Backland Development
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Build a home for family in your garden in Hexham

A new home for family in your Hexham garden is built around one person’s needs, which makes the brief unlike other builds. Level paths from the car, a ground-floor bedroom with a shower room beside it, and enough distance from the main house for privacy matter more than an extra bedroom upstairs.

We take that brief through measured survey, design, planning with Northumberland County Council, approval under the Building Regulations and construction, with a written quote once design and survey are done. The first step is free: an appraisal of your plot, access and the planning picture, with a visit if it looks viable.

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Single-storey garden home with wide glazed doors and a covered porch at the back of a family garden
Planning authority
Northumberland County Council
Postcodes
NE46
Noon sun, 21 March
About 35°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 7.1 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Northumberland

Before you decide in Hexham

How the two households will live together shapes the planning case as much as the drawings do. If your parent will eat with you, share the garden and rely on you day to day, an annexe is the natural fit, and that is what Northumberland County Council will expect the application to describe. If your son or daughter will run their own home, pay their own bills and perhaps sell up one day, it is a separate dwelling and will be assessed against the council’s Local Plan as a new house. For a family in NE46, we help set that out clearly from the start.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Hexham: about 35 degrees on 21 March and 12 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 35°, shadow 7.1 m21 Dec, noon: sun 12°, shadow 24.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Hexham: around 35° of sun at midday in late March and about 12° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

The next steps, locally

Here’s what happens next for a family home in Hexham. 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 Northumberland County Council.

  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

  • Planning is the council’s decision, and an annexe is not a way round the rules that apply to a new house.
  • A separate home needs its own garden, parking, bins and access, so it needs more land than an annexe.
  • 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.

Hexham: questions to ask

Who owns an annexe built in my Hexham 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.

Do I need planning permission for a granny annexe in Hexham?

Yes, almost always for a detached annexe with its own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Northumberland County Council will treat it as accommodation linked to your home and will usually add a condition so it can’t be let or sold separately. A garden building used only as a home office or gym is a different matter, but sleeping and cooking take it beyond those allowances.

How much garden do I need for a family home in Hexham?

There’s no fixed figure. A single-storey annexe close to the house can work on a smaller plot than a separate dwelling, which needs its own garden, parking and access. What matters is whether Northumberland County Council can be satisfied on privacy, daylight and the space left for both homes. The free appraisal gives you a first view based on your plot’s actual shape and access.

Will an annexe in Hexham 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. Northumberland County Council’s council tax team can tell you how the rules apply to your household.

Other options in Hexham

Family home in your garden near Hexham

Find out what your garden could become

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

Get my free appraisal 0800 088 6248