Yes, and more easily than in most places with a medieval church. A dozen listed buildings is the whole heritage burden. There is no conservation area. The neighbours file planning applications like other villages file complaints. Unless the house is one of those twelve, the heritage rules have little to say about the loft.
Hoo St Werburgh has 12 listed buildings: 1 at Grade I, none at Grade II*, and 11 at Grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so altering any of those twelve needs listed building consent on top of any planning permission. Replacing windows, knocking through a wall or swapping the roof covering can all need consent, and carrying out the work without it is a criminal offence, not a paperwork slip. For everyone else, those twelve are something to look at on a walk, not a restriction on the house.
The area has 1 scheduled monument, the strictest tier of protection there is. It matters mainly to anyone whose land sits next to it, and to almost nobody extending a semi.
The planning register is where the village's real attitude shows. Between April 2024 and June 2026, 689 planning applications were filed, 292 of them in the last twelve months. That is a village that extends, converts and builds out the back as a matter of routine. Anyone who buys here expecting the street to stay exactly as it looks on the day of viewing has not read the register, and the neighbour's scaffolding will correct them by spring.
The ground deserves more thought than the paperwork. The British Geological Survey's shrink-swell hazard reaches class 3 in parts of the area, covering about 7% of it. Clay in those spots expands when wet and shrinks when dry, which matters for new foundations. For an extension on that ground, a structural engineer will usually want to set foundation depth to suit the soil, and building control will expect it. This is a design and cost point, not a reason to abandon the plan, and the cheapest time to find it is before the architect draws anything.
In practice, most homes here are ordinary houses outside any conservation area. Many modest rear extensions and loft conversions fall under permitted development rights, which allow certain work without a full planning application, while bigger or unusual schemes need permission. Those rights can be removed on individual estates or plots, so check the property's planning history with Medway Council before assuming a free hand. The listed dozen are a different matter altogether and need consent for almost everything.
For anyone planning to add a bedroom or a kitchen extension, Hoo St Werburgh is one of the less restrictive places to buy. The heritage rules affect a handful of addresses, and the clay decides the foundations more than any planning officer does.