The full drawing set for a Bexley application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Bexley Council's validation checklist so the pack is accepted first time, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Bexley Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. Bexley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bexley Village, Danson Park and Upton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bexley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Old Bexley (the historic village strung along Bexley High Street), Bexleyheath (interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area), Sidcup (1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray), Erith (riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames), Crayford (Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge) and Welling (dense interwar semi-detached suburbs) — these are the Bexley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray. Bexley Council weighs each proposal against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, where hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar and postwar semis and gabled roofs on the detached houses, over interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces.
Whatever you are building, Bexley Council decides it from the same core set. A location plan at 1:1250 fixes the site on the map with the red-line boundary; a block plan at 1:500 shows the property in its plot; then existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at 1:100 or 1:50 show the house as it is and as it will be. Larger schemes add a section and, where policy requires, a design and access statement. Miss one and the application is returned invalid before an officer has looked at it.
The drawings are also the argument. Bexley Council assesses each proposal against the Bexley Local Plan and the borough's design guidance for householder development, and the elevations are where the case is won or lost — ridge and eaves heights, window positions, materials and how the change reads from the street. On Bexley's stock, which runs to interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and riverside and Victorian terraces, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Green Belt at Crayford Marshes and Foots Cray Meadows tightly limits extensions on the borough's fringes, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Bexley Village, Danson Park, Upton, Old Sidcup and Foots Cray among Bexley's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Bexley applies Article 4 directions in conservation areas such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, and parts of the borough fall within Metropolitan Green Belt where extensions are firmly restricted. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.
Bexley Council validates against a published checklist before it assesses anything. A typical householder application needs each of these, correctly scaled and labelled:
We draw the complete set — location and block plans, existing and proposed plans, elevations and any section — to Bexley Council's checklist, then lodge it on the Planning Portal, manage validation and answer case-officer queries so the application is decided on its merits, not bounced on a technicality.
Below is Bexley Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Bexley approves a strong majority of householder applications, with Metropolitan Green Belt on its edges and the symmetry of paired suburban semis the main factors shaping approvals. A complete, correctly scaled pack that answers those concerns on the elevations is validated faster and refused less often than one that leaves them for the officer to raise.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). 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.
Two different things sink an application, and they happen at two different stages. First is validation: a missing block plan, an unscaled elevation, no red line, no north point — Bexley Council returns the whole submission and the clock never starts. Getting the pack right at this stage is purely mechanical, and it is where a lot of self-submitted Bexley applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. Hipped roofs on paired semis mean hip-to-gable and dormers are judged on bulk and the pair's balance. Across Old Bexley, Bexleyheath and Sidcup the recurring refusals are about scale, overlooking and how the proposal sits against its neighbours — all of which are settled on the drawings. We draw the scheme to answer them before submission rather than after a refusal.
The application pack is the same discipline whatever the project. A few of the Bexley neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Old Bexley's the historic village strung along Bexley High Street — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Bexleyheath's interwar semis around Danson Park and the Upton conservation area — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Sidcup's 1930s houses and older streets near Old Sidcup and Foots Cray — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Erith's riverside terraces and postwar housing by the Thames — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Crayford's Victorian and interwar homes along the industrial edge — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Welling's dense interwar semi-detached suburbs — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Bexley Council's guidance.
The route decides what Bexley Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Bexley routes compare.
| Route | When it applies | Core drawings | Typical decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Householder application | Extensions and alterations to a single house | Location, block, existing & proposed plans and elevations | About 8 weeks |
| Full application | Flats, new units, changes of use | As householder plus site plan and often a section | 8–13 weeks |
| Lawful development certificate | Confirming a scheme is permitted development | Existing & proposed plans and elevations to prove PD limits | About 8 weeks |
| Prior approval | Larger single-storey rear extensions | Plans and elevations plus neighbour notification | About 6 weeks |
In a conservation area such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Bexley Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Bexley postcode and what you want to build. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, tell you which application route applies, and score your odds against live Bexley Council decisions.
We measure the property and plot so the existing plans and elevations are accurate to the millimetre — the base every proposed drawing and every officer judgement is built on.
Chartered designers produce the full validation pack — location and block plans, existing and proposed plans, elevations, any section and a design and access statement — drawn to Bexley Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Bexley Council issues its decision.
Bexley Council validates a householder application against a set list: a location plan at 1:1250 with a red-line boundary, a block plan at 1:500, and existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at 1:100 or 1:50, each with a scale bar and north point. Larger schemes and most conservation-area work also need a design and access statement. If any of these is missing or unscaled the application is returned invalid before it is assessed.
Almost always because the drawing pack is incomplete or wrongly scaled — a missing block plan, an elevation with no scale, no red line on the location plan, no north point. Bexley Council checks the pack against its validation list before an officer ever assesses the scheme, so these purely technical gaps cost weeks. Drawing to the checklist from the outset is the simplest way to avoid a return.
Yes. We prepare the full drawing set, lodge it on the Planning Portal on your behalf, pay the Bexley Council fee where you prefer us to, and then manage validation and case-officer questions through to the decision. You get the reference number and updates without dealing with the portal or the council yourself.
A householder application is a statutory eight weeks from validation, and a full application eight to thirteen weeks depending on scale. The date that matters is validation, not submission — an invalid pack never starts the clock. Because we draw to Bexley Council's checklist the application validates quickly, so the statutory period begins without the delay a returned pack causes.
You do not strictly need a planning application, but scaled existing and proposed drawings are still worth having: a lawful development certificate from Bexley Council proves the scheme is permitted development, which lenders and buyers increasingly ask for, and your builder needs the drawings to price and build. In a conservation area such as Bexley Village and Danson Park, permitted-development rights are often removed, so a full application may be needed after all — we confirm which before you commit.
We price each Bexley job individually — the scope of the survey and the size of the drawing set vary from a simple rear extension to a whole-house scheme — and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full validation pack with free revisions until Bexley Council decides. The Bexley Council application fee is separate and paid to the council. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.