Listed building consent drawings for Old Portsmouth — measured as existing, proposed in the same detail, and supported by a heritage statement that answers Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer on the terms the 1990 Act actually sets.
Portsmouth City Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Old Portsmouth is the city's original walled settlement, so alterations are measured against surviving Georgian and pre-Georgian fabric, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. Old Portsmouth carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Old Portsmouth is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
The Point (cobbled Spice Island lanes of historic cottages by the harbour mouth), High Street (Georgian town houses around the Cathedral), Broad Street (the narrow spine down to the Round Tower and Point), Grand Parade (formal Georgian frontages beside the fortifications), Gunwharf (the former ordnance yard, now waterfront apartments and quays) and Old Portsmouth Ramparts (houses set against the Hotwalls and sea defences) — these are the Old Portsmouth pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf. Portsmouth City Council weighs each proposal against the Portsmouth Local Plan and the council's Houses in Multiple Occupation SPD, where the tight historic street pattern leaves almost no room to extend outward, concentrating change on roofs and rear yards. Much of Gunwharf and parts of the old town are flats and apartment conversions, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched tile and slate roofs on the town houses and parapet roofs on the taller Georgian frontages, over Georgian and Georgian-revival town houses, historic cottages around The Point and waterfront apartment conversions.
Listing protects the whole building, not the front elevation. Removing a partition, replacing a staircase balustrade, changing a floor finish, or lining a wall with insulation are all alterations to special interest, and all can require consent. That surprises owners far more often than the external rules do — and it is why the first deliverable on a listed project is an accurate record of what is there, not a proposal for what replaces it.
Old Portsmouth sits within an area of Georgian and Georgian-revival town houses, historic cottages around The Point and waterfront apartment conversions, and its designated heritage includes Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf. Conservation-area designation and listing are different things and frequently overlap: a listed house inside a conservation area needs consent for internal work under the listing, and is judged on its contribution to the wider area under the designation. We establish both before proposing anything.
Section 16(2) of the 1990 Act requires Portsmouth City Council to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting and any features of special architectural or historic interest. In practice that means the drawings must show what is being lost as clearly as what is being gained, and the case for the intervention must be made on heritage terms rather than on convenience.
Consent from Portsmouth City Council is required for works affecting special interest. That commonly includes:
We survey the building as existing at a level of detail that lets a conservation officer see the fabric, then draw the proposal in the same detail alongside a heritage statement — so the decision is made on evidence rather than on assumption.
Below is Portsmouth City Council's real decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Portsmouth approves a healthy share of householder work in Old Portsmouth, but the historic core's Georgian fabric and cramped plots make heritage sensitivity the decisive factor. Listed applications are decided on the quality of the record and the justification, which is where most refusals actually originate.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Across The Point, High Street and Broad Street, the schemes that get consent tend to be reversible, legible and honest: new work that reads as new rather than as imitation, services routed in existing chases rather than cut into original fabric, and interventions concentrated in later or lower-significance parts of the building. Rear additions in a contemporary idiom are often accepted where a pastiche extension is refused.
Old Portsmouth is the city's original walled settlement, so alterations are measured against surviving Georgian and pre-Georgian fabric. Where planning permission is needed as well — for an extension, say — the two applications run in parallel and are usually determined together. We prepare them as a single coordinated set so the heritage case and the planning case do not contradict each other, which is a surprisingly common reason for a refusal on an otherwise sound scheme.
We prepare listed building consent packs across Old Portsmouth. A few of the areas where heritage work comes up most often:
Listed building consent drawings for The Point — cobbled Spice Island lanes of historic cottages by the harbour mouth — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for High Street — Georgian town houses around the Cathedral — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Broad Street — the narrow spine down to the Round Tower and Point — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Grand Parade — formal Georgian frontages beside the fortifications — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Gunwharf — the former ordnance yard, now waterfront apartments and quays — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
Listed building consent drawings for Old Portsmouth Ramparts — houses set against the Hotwalls and sea defences — surveyed as existing and drawn to the detail Portsmouth City Council's conservation officer needs.
They are separate consents with different tests, and many projects need both.
| Consent | What it covers | Fee | Consequence of proceeding without it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listed building consent | Works affecting special interest, internal and external | None | Criminal offence under section 9 of the 1990 Act |
| Planning permission | Development — extensions, outbuildings, use changes | Payable | Enforcement action; may become immune after 10 years |
| Conservation area consent context | Demolition and character in a designated area | Varies | Enforcement; prosecution for unauthorised demolition |
| Building regulations | Structure, fire, insulation, ventilation | Payable | Enforcement notice; problems on sale |
Sources: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, sections 7, 9 and 16(2); Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
A process built around what a conservation officer actually assesses.
Send us the address and the listing entry. We confirm grade, what the listing covers, whether curtilage structures are caught, and how Portsmouth City Council has treated comparable schemes.
We survey as existing in real detail — plans, elevations, sections and the features that carry the significance — because a proposal cannot be assessed against a record that does not exist.
We draw the proposal in matching detail and write the heritage statement that identifies significance, impact and justification in the terms section 16(2) requires.
We submit to Portsmouth City Council, engage with the conservation officer, and revise the drawings free until the decision is issued.
Frequently, yes. Listing covers the whole building, so removing a partition, altering a staircase, replacing joinery or re-plastering historic surfaces can all require consent from Portsmouth City Council. There is no internal exemption and no size threshold. The safe route is to establish what is significant before work is designed, which is what the measured survey is for. This applies to your Old Portsmouth address specifically.
Carrying out unauthorised works to a listed building is a criminal offence under section 9 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and it does not become lawful with the passage of time the way some planning breaches do. Portsmouth City Council can require reinstatement. Where work has already happened, an application for retrospective consent is usually the right first step, and we can advise on it. This applies to your Old Portsmouth address specifically.
No. Listed building consent applications carry no application fee, which sometimes leads owners to assume the process is lighter than a planning application. It is not — the evidence expected is greater, because the decision rests on the effect on special interest rather than on amenity, and an under-documented submission is the most common cause of delay. This applies to your Old Portsmouth address specifically. Portsmouth City Council is the decision-maker.
If the work is also development — an extension, an outbuilding, a change of use — then yes, and the two applications run in parallel to Portsmouth City Council. Internal alterations usually need only listed building consent. Where both are required we prepare them as one coordinated set, because inconsistencies between the two submissions are a recurring reason for delay. This applies to your Old Portsmouth address specifically.
Sometimes, but rarely with modern units. Historic windows are often the single most significant surviving feature, and replacement is judged on the condition of the existing joinery and the accuracy of what replaces it — glazing bar profile, glass type, opening method and reveal depth all matter. Repair and secondary glazing are usually the route that gains consent, particularly inside designated areas such as Old Portsmouth and Gunwharf. Portsmouth City Council is the decision-maker.
The statutory target is eight weeks from validation for most applications, and thirteen for larger schemes. In practice the timetable is set by how complete the submission is: a conservation officer who has to ask what the existing fabric looks like will take longer than one who can see it. We submit a record that answers those questions upfront. This applies to your Old Portsmouth address specifically. Portsmouth City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Old Portsmouth listed project individually, because the survey effort depends entirely on the building's complexity and how much of the fabric the work touches, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers survey, drawings and heritage statement, with free revisions until Portsmouth City Council decides. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.