French Doors in Place of a Window - Permissions

[ColdoRS]

I'm finally on to the last spaces in my small restoration - the kitchen and dining room, which will become one.

I'm going to remove an internal stud wall between the two rooms to open it up then have a new kitchen fitted to suit the new space. All very straightforward.

The dining room is at the back of the house, with a small (600x1200) window looking onto a south facing garden.

With this, I'd like to replace said window with a small set of French doors (1980x1000 approx). I did consider the whole PH bifold door thing but there is a public walkway to one side of the house so a big glass wall would leave us slightly overlooked/exposed.

I'd be getting a builder in to do the work but what do i need to consider at this point?

Is planning permission required for work of this nature?
Neighbour objections? (Wouldn't affect any of them, in my opinion.)
Do i need an architects drawings or will good builder do this to an acceptable standard?
Do i need to tell home insurance that there's another door?

Anything else?

[snobetter]

Building control and insurance company.