Architectural drawings in Brent

Article 4 directions, conservation areas and trees in Brent

With 39 Article 4 directions, Brent can remove permitted development for front elevations, boundaries or roofs in the areas each direction covers, and those areas are not always obvious from the street. Whether yours is covered is the first thing we check.

The borough has 23 conservation areas and 1,229 tree preservation orders. The council's data records no green-belt share, so we check the plot against the local plan rather than assuming proportion tests apply.

Historic England lists 93 entries: 1 at Grade I, 8 at Grade II* and 83 at Grade II. There are also 11 entries on the Heritage at Risk Register.

Flats, houses and tenure

Only 43.3 per cent of Brent households live in a house, and 38.4 per cent are owner-occupied. Permitted development rights for householders never extend to flats, so a flat owner here needs a full application, and usually a freeholder's consent too.

For houses, a terraced home sold for £700,019 on average in the latest Land Registry figures, and a semi-detached one for £829,853.

The average price moved by -2.6 per cent in the latest twelve months, so the economics of building up or out are worth checking against a current valuation.

How Brent decides applications

In the latest twelve months of published figures Brent decided 879 householder applications and granted 86.6 per cent. Of those, 97.2 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension.

Prior approval for larger home extensions is a harder route here: 10 granted against 79 refused in the latest national statistics. Past figures do not predict your decision, but they help us choose between routes.

The council also dealt with 348 lawful development certificate applications in that period, so a certificate is a well-used route.

The national statistics series counts 924 householder decisions in its latest year, with 85.5 per cent granted.

Levies to plan for

Brent is in band 2 of the Mayor of London's levy at £72.73 per square metre for permissions granted this year, and it charges its own levy under the Brent CIL Charging Schedule.

We list any liability in the next-steps pack so the figure is never a surprise.

Minor schemes, conversions and shared homes

Brent decided 734 minor applications, such as a small conversion or a new dwelling, and granted 74.8 per cent of them, with 95.2 per cent decided in time. For a flat conversion or a small infill scheme these are the more relevant figures.

Shared houses are controlled locally: the council publishes its own guidance for them, and where its Article 4 direction applies, turning a family house into a small shared house needs planning permission. We check that before any layout is drawn.

Domestic gardens cover about 30.3 per cent of the borough, and there are 4 registered parks and gardens, so overlooking, trees and setting count on some sites.

A detached home here sold for £1,326,037 on average and a flat for £378,992, in a borough of 118,612 households. We draw to the guidance whichever route the owner chooses.

What we check on a Brent address before any design

We open the council's Article 4 map first, because it settles whether your front, roof or boundary needs consent. Then we look at conservation status, listed neighbours, protected trees and the planning history of the house and the terrace.

If the house is a flat or part of a converted building, we ask for the lease, since consent from the freeholder is separate from the council's. For a house, we measure the original rear wall and the neighbours' windows, then set extension depth against the council's tests.

You receive a fixed quote and a clear route. An independent technologist checks the final sheets before they are submitted, and we answer the officer's questions afterwards.

Which architectural drawings Brent homes need

Typical Brent work starts with planning drawings in Brent, loft conversion drawings in Brent or flat conversion drawings in Brent. Shared homes have their own page, HMO conversion drawings in Brent.

Neighbouring boroughs are covered on Barnet, Ealing and Harrow.