Bin stores, bike stores and cabinets at a block of flats

Bin store planning permission for flats is needed far more often than freeholders expect, because Part 1 of the General Permitted Development Order does not apply to blocks of flats at all. The householder rights that let an owner of a house put up a shed, a bin store or a bike store without an application are tied to the word dwellinghouse, and article 2 of the Order says a dwellinghouse does not include a building containing one or more flats, or a flat within such a building. So a timber bin enclosure in the forecourt of a converted Victorian villa is ordinary development needing a full application, not a householder one.

Why Part 1 rights do not extend to blocks of flats

Part 1 of Schedule 2 is headed development within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse. Class A covers enlargement, Class E covers buildings incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse, and it is Class E that would otherwise cover a store. The definition in article 2(1) removes flats from all of it.

The consequence is blunt. A four-flat conversion and the identical house next door have completely different rights over the same front garden, and the flats have almost none.

That also changes the application route. Householder applications are only available for works to a dwellinghouse, so works to a block of flats are submitted as a full planning application with the corresponding fee and the associated publicity. Applicants who fill in the householder form get the application returned as invalid.

The curtilage question still matters, because the rights that do exist are usually tied to it. Where the boundary of the curtilage sits is covered in our note on measuring curtilage and the enlarged garden.

What rights exist within the curtilage of a block

A short list survives:

• Part 2 Class A allows gates, fences, walls and other means of enclosure up to one metre high where adjacent to a highway used by vehicular traffic, and up to two metres elsewhere, subject to conditions on article 2(3) land and on listed building curtilages.
• Part 2 Class C allows the exterior of a building to be painted, other than as an advertisement.
• Part 2 also contains classes permitting electric vehicle charging outlets and upstands within the curtilage of a building, with size limits and restrictions in conservation areas. Read the current text, because these classes have been amended.
• Part 14 permits solar equipment on, and within the curtilage of, a dwellinghouse or a block of flats, subject to siting and size conditions.
• Part 16 covers electronic communications apparatus, and Part 15 gives electricity undertakers their own rights, which is why a distribution network operator can place a substation cabinet where the freeholder could not.

None of those covers a building. A bin store, a cycle store, a plant enclosure or a parcel locker housing all need permission unless they fall outside the definition of development altogether.

That last route is worth testing. Whether a structure is a building operation turns on its size, its degree of permanence and its physical attachment to the ground. A truly demountable timber bin surround, set on a hard surface without foundations and capable of being moved in one piece, may not be development. A brick enclosure with a concrete slab plainly is. Where the answer is not obvious, a certificate of lawfulness for a proposed use or development gives a binding answer for a fraction of the cost of a refused application.

Freeholder and leaseholder consent as a separate matter

Planning permission says the council will not object. It says nothing about whether you are allowed to build.

Check the lease first. Most leases reserve the forecourt, side access and parking area to the landlord, restrict alterations to the structure and common parts, and require written consent for anything fixed to the building. A residents management company or right to manage company may hold those powers instead.

Then check the funding route. Where the works are recovered through the service charge and any single leaseholder's contribution exceeds the statutory threshold, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires a consultation process with notices and estimates before the cost can be recovered in full. Skipping it caps the recoverable amount per leaseholder at that threshold, which turns a modest bin store into an expensive lesson.

Run the consultation and the planning application in parallel. They take similar amounts of time and neither depends on the other.

Siting against refuse collection and cycle standards

Waste officers apply two distances that decide most layouts: how far a resident carries a bag from the flat entrance to the store, and how far the collection crew drags a bin from the store to the vehicle. Both are set locally, often informed by BS 5906 on waste management in buildings, and both are commonly expressed in the authority's own refuse and recycling storage standard. Ask for the standard before you draw anything.

Size the store from the number of flats, the containers in use in that street, and the collection frequency, including separate provision for dry recycling, food waste and any garden waste. Allow space to move containers past each other rather than the bare footprint of the bins in a row. A store that needs three bins taken out to reach the fourth will be full of bins on the pavement within a month.

Cycle parking follows the authority's own standard, expressed as spaces per bedroom or per flat. Specify Sheffield stands or two-tier racks rather than wall hooks, provide a 1.2 metre access aisle, make the enclosure secure and weatherproof, and light it. Where the store is large enough to be its own document, a Waste Management Strategy setting out container numbers, storage capacity, carry distances and the collection arrangement answers the officer's questions in one place.

Fire service access and escape routes

External stores create two fire risks: arson against the building, and obstruction of the routes people and appliances need.

Keep combustible stores away from the facade, away from balconies and away from windows serving escape routes, and check the authority's or the fire and rescue service's preferred separation before fixing the position. Do not place a store across a protected escape route from the building, across a final exit, or on the hardstanding a pump appliance needs. Approved Document B sets out vehicle access requirements including road widths for appliances, and a store that narrows the access road below them will draw a consultee objection.

For buildings of 18 metres or seven storeys and above, the building safety regime brings further duties on the accountable person, and changes to external storage and to fire service access should be discussed with the building safety manager rather than decided by the managing agent alone.

Non-combustible construction, a metal-clad or masonry enclosure and a lockable door reduce the risk and usually reduce the objection with it.

Conservation areas and street frontages

Front garden bin stores in conservation areas are one of the most consistently refused categories of minor application. A row of stucco villas with a low railing and a hedge does not accommodate a 2.4 metre timber box, and the cumulative effect of one per building is the point the conservation officer makes.

What works: locating the store to the side or rear even where the carry distance is less convenient, setting it behind and below the existing boundary wall so the wall remains the dominant element, building in brick or render to match with dark painted timber doors, keeping the height below the wall or railing line where possible, and adding a planted or green roof to soften the top.

On a listed building, or within its curtilage, listed building consent may be needed as well as planning permission, and the curtilage question is dealt with in our note on permitted development rights in a listed building curtilage.

Where a full application is required

In short: almost always, for anything that is a building. Submit a location plan, a block plan showing the store, the carry distances and the collection point, elevations and a section at scale, a materials schedule, and a short Planning Statement covering the amenity case, the refuse and cycle standards being met, and the fire access position.

Add photographs of the existing frontage and a note of the number of flats served. Where the block is in a conservation area, include a short heritage paragraph explaining the effect on the character and appearance of the area, because the council has a statutory duty to pay special attention to it.

Conditions to expect on approval

Materials to be approved before construction, the store to be provided before first use or within a stated period, the enclosure to be retained and maintained, the cycle store to be secure and covered, no storage of waste outside the enclosure, and landscaping or planting to be implemented in the first planting season.

Some authorities add a management condition requiring the containers to be returned to the store within a set time after collection. That one is worth accepting, because it is the complaint the council will otherwise receive every fortnight.

To check what a block on your street is likely to need, enter your postcode on PlanScope and run the constraint check before you order the joinery.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it, and note that a Lawful Development Certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.