Planning Application Strategy & Submission in London

A planning application is a case made to the local authority that a proposal is acceptable in policy, design and amenity terms. Our role here is to set the application strategy, choose the correct route, coordinate the planning drawing package and supporting evidence, complete the submission and manage it through validation and assessment. Keeping those parts aligned gives the case officer a consistent proposal rather than a collection of disconnected documents.

The application route shapes the cost, the timescale and the risk. A householder application covers most single-dwelling extensions and alterations; a full application is needed for flats, new units and larger schemes; a lawful development certificate confirms that works are lawful rather than seeking permission; prior approval covers certain larger extensions and changes of use; and listed building consent runs alongside planning for listed properties. Each London borough then applies its own local plan, conservation-area appraisals and design guidance on top. We advise which route genuinely fits your property and proposal before the submission package is commissioned.

Approval turns on a defined set of considerations, and a strong application speaks to each. Officers assess compliance with the development plan, the design — scale, massing, materials and how the proposal reads in its context — and the impact on neighbours, judged through daylight and sunlight (using the BRE guidance), overlooking and loss of privacy, outlook and noise. Heritage impact, trees, highways and parking, drainage and flood risk all feature where relevant, as do any objections from neighbours during the consultation period. We design and present a proposal that answers these tests rather than leaving the officer to infer the case.

A surprising number of applications lose weeks not on their merits but on validation. Every borough publishes a local validation list, and a submission is not even registered until it is complete: the correct fee, a location plan with the site outlined in red, the right ownership certificate, a Community Infrastructure Levy form, and any documents the list requires for that type of work. Biodiversity Net Gain now applies to many applications (householder schemes are exempt), adding a further requirement. We assemble a complete, validation-ready submission so the clock starts on the first attempt rather than after a rejection.

Once validated, a householder or minor application carries a statutory target of around eight weeks, and a major application around thirteen, though authorities frequently ask for an agreed extension of time on busier or more sensitive cases. Most householder decisions are made by officers under delegated powers; larger or contested schemes can go to a planning committee, which is less predictable. We manage the submission and respond constructively to case-officer queries throughout, and after a grant we can discharge any pre-commencement conditions so the permission can actually be acted on. We do not guarantee approval; the decision rests with the local planning authority.

Many applications lose weeks before an officer looks at design. Validation fails when the fee is wrong, the red-line plan is incomplete, ownership certificates do not match the title, or a borough’s local list asks for a statement that was never prepared. A people-first planning service treats validation as part of design, not as admin after the pretty drawings are finished. We assemble a complete package so the statutory clock starts on the first submission attempt.

After a grant, the job is not over. Conditions, building regulations drawings and freeholder consent are the usual next stages. Our guide to what happens after planning permission walks that sequence without pretending the decision notice is a start-on-site certificate.