Planning drawings in Lambeth

Flats, houses and who can use permitted development

Only 24.8 per cent of Lambeth's 134,688 households live in a house or bungalow. For everyone else the national rule applies: householder permitted development does not cover flats or buildings containing flats, so a full application is the route for most changes.

If you own the flat, the freeholder's consent often has to run alongside the council's. We note on the first call who holds the freehold, because the lease can set the timetable more firmly than the council does. Where a house genuinely qualifies, a Lawful Development Certificate in Lambeth can be cheaper and faster than a full application.

Conservation areas, Article 4 and listed buildings in Lambeth

The council publishes 64 conservation areas, and 12 Article 4 directions remove permitted development rights in parts of the borough. Historic England lists 953 entries here, so we check listed status as well as the area controls.

Lambeth also has an Article 4 direction for houses in multiple occupation. Turning a family house into a small shared house therefore needs planning permission, and we draw the layout with that in mind from the start.

Trees, gardens and the survey behind the plans

Lambeth holds 339 tree preservation orders, and a protected tree in a back garden can decide where an extension is allowed to stand. We plot trees on the site plan from the survey, with their spread, so the officer sees the constraint has been considered before they ask.

The survey is the foundation of everything else. We measure the building on one datum, record the party walls and the neighbours' windows, and draw the proposal over that record. Planning sheets drawn from an estimate tend to come back with a request for corrected dimensions, which adds delay.

Larger schemes may also meet the Community Infrastructure Levy. The mayoral charge in Lambeth is £60 per square metre of new floorspace on the original schedule, and the borough has its own schedule too. Small householder extensions are commonly exempt, and we flag at the start whether yours could trigger it.

What a Lambeth application costs and how long it takes

The council's fee for a householder application is £548 for one dwelling, and £1,083 where two or more dwellings are involved. That is paid to the council; our fixed fee, from £745 with VAT included, covers the drawings and the submission.

Lambeth decided 595 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 83.4 per cent. 93.4 per cent met the 8-week target or an agreed extension. These are borough-wide figures, not a forecast for your house.

Planning drawings for Lambeth homes: what you receive

You receive existing and proposed plans, elevations and sections, a location plan to scale and a block plan, all with north shown. A second chartered technologist checks each sheet before it goes in, and if the council asks for changes we redraw at no charge until approval.

Working in neighbouring boroughs? See planning drawings in Southwark or planning drawings in Wandsworth. For the borough at large, start at architectural drawings in Lambeth, and once planning is settled our building regulations drawings in Lambeth pick up the construction detail.