Refused by Hounslow Council? We read the decision notice, tell you honestly whether to appeal or resubmit, and prepare the drawings and statement that answer each reason for refusal on the Planning Inspectorate's terms.
Hounslow Council granted 86% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point below the 87% England-wide householder average. Side-return and mansard schemes dominate in Chiswick, where officers weigh roof bulk against a strongly uniform terrace roofscape, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. Hounslow carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bedford Park, Old Chiswick and Strand-on-the-Green remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Hounslow is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Chiswick (Victorian and Edwardian terraces wrapped around the Bedford Park garden suburb), Brentford (older riverside terraces alongside recent waterfront redevelopment), Isleworth (the Old Isleworth riverside conservation area and Georgian frontages), Osterley (interwar semis on the fringe of Osterley Park), Feltham (postwar and interwar suburban estates to the south-west) and Hounslow (the town centre with mixed terraces and converted flats) — these are the Hounslow pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bedford Park, Old Chiswick, Strand-on-the-Green, Wellesley Road and Old Isleworth. Hounslow Council weighs each proposal against Hounslow Local Plan and the Residential Extension Guidelines SPD, where the borough's western edge sits under Heathrow flight paths, so glazing, ventilation and noise mitigation surface on larger schemes. Converted terraces are common through central Chiswick and Brentford, and flats and maisonettes carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly and valley roofs on the Chiswick terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Chiswick, interwar semi-detached houses around Osterley and Hounslow and converted period flats and maisonettes.
Two routes exist and they suit different refusals. A free-go resubmission — a fresh application within twelve months of the refusal, on the same site and in the same description — costs no fee and lets you change the scheme. An appeal keeps the scheme as refused and asks an Inspector to disagree with Hounslow Council. Where the refusal reasons are about design detail that can be fixed, resubmission is usually faster; where they are about principle, an appeal is the only route that resolves it.
The decision notice is the brief. Each numbered reason cites policy and states a harm, and the appeal has to meet each one with evidence — sections showing daylight, elevations showing the relationship to neighbours, a site plan proving separation distances. Assertion loses appeals. Hounslow is largely Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Chiswick, interwar semi-detached houses around Osterley and Hounslow and converted period flats and maisonettes, and London butterfly and valley roofs on the Chiswick terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar semis shape what the Inspector will accept as characteristic here.
Side-return and mansard schemes dominate in Chiswick, where officers weigh roof bulk against a strongly uniform terrace roofscape, which frequently appears in refusal reasons and therefore has to be addressed head-on. Bedford Park — the pioneering garden suburb shared with Ealing — carries a long-standing Article 4 direction, and the Chiswick and Old Isleworth conservation areas remove permitted-development rights on many of their period streets.
We give an honest read of the decision notice first. An appeal is usually the right route where:
We take each numbered reason for refusal and answer it with a drawing or an evidenced statement — not with a restatement of the original application. That is the difference between an appeal that reads as a complaint and one that reads as a case.
Below is Hounslow Council's real decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Hounslow grants a fair share of householder applications, with terrace roofscape in the Chiswick conservation areas the dominant constraint on loft and rear schemes. Knowing what this authority actually refuses, and why, is the starting point for deciding whether to appeal or to redesign.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
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Across Chiswick, Brentford and Isleworth, the appeals that succeed are narrow and evidenced. They show the daylight test drawn rather than described, they cite the Inspector's own decisions on comparable sites, and they concede the points that are not worth arguing so the case concentrates on the ones that are. An appeal that disputes every reason equally reads as unfocused and usually fails on the strongest one.
The borough's western edge sits under Heathrow flight paths, so glazing, ventilation and noise mitigation surface on larger schemes. Most householder appeals are decided by written representations, with the Inspector visiting the site unaccompanied. That makes the drawings the primary evidence: what is not on the page is not in front of the Inspector. We prepare the set on that basis, and where the honest answer is that the refusal was sound, we say so and redesign instead.
We prepare appeal drawings and statements across Hounslow. A few of the areas where refusals come up most often:
Appeal drawings for Chiswick — Victorian and Edwardian terraces wrapped around the Bedford Park garden suburb — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Appeal drawings for Brentford — older riverside terraces alongside recent waterfront redevelopment — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Appeal drawings for Isleworth — the Old Isleworth riverside conservation area and Georgian frontages — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Appeal drawings for Osterley — interwar semis on the fringe of Osterley Park — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Appeal drawings for Feltham — postwar and interwar suburban estates to the south-west — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Appeal drawings for Hounslow — the town centre with mixed terraces and converted flats — answering Hounslow Council's reasons for refusal with evidence rather than assertion.
Three responses to a refusal, with different costs, timescales and prospects.
| Route | Deadline | Typical timescale | Best where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Householder appeal | 12 weeks from the decision | About 8–12 weeks | The refusal turns on principle or a disputed harm |
| Section 78 appeal (other) | 6 months from the decision | Several months | Larger schemes, change of use, new dwellings |
| Free-go resubmission | 12 months from the decision | 8 weeks | The reasons are fixable design detail |
| Fresh application, redesigned | No deadline | 8 weeks | The scheme needs a different approach entirely |
Deadlines from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 78, and the Planning Inspectorate's published appeal procedures.
A process built around the decision notice, because that is what the Inspector reads first.
Send us the decision notice and the refused drawings. We tell you honestly whether the reasons are appealable, whether a resubmission is faster, and how Hounslow Council has fared on comparable appeals.
We gather the material that answers each reason — daylight geometry, separation distances, decided appeals on similar sites, and the relevant policies read in full rather than in extract.
We prepare the drawings the Inspector needs and a statement of case that takes each numbered reason in turn, conceding what should be conceded and evidencing the rest.
We lodge the appeal inside the deadline, respond to the council's statement, and revise free until the Inspector issues a decision.
Twelve weeks from the date on the decision notice for a householder appeal, and six months for most other section 78 appeals. The deadline is strict and the Planning Inspectorate will not accept a late appeal, so the first thing we do on a Hounslow refusal is check the date and work backwards from it. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
It depends what the reasons say. If they identify design detail you are willing to change, a free-go resubmission within twelve months costs no application fee and usually resolves faster. If they refuse the principle — that an extension of this type does not belong here at all — only an appeal settles it, because a resubmission would meet the same objection. This applies to your Hounslow address specifically. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
Nationally, a minority of householder appeals succeed, and the ones that do tend to be narrow, evidenced and focused on a single disputed harm. We look at how Hounslow Council's refusals have fared at appeal and at comparable decisions nearby before advising, and we will tell you when we think the refusal was sound — an appeal with no prospect costs months.
The scheme itself cannot change on appeal — the Inspector determines the application as refused. What usually needs preparing is evidence: sections showing daylight, elevations showing the relationship to neighbours, and context drawings showing what already exists on the street. Those explain why the refused scheme causes no harm, without altering it. This applies to your Hounslow address specifically. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
In most written-representation appeals, yes — usually unaccompanied, viewing the site from public land and neighbouring property where access is arranged. That is why the drawings matter so much: the Inspector sees the site once, briefly, and everything else comes from the paperwork you submitted. This applies to your Hounslow address specifically. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
Only where the council has behaved unreasonably — refusing against its own officer's clear recommendation without evidence, or failing to substantiate a reason for refusal. Costs awards are the exception rather than the norm, and they are decided separately from the appeal itself. Where the grounds genuinely exist, we make the application alongside the appeal. This applies to your Hounslow address specifically. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Hounslow appeal individually after reading the decision notice, because the work depends entirely on how many reasons are in play and what evidence they demand, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. The refusal review itself is free. Call 020 7864 7245 to start. Hounslow Council is the decision-maker.
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