Planning consultant in Havering

Green belt and heritage change the advice in Havering

Around 53 per cent of the borough is covered by green-belt polygons. In green belt the national test is whether an extension is disproportionate to the original building, so the size of what was built before matters as much as what you propose.

Heritage is thinner but real: the borough lists 11 conservation areas and 146 listed building entries, and Historic England records 12 Heritage at Risk entries inside the boundary. If your address touches any of these, the statement needs a heritage section, and we say so at the free check rather than after submission.

For homes on neither list, the case is usually shorter, and a consultant adds less. We tell you which situation you are in before you spend.

What Havering's own decision record tells us

In its latest twelve months the council granted 85.9 per cent of its 985 householder decisions, and 97.8 per cent were decided within the statutory period or an agreed extension. Minor applications, which include small new homes and conversions, fared differently: 64.4 per cent were granted out of 306 decisions.

The gap between the two is the practical lesson. A modest householder scheme goes through quickly; a minor scheme is argued on policy, and that is where a written planning case earns its fee.

These are borough-wide records. They describe what happened to other people's applications and say nothing certain about yours.

Large rear extensions: the prior approval record

Many Havering owners first try the larger-home extension prior approval route, because it avoids a full householder application. The latest statistics show 21 such notifications granted and 27 refused in the latest statistical year, so more were refused than granted.

Refusals under that route usually turn on neighbour impact, which is a judgement the council makes after consulting next door. If your neighbour is likely to object, a householder application with a reasoned statement can be the safer choice. We compare the two for your plot and explain the trade-off.

Where you only need confirmation that a project is lawful, a Lawful Development Certificate in Havering is the right document, and the borough issued 578 of them in the same period.

Costs, the levy and what we charge

The council's householder fee for one dwelling is £548, paid to the council, not to us. Larger schemes may also owe the Community Infrastructure Levy. Havering sets its own levy by zone under the Havering Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule, and the Mayor's levy adds £30.3 per square metre in the current indexed year, in charging band 3.

Householder extensions are normally exempt from the levy, but a new dwelling or a large addition may not be, and we flag it early. Our own fee is a single fixed quote, and redrawing is free until approval.

Next steps for a Havering project

Send the address and a few lines about the job. We check the constraints, tell you whether you need a consultant or only planning drawings in Havering, and quote a fixed fee. If the council has already refused, our planning appeals in Havering service starts from the decision notice.

The borough overview is architectural drawings in Havering; neighbouring rules are on planning drawings in Redbridge and planning drawings in Bexley. The national picture is on our planning consultant page.