How to Get Planning Permission for a Development in London

Step 1: check the site and the policy before you draw anything

Planning permission is decided against the development plan: the borough's local plan and the London Plan, plus any neighbourhood plan. The first job is to read the site through those documents, not through what you hope to build.

Start with the planning history. Previous applications, refusals and appeal decisions on the site and its neighbours tell you what officers have accepted and resisted. Then check the designations: conservation area, listed buildings and their settings, flood zone, tree preservation orders, protected views and any site allocation.

At Allitsen Road in St John's Wood we did this for a vacant four-storey corner building. It sits in a conservation area, opposite two Grade II listed properties. The planning review cross-referenced the Westminster City Plan, the London Plan and national policy.

It produced four design options, from a minimal four-apartment scheme to a maximised seven-apartment layout. Each was tested against London Plan space standards.

That is the order that works: policy, then options, then a design. A development appraisal and feasibility study at this stage gives you the number as well as the route.

Step 2: take pre-application advice

Pre-application advice is a paid conversation with the borough's officers before you submit. Government guidance says it improves both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the application. Boroughs may charge for it under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003, and the charge must not exceed the cost of the service.

What you get is the officer's view on the principle of development, the scale, the design and the reports they will expect. It is not binding. It is still the cheapest way to find out what will be resisted before you pay for a full set of drawings.

For a larger scheme, a planning performance agreement does the same job with a timetable. It is agreed voluntarily with the borough before submission and sets out the meetings, the stages and the decision date. Our guide to pre-application planning advice covers what to send and how to read the response.

Step 3: what goes in the planning application

An application for planning permission is made on the standard form published by the Secretary of State. It must include the particulars the form asks for and a plan identifying the land. Add every other plan, drawing and piece of information needed to describe the development. Plans are drawn to an identified scale and show north.

Two layers sit on top of the form. The national requirements apply everywhere in England. The borough's local list adds the reports it needs to assess a scheme against its own policies. Both must be met before the application is valid.

Three of those rows catch developers out.

1. The ownership certificate. You can apply for land you do not own, but you must give the owner notice first. The notice date is 21 days before the application date, and you certify it on the form.
2. Biodiversity net gain. Since 12 February 2024 most schemes must deliver at least a 10% gain in biodiversity value, maintained for 30 years. From 6 August 2026 sites of 0.2 hectares or less with no priority habitat are exempt, which covers many London infill plots.
3. The local list. The borough can only insist on documents in a list published on its website within the last two years. Westminster's list, for example, asks for a daylight and sunlight assessment where neighbours' light may be affected. It asks for a heritage statement where a heritage asset or its setting is touched.

Step 4: the fee, validation and the clock

The application is submitted through the Planning Portal, which serves every council in England. The fee is paid through the portal before submission. The council then checks the form, the national requirements, the fee and its local list. Only when all four are in place is the application valid.

Validation matters because the statutory clock starts the day after a valid application is received. A missing survey or a plan without a scale means the council writes back. The weeks before that letter do not count.

If the council asks for something it is not entitled to, you can serve a notice under article 12. The council must then say whether the application is valid. Our planning application fees 2026 guide gives the current council fees and the rise proposed for December 2026.

Step 5: consultation, committee and the decision

Once valid, the council must publicise the application. For most schemes that means a site notice displayed for at least 21 days, or a notice served on adjoining owners and occupiers. Major development also goes in a local newspaper, and the application appears on the council's website with a date for comments.

The council then has 8 weeks to decide a minor application and 13 weeks for a major one. Both periods can be extended, but only in writing and only with your agreement. In practice most London schemes run on an extension, and our guide to how long does planning permission take gives the real 2026 figures.

Larger schemes have two extra stages. Applications of potential strategic importance go to the Mayor of London. That means more than 150 homes, large floorspace, or a building over 30 metres outside the City. The borough cannot issue its decision until 14 days after the Mayor confirms he has its proposed decision.

Schemes the officer cannot decide alone go to the planning committee. The officer's report recommends approval or refusal, and the committee can follow it or not. A deferral pushes the scheme to the next meeting.

Step 6: conditions, Section 106 and CIL

A grant of planning permission almost always comes with conditions. Each one must pass six tests: necessary, relevant to planning, relevant to the development, enforceable, precise and reasonable. A pre-commencement condition, one that stops work starting until something is approved, can only be imposed with your written agreement.

Discharging conditions is its own application. The council should decide it within 8 weeks, and the fee is returned if there is no decision within 12 weeks. You can also serve a deemed discharge notice on eligible conditions. If a condition does not work, a Section 73 application can vary or remove it without reopening the whole permission.

Two payments sit alongside the conditions. A Section 106 agreement is a planning obligation. It can restrict the use of the land, require works, or require sums to be paid to the council. In London it carries the affordable housing.

The Community Infrastructure Levy is a charge per square metre set by the borough and the Mayor. It becomes due as soon as development commences. Someone must assume liability before the start on site, or it defaults to the landowner. Our guide to CIL and Section 106 explains both.

Once granted, the permission lasts three years unless the decision says otherwise. Development must begin within that time.

Step 7: if the application is refused

A refusal is not the end of the route. The decision notice lists the reasons and the policies the scheme failed against, and the officer's report explains them. Read both before deciding what to do.

The two options are a resubmission or an appeal. A resubmission that answers each reason for refusal is usually the faster route, though the fee is paid again.

An appeal goes to the Planning Inspectorate. For most applications it must be made within 6 months of the decision notice. Our planning appeal guide explains how the odds and the timescales compare.

Why a scheme costed before submission gets planning permission and gets built

Officers test a scheme against policy. Lenders test it against cost. A scheme designed for consent alone often fails the second test after it passes the first. Then the drawings go back to the architect and the budget goes back to the appraisal. The consent you paid for is for a building you cannot afford.

We run planning and construction under one roof. Our construction team prices every option while it is being drawn, so the version the council approves is the version that works on site. At Allitsen Road that meant four costed schemes with a planning strategy in four weeks.

Craftex has worked this way since 2016, with around 60% of our labour in-house and every project delivered ahead of programme and on budget. Our Development Director has taken more than 10,000 homes through planning.

We take on development and planning schemes from £3M to £150M GDV and construction projects from £100,000. If you have a site in London, get a free site appraisal and we will map the route with you.