You can extend most houses in Middleton Cheney, as long as yours is not one of the old ones. The post-war closes face the usual rules and little more. The historic cores sit inside two conservation areas. A few dozen buildings are listed. Which of those groups your house falls in matters more than anything in the plans.
Middleton Cheney has 39 listed buildings, one at Grade I, none at Grade II* and 38 at Grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so a new kitchen wall, a replacement window or a change to the roof can need listed building consent from West Northamptonshire Council as well as planning permission. Owners of those 39 get history with the house, and a council reviewing every change that touches it.
The village also has two conservation areas, Upper Middleton Cheney and Lower Middleton Cheney. Inside them the automatic rights to alter a home are narrower, side extensions and changes to the front usually need permission, and work on trees has to be notified to the council first. The council's mapping shows the exact boundaries, and it is worth checking whether a particular house falls inside one, because a house just beyond the boundary has a much easier time.
Local residents are making plenty of changes. Between April 2024 and July 2026, 1,223 planning applications were logged for the area, 494 of them in the last twelve months. That is 494 applications in a year from a village of 1,677 households, and none of them asked for a smaller house.
For a post-war semi or detached house outside the conservation areas, many rear extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings can go ahead under permitted development, the national rules that let homeowners build within set limits without a full application. A listed building or a house inside either conservation area will usually need formal consent for the same work. A two-storey side extension that the council might hardly notice on one of the newer closes can turn into months of correspondence about materials in Upper Middleton Cheney.
How much freedom you have depends on which village you buy into. The post-war part is fairly relaxed about change, while the old cores examine every alteration. Overall, that puts Middleton Cheney in the middle.