Yes, for most houses in Bearsted, as long as yours isn't one of the old ones. Only a few dozen buildings in the area are listed. Most homes are post-war and have no special protection. The neighbours put in hundreds of planning applications a year. A permit usually isn't what stops an extension here. Money usually is.
Historic England lists 67 buildings in the area: 2 at Grade I, none at Grade II*, and 65 at Grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so on a listed home even internal changes such as removing a wall, replacing windows or moving a staircase need listed building consent before any work starts, on top of any planning permission. Most of the listed buildings are around the old village green and along the historic core. If you buy one, you're its custodian, and the council will treat you that way.
For everything else, the planning register shows how busy the village is. There were 1,927 planning applications between April 2024 and June 2026, and 798 of them came in the last twelve months. Those are homeowners adding rooms, replacing garages and changing roofs. Every extra bedroom in the post-war closes started as one of these applications.
In practice, a post-war house that isn't listed can often be extended without a full application, under national permitted development rights, which set limits on size, height and position. Anything bigger than those limits needs a planning application to Maidstone's planners. A listed building has no such allowance for works to the building itself, so everything needs consent. Historic England publishes no conservation-area boundaries for Bearsted, so don't assume no local restrictions apply. Before you sign anything, ask the council whether the address falls within a conservation area or is covered by any direction removing permitted development rights. Checking that takes an email. Getting it wrong can mean an enforcement notice.
Your freedom to extend depends on which house you buy: the post-war majority give you plenty of room, the listed buildings in the old core give you very little, and the village overall lands in the middle.