Yes, but you'll ask permission more often than most homeowners do. Hundreds of listed buildings sit across the area. Eight conservation areas cover the villages. Dozens of ancient monuments dot the downs. Hungerford lets people extend, provided they're patient about the paperwork.
Historic England's register lists 606 buildings in the Hungerford area: 11 at Grade I, 38 at Grade II* and 557 at Grade II. If your house is one of them, nearly any change that affects its character needs listed building consent, and that covers the inside as well as the outside. That includes swapping sash windows for something easier to clean, taking out a wall, and in some cases the colour of the front door. Changing a listed building without consent is a criminal offence, not a planning technicality, so check the listing before you instruct a builder, not after.
Across the wider area there are 8 conservation areas, including Chilton Foliat, Great Bedwyn, Ham and Shalbourne. Inside one, demolition, some tree work and changes visible from the street can need consent that wouldn't be required a lane away. The council's conservation officer will usually be the first person to comment on your plans.
There are also 40 scheduled monuments in the area, from barrows on the downs to deserted medieval villages. That's the strictest tier of protection, and it matters mostly for land close to one. If your garden backs onto a Bronze Age barrow, the barrow gets a say in the extension.
The neighbours aren't put off. The area logged 745 planning applications between April 2024 and June 2026, and 339 of them came in the last twelve months. People here extend, convert and alter their homes all the time. They just don't skip the form.
The ground deserves a look too. The British Geological Survey rates shrink-swell clay in the area up to class 3 on its published hazard scale, and about 45% of the area reaches that class. Clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry can move shallow foundations, so any extension needs foundations designed for the soil and a structural engineer's view before the digger arrives. That isn't a reason to panic, but it is a reason to budget for the engineer.
Two listed buildings in the area are on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register. These are historic buildings in poor condition, where repairs may attract grant support and will certainly attract scrutiny. They're a concern for whoever owns them, not for the buyer of an ordinary house down the road.
In practice, the Hungerford area splits in two. An unlisted house outside a conservation area can often use its permitted development rights for a modest rear extension or loft conversion, as it could almost anywhere. A listed house, or one inside a conservation area, generally can't, and every change becomes an application. Find out which kind of house you're buying before you draw up the kitchen extension you've already told everyone about.
Freedom to alter a home is poor here and the weakest part of the area. Some houses can change with a simple application, and the historic ones barely change at all.