
The full drawing set for a Hanover application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Brighton & Hove City 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.
Brighton & Hove City Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The loss of family houses to further HMO conversion is actively resisted through the Article 4 regime and is frequently the deciding issue, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901) 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. Hanover carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Hanover Crescent, Round Hill and Queen's Park remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Hanover is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Hanover (the steep grid of colourful artisan terraces above Elm Grove), Hanover Crescent (the early-Victorian stucco crescent set behind gardens), Elm Grove (tall Victorian terraces climbing the ridge toward the racecourse), Queen's Park (Victorian terraces and villas ringing the park to the south), Round Hill fringe (curving Victorian terraces on the western slope) and Coombe Road (dense terraces in the student-heavy valley bottom) — these are the Hanover pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Hanover Crescent, Round Hill, Queen's Park and Valley Gardens. Brighton & Hove City Council weighs each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, where the fine grain and modest scale of the original artisan terraces limits how far roofs and rear additions can grow. Much of Hanover and the Lewes Road belt is already shared houses, flats and maisonettes, which hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched slate roofs on the artisan terraces and gabled and pitched roofs on the larger Victorian streets, over small Victorian artisan terraces, later Victorian bay-fronted terraces with front gardens and the stucco set piece of Hanover Crescent.
Whatever you are building, Brighton & Hove City 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. Brighton & Hove City Council assesses each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, 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 Hanover's stock, which runs to small Victorian artisan terraces, later Victorian bay-fronted terraces with front gardens and the stucco set piece of Hanover Crescent, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. The loss of family houses to further HMO conversion is actively resisted through the Article 4 regime and is frequently the deciding issue, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Hanover Crescent, Round Hill, Queen's Park and Valley Gardens among Hanover's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Hanover lies at the heart of the Lewes Road 'academic corridor', where the 2013 and later Article 4 directions removed permitted-development rights to convert family houses to small HMOs, so shared-house changes here need planning permission on top of the city-wide direction. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.

Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. The council approves most householder work city-wide, but in Hanover the HMO Article 4 controls and the tight artisan grain mean protecting family housing and terrace scale shapes most refusals. 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, 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.
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 — Brighton & Hove City 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 Hanover applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. The fine grain and modest scale of the original artisan terraces limits how far roofs and rear additions can grow. Across Hanover, Hanover Crescent and Elm Grove 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 Hanover neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Hanover's the steep grid of colourful artisan terraces above Elm Grove — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Hanover Crescent's the early-Victorian stucco crescent set behind gardens — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Elm Grove's tall Victorian terraces climbing the ridge toward the racecourse — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Queen's Park's Victorian terraces and villas ringing the park to the south — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Round Hill fringe's curving Victorian terraces on the western slope — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Coombe Road's dense terraces in the student-heavy valley bottom — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
The route decides what Brighton & Hove City Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Hanover 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 Hanover Crescent and Round Hill, householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Brighton & Hove City Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Hanover 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Brighton & Hove City Council issues its decision.
Brighton & Hove City 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. This applies to your Hanover address specifically.
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. Brighton & Hove City 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. This applies to your Hanover address specifically.
Yes. We prepare the full drawing set, lodge it on the Planning Portal on your behalf, pay the Brighton & Hove City 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. This applies to your Hanover address specifically.
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 Brighton & Hove City Council's checklist the application validates quickly, so the statutory period begins without the delay a returned pack causes. This applies to your Hanover address specifically.
You do not strictly need a planning application, but scaled existing and proposed drawings are still worth having: a lawful development certificate from Brighton & Hove City 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 Hanover Crescent and Round Hill, permitted-development rights are often removed, so a full application may be needed after all — we confirm which before you commit.
We price each Hanover 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 Brighton & Hove City Council decides. The Brighton & Hove City Council application fee is separate and paid to the council. 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.