Yes, in most of Wrecclesham, provided the clay agrees. None of the listed buildings is top grade. There is one conservation area. The neighbours file planning applications at a rate that suggests a hobby. The council is the easier conversation here; the ground under the house is the one to take seriously.
Wrecclesham has 33 listed buildings, and every one of them is grade II. There are no grade I or grade II* buildings at all. Grade II is the most common level of listing in England, but it still means listed building consent for almost any change that affects the building's character, inside or out, on top of any planning permission. That covers the obvious things like extensions and replacement windows, and the less obvious ones like removing an internal wall or changing a fireplace. If the house you want is one of the 33, plan for a slower, more expensive process and a conservation officer who has opinions about your glazing bars. If it isn't, which is the case for almost every home in the village, listing doesn't apply to you.
There is one conservation area in the village, covering the older core of Wrecclesham. Inside it, the council takes a closer interest in anything visible from the street, including extensions, roof changes, cladding and some demolition, and works to trees need notice in advance. Some changes that would count as permitted development elsewhere need a planning application here. Outside the conservation area, the post-war and later houses that make up most of the village are treated like ordinary suburban homes.
The neighbours are not sitting still. Between April 2024 and June 2026 there were 2,487 planning applications in the area, with 1,044 of them in the last twelve months. That volume covers everything from loft conversions to tree works, and it tells you one useful thing: altering a home around here is normal, and the council deals with a steady stream of it. It doesn't tell you what gets approved, so look up applications on your own street before assuming yours will sail through.
The bigger constraint is underground. On the national geological survey's shrink-swell scale, parts of Wrecclesham reach class 3, and about 78% of the area sits at class 3 or above. Shrink-swell ground expands when wet and contracts when dry, which moves foundations over time. For an extension, that means deeper foundations than you might expect, extra care near trees, and a structural engineer's view before the architect gets carried away. It is a design cost to plan for, not a reason to walk away.
In practice, most houses outside the conservation area can use permitted development for modest rear extensions and loft work, subject to the usual size limits and a lawful development certificate if you want certainty. Inside the conservation area, or on a listed building, assume you need consent and budget the time accordingly. Either way, the engineer's report on the ground should come before the drawings, not after the first crack in the new kitchen.
Freedom to extend in Wrecclesham is middling. Most homes can grow, the paperwork is ordinary outside the old core, and the clay makes every extension more expensive than the plans suggest.