Planning permission in Guildford
Guildford Borough Council decides planning applications in Guildford. This page shows the protected areas that affect what homeowners can build without planning permission, and the planning data Guildford publishes.
Conservation areas
Guildford has 40 conservation areas. In a conservation area, permitted development rights are reduced: side extensions, two-storey extensions, loft dormers and cladding all need planning permission, and many councils add Article 4 directions on top.
- Abbotswood
- Abinger Hammer
- Albury
- Basingstoke Canal North
- Basingstoke Canal South
- Bisley Camp
- Bridge Street
- Charlotteville
- Chilworth Gunpowder Mills
- Compton
- Eashing
- East Clandon
- East Horsley
- Effingham
- Guildford Town Centre
- Holmbury St Mary
- Littleton
- Millmead and Portsmouth Road, Guildford
- Ockham
- Ockham Mill
- Onslow Village
- Peaslake
- Pirbright
- Puttenham
- Ripley
- Seale
- Shackleford
- Shalford
- Shere
- St Catherines Guildford Town Centre
- Stokefields
- Stoughton Barracks
- Wanborough
- Waterden Road
- West Clandon
- West Horsley
- Wey and Godalming Navigations
- Wisley
- Wood Street
- Worplesdon
Read more: extensions, loft dormers, garden rooms and solar panels in a conservation area.
Article 4 directions
Guildford hasn't published any Article 4 boundaries on planning.data.gov.uk. Most councils have at least one Article 4 direction, often in conservation areas, so check the council's website or ask its planning team before relying on permitted development.
What is an Article 4 direction?
National parks, National Landscapes and green belt
- National Landscape (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) in or bordering Guildford: Surrey Hills.
- There is green belt in or bordering Guildford. Householder permitted development rights apply as normal in the green belt, but if you need planning permission, green belt policy limits how much a home can be enlarged.
National parks and National Landscapes restrict permitted development in similar ways to conservation areas. Read more: extensions, loft dormers and garden rooms.
Listed buildings and protected trees
Listed buildings everywhere in England are recorded by Historic England, and the checker looks for them at every address. Guildford doesn't publish listed building outlines, so where a listed building is recorded near an address, we ask the homeowner to check whether it's theirs.
Guildford doesn't publish its tree preservation orders as data. If there are mature trees near your project, ask the council whether any are protected before you start.
What Guildford publishes
| Data | Status | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area boundaries | Published | 41 |
| Article 4 direction boundaries | Not published | 0 |
| Listed building outlines | Not published | 0 |
| Tree preservation order areas | Not published | 0 |
| Protected trees | Not published | 0 |
Planning work on a home in Guildford? Put a pin on your house and we'll check it against all of this.
Start a checkData from planning.data.gov.uk, published by Guildford Borough Council and national bodies under the Open Government Licence, last updated here on 30 October 2026. Guildford Borough Council website.