Planning consultant in Croydon

What Croydon's own decision figures say

The council decided 786 householder applications in the latest twelve months we hold, granting 86.6 per cent, with 94.4 per cent decided inside eight weeks or an agreed extension. Minor applications look very different: 641 decisions, 57.6 per cent granted, 86.9 per cent in time.

That gap is the single most useful fact on this page. Householder work, a rear extension or a loft for an existing family home, is granted far more often than a minor scheme such as a new unit or a change in the number of homes. If your project is in the second group, the case needs more argument, and that is where a consultant adds value. If it is in the first, good drawings and a clean submission usually do the work.

Do not read those percentages as odds for your own case. They describe the council's workload, not your site. The council also issued a very large number of certificates of lawfulness, 494 in the quarterly series, which shows how many owners use that route to confirm permitted development before building.

Green belt, conservation areas and Article 4 in practice

With 25 per cent of the borough covered by green-belt polygons, plenty of Croydon homes in the south fall under a different test: extensions must not be disproportionate to the original building. A rear extension that would be routine in Thornton Heath needs a careful size argument near Coulsdon or Sanderstead.

The borough has 19 conservation areas, 180 listed entries and 15 Heritage at Risk entries. Gardens cover 32.8 per cent of the land in the national land-use survey, so plot size is rarely the limit and neighbours' outlook usually is.

Where trees, ecology or a pond are involved, we also advise on the biodiversity net gain plan in Croydon so that the requirement is met without a late surprise.

How we run a Croydon brief

We begin with the address. The free constraints check covers green belt, conservation areas, listing, trees and the property's planning history, and ends with a plain recommendation: drawings only, a Lawful Development Certificate in Croydon, or a full application with a statement.

Once the route is agreed we draw the scheme through our planning drawings service in Croydon, write the statement alongside, and check the package against the council's list above. An independent chartered technologist, never the person who drew the set, checks it before submission. Redrawing is free until approval, and amendments are made within five working days.

Any basement or lower-ground works are tested against the flood and ground conditions in a basement impact assessment in Croydon where the case needs one.

Many owners ask whether they need both a consultant and a drawing service. In Croydon the answer depends on where the project sits in the figures above. A routine householder scheme usually needs drawings and a clean submission. A scheme in the green belt, in a conservation area or in the minor category benefits from a statement written by the same team that drew it, so the argument and the plans stay in step.

If the answer is no

A refusal still leaves options. A householder appeal must be made within 12 weeks of the decision, and the Planning Inspectorate's median householder decision currently takes about 11.6 weeks. Our planning appeals service in Croydon starts by reading the officer's report and telling you whether to appeal, amend or re-route.

For a wider view of the borough, see our architectural drawings page for Croydon; the general service sits on the planning consultant page. The national householder fee is £548, paid to the council.