Leeds rendering enquiries: access and location

Council checks for a Leeds address

Leeds has 80 conservation areas, 55 with published appraisals. New render cladding on a house is outside permitted development rights there; repairs or renewal that leave its appearance materially unchanged need separate assessment. Appraisals such as those for Morley and for Headingley Hill, Hyde Park and Woodhouse Moor describe the local materials and, in Headingley Hill's case, say the rendering of stone walls should be avoided.

Separately, scaffolding, access platforms and materials on a road or pavement need permission from the council's highways team. Planning consent for the wall and a highway licence for the scaffold are different things.

What to send when describing the job

Pictures taken standing on the ground are all that is needed; leave high render alone rather than climbing up or prodding it. If the property is let, give the name of the person who can arrange access.

1. 1

   Postcode, plus a note of which faces of the building are affected.

2. 2

   Ground-level pictures: one of each whole wall, and close shots of cracks, bulges or stains.

3. 3

   Describe the access: pavement frontage, passage, yard, shared gate or route through the house.

4. 4

   Say whether the house is a back-to-back, through-terrace, semi or detached, and whether it is occupied or let.

5. 5

   Mention planned window, roof or extension work.

Larger buildings

Shops, offices, flats and new-build schemes raise their own questions of design responsibility, site access and sequencing, so treat them as separate enquiries rather than an extension of house work.