Yes, you can extend in Findon, provided the house isn't one the nation has quietly claimed a share of. A couple of dozen buildings are listed. The village has a conservation area. The clay underneath moves with the weather. Most homeowners get their extension, and the ones who don't bought the wrong house for it.
The area holds 27 listed buildings: one at grade I, one at grade II* and 25 at grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so changing a listed home needs listed building consent on top of any planning permission, and that includes work a normal owner would never think to ask about, like windows, internal walls and the colour of the front door. With 25 of the 27 at grade II, most of Findon's listed stock sits in the standard tier, which is still a tier where a replacement window becomes a conversation with the council. Buyers who fall for a period cottage and plan to "open it up a bit" should find out first whether opening it up is theirs to decide.
There's one conservation area here, the Findon conservation area. Inside it, the rules on alterations visible from the street are tighter than elsewhere, and demolition, some extensions and changes to the look of a house can need consent that an identical house outside the boundary would get automatically. The boundary line, not the age of the house, decides which set of rules applies. Two neighbours with the same semi can end up with different answers, and only one of them will think the system is fair.
The area also contains three scheduled monuments, the strictest protection tier in England. They matter mainly to anyone owning land close to one, since digging near a scheduled site is the kind of project that brings in archaeologists before builders.
None of this has stopped people trying. The area's planning records hold 2,135 applications between April 2024 and June 2026, and 966 of them came in over the last twelve months alone. That's the neighbours extending kitchens, converting lofts and arguing about fences, all through the proper channels. The paperwork is busy, and the queue of people who want a bigger house than the one they bought is long.
The ground deserves as much attention as the planners. The geological survey's shrink-swell hazard reaches class 3 here, and about 86% of the area's postcodes sit at class 3 or above. Shrink-swell means clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, and it moves foundations with it. That isn't a reason to abandon an extension. It's a reason to get a structural engineer involved early, expect deeper foundations than a builder's first quote allows for, and keep an eye on any large tree near the new wall. The clay doesn't care whether the council said yes.
For most homes in Findon outside the conservation area and off the listed register, standard permitted development rights apply, and a modest rear extension or loft conversion can go ahead without a full application. Inside the conservation area, or on a listed building, expect to apply for almost everything and to wait for the answer. Before buying with an extension in mind, check whether the house is listed, check which side of the conservation boundary it falls on, and budget for a structural engineer either way.
Findon gives you moderate freedom to extend. Plenty of homes sit outside the protected core and get on with it, while the listed buildings and the conservation area ask for patience and the clay asks for a decent engineer.