Planning consultant in Haringey

The South Tottenham guidance and the wider plan

For house extensions in the east of the borough the key text is the House extensions in South Tottenham SPD (revised). It sets out how rear, side and roof extensions should be designed for the terraces of that area, and officers use it directly. If your house is in South Tottenham, our statement quotes it and shows how the proposal meets it.

Elsewhere the development plan is the Haringey Local Plan: Strategic Policies 2013-2026 (consolidated with 2017 alterations), with the Development Management DPD, Site Allocations DPD and Tottenham Area Action Plan. It is made up of several documents, which is why a consultant's first job is to find which policy actually applies to your site and which are only background.

The council's levy is set in zones, described as £443.52/m² (Western zone); £276.16/m² (Central zone); £60.24/m² (Eastern zone) and the Mayor's rate adds 60 pounds per square metre before indexation. A home extension usually sits below the trigger, but a new home or a large conversion will not, so we test the figures early.

What the borough's figures show

In the latest twelve months we hold, Haringey made 689 householder decisions and granted 90.3 per cent, with 94.3 per cent decided inside eight weeks or an agreed extension. For minor applications there were 617 decisions, 82.2 per cent granted and 89.5 per cent in time.

Both rates are high. Take that as a sign that a well-prepared application is treated fairly, not as a forecast for your case. Heritage and Article 4 still decide a lot, because 33 conservation areas and 289 listed entries sit within the boundary.

The Article 4 count, 25 directions, is the figure that surprises owners most. In a direction area, work that needs no application elsewhere may need one here, so we map your address before we say anything about permitted development.

Our own routine is the same on every Haringey brief. We map the address against the conservation areas, the listing and the direction areas first, then read the validation list for the application type, then draft the statement last, once we know which policies are really in play. Writing in that order stops the statement quoting policies that do not apply.

Who we advise in Haringey and how

The housing stock is varied. 38.9 per cent of households live in a house and 37.2 per cent own their home. The price range is wide: the average detached home is worth £2,460,369 and the average flat £473,036, so the project range is wide too, from a loft in a Victorian terrace to a larger scheme on a generous plot in the west.

After the free check we recommend a route. A routine scheme goes through our planning drawings service in Haringey. Where rights remain, a Lawful Development Certificate in Haringey proves them. Ecology or trees may call for a biodiversity net gain plan in Haringey, and a lower-ground room for a basement impact assessment in Haringey.

An independent chartered technologist, never the person who drew the set, checks every package. Officer amendments are made within five working days, and redrawing is free until approval.

Timing, fees and appeals

A non-major application has a statutory period of 8 weeks and the householder fee is £548, paid to the council. If an application is refused, a householder appeal must be made within 12 weeks, and our planning appeals service in Haringey starts with the decision notice.

The borough picture is on our architectural drawings page for Haringey, and the service itself is described under planning consultant. Send the address and a line about what you want to build to start.