Yes, and the heritage rulebook here is about as thin as they come. Only a handful of buildings are listed. None carry the top grades. No conservation area covers the village. The main thing standing between you and a rear extension is your neighbour's opinion of it.
Historic England lists 3 buildings in the area, all Grade II, with no Grade I and no Grade II* buildings at all. Listing puts the building itself under consent control: changes that affect its character, inside or out, need listed building consent on top of any planning permission, and carrying on without it is a criminal offence rather than a paperwork slip. With 3 listed buildings in the whole village, the odds that the house on your shortlist is one of them are low, and the seller's solicitor will know if it is. The count of conservation areas inside the village boundary used here is zero, so the extra rules on demolition, trees and street-facing changes that bite in conservation towns don't apply to most Brookwood homes.
The neighbours have noticed. Across the planning records from April 2024 to June 2026, 900 applications were logged for the area, and 414 of them came in the last twelve months. That's the sound of loft conversions, side returns and garage conversions being argued over at kitchen tables. It also means whoever lives next door has probably extended too, and will read your plans with the expert eye of someone who went through it.
In practice, most unlisted houses outside a conservation area can use permitted development rights for modest changes, such as some rear extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings, without a full planning application, within national size and position limits. Anything larger, anything that changes the front of the house, or anything on a flat or a listed building needs permission. Some homes have had those rights removed by earlier planning conditions, and the only way to know is to check the property's planning history with Woking Borough Council before you exchange, not after the builder has arrived.
Freedom to extend is one of Brookwood's real strengths: with so little heritage protection in play, the rules you face are the ordinary national ones, and the only real obstacle is a neighbour with strong feelings about your roofline.