Yes, for most houses in Meopham, and with more paperwork for a few. The village has a couple of dozen listed buildings among about 2,500 homes. Three conservation areas cover the older parts, around the green and along the street. Everywhere else is mostly post-war houses and bungalows, and the planners don't treat them as heritage. Neighbours are extending their homes in large numbers.
Historic England lists 28 buildings in the area. One is Grade I, one is Grade II* and the other 26 are Grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so almost any change that affects its character needs listed building consent from Gravesham Borough Council, on top of any planning permission. Replacing windows, taking out a wall or changing the roof covering can all count. Owning one of these 28 means getting the council's approval for changes that elsewhere in the village are done without asking.
The area has three conservation areas, at Hook Green, Meopham Green and The Street. Inside them, the council looks harder at anything that changes how a house looks from the road, and works that don't need permission elsewhere can need it there. Work on trees needs notice too. A post-war semi just outside a boundary and an old cottage just inside one can face very different rules for the same rear extension. Check Gravesham's conservation area map for the exact house, and look through its planning history on the council's planning portal. Both are free.
Gravesham's planning records show 694 applications in the area between April 2024 and June 2026, with 364 in the most recent twelve months. People here are applying to change their homes all the time. The figures don't record how many applications were approved, only that people are applying.
For most houses, permitted development rights allow a modest rear extension, some loft work and outbuildings without a full planning application, provided the house isn't listed, any conservation area limits are respected, and no earlier planning condition has removed those rights. Anything bigger goes to the council. In a village built mostly of post-war houses and bungalows, the usual project is a loft conversion over a bungalow, and its biggest obstacle is usually the person next door, not the conservation officer.
The freedom to extend here is middling. The rules are relaxed across most of the village and strict in the three historic cores and on the 28 listed buildings, so where in the village the house sits decides almost everything.