost if work starts before the claim is made, and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years.
  • A separate home needs its own garden, parking, bins and access, so it needs more land than an annexe.

Your questions, answered for Ashton-under-Lyne

Will an annexe in Ashton-under-Lyne 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. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council’s council tax team can tell you how the rules apply to your household.

Can I build a separate house in my Ashton-under-Lyne garden for my son or daughter?

Possibly, if the plot can work as a home in its own right. Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council will look at access, parking, garden space for both houses, privacy and the character of the street, as it would for any new house. If permission is granted, the plot can be transferred to your child with its own title, with your lender’s consent if the house is mortgaged.

Who owns an annexe built in my Ashton-under-Lyne 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.

Is CIL payable on a family home in Ashton-under-Lyne?

Only if Tameside Metropolitan Borough 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.

Other options in Ashton-under-Lyne

Family home in your garden near Ashton-under-Lyne

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.