Retrospective planning application in Lambeth

Basements, Article 4 and trees

Lambeth publishes 12 Article 4 directions drawn as 223 separate areas, and the pattern is fine-grained: one street may have lost its rights while the next has not. There are also 339 tree preservation orders and 226 zones.

Basements follow the Part five guide. If you excavated without consent, the council will want engineering evidence, and we arrange a basement impact assessment in Lambeth alongside the drawings. Where the work is above ground the designation check is simpler, and the price is lower.

Heritage and housing in the borough

The borough has 64 conservation areas and 953 listed entries, among them 883 at Grade II and 56 at Grade II*. Areas such as Brixton and Clapham carry designations, and there are 9 registered parks and gardens.

Only 24.8 per cent of households live in a house, so many cases involve a converted flat in a terrace. That brings leasehold questions, party structure issues and sometimes a freeholder who has to consent. We mention these in the constraints check so you are not surprised later.

Decisions, deadlines and costs

The council decided 595 householder applications and granted 83.4 per cent, with 93.4 per cent decided in 8 weeks or an agreed extension. Larger home extension prior approvals were granted 13 times and refused 18 times, and 401 lawful development certificates were sought.

The householder fee is £548, the decision period 8 weeks, and the enforcement time limit 10 years for most building works. Levy applies at £602/m² (Zone A Waterloo and Vauxhall Nine Elms); £422/m² (Zone B Kennington, Oval and Clapham); £301/m² (Zone C Brixton, Herne Hill and Tulse Hill); £241/m² (Zone D Streatham, Streatham Hill and West Norwood), with mayoral charging at £60 per square metre in band 2.

If the work could have been lawful, check the lawful development certificate route in Lambeth first.

Retrofit work and the things owners forget

Owners usually remember the extension but forget the small changes made at the same time: external wall insulation, a replaced front door, new rooflights, a rear balcony. Lambeth's guidance covers retrofit, and a change that looks small on site can matter when the house is in a conservation area.

We walk the property with you, list every external change made since the last known consent and decide which belong in the application. Including them now avoids a second retrospective case later.

Where a change is hard to see from the street, say so. We would rather record a small rooflight honestly than have an officer find it on a site visit, because an omission can cost more credibility than the change itself.

What you receive

The set holds a measured survey, as-built and proposed drawings, sections, location and block plans, and a design note keyed to the Design Guide. Our planning drawings in Lambeth are checked by a second chartered technologist.

The fee is fixed after the free check. See architectural drawings in Lambeth and the retrospective planning overview. We also serve Southwark and Wandsworth.