The full drawing set for a Havering application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Havering 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.
Havering Council granted 85% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Green Belt coverage across the east restricts the scale of extensions and any new outbuildings on affected plots, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. Havering carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn) and Rainham Village remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Havering is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Romford (denser interwar and postwar housing around the town centre and Marshalls Park), Hornchurch (interwar semis and the Langtons conservation area), Upminster (larger suburban homes near the Tithe Barn conservation area), Emerson Park (low-density detached houses on generous plots under Article 4), Rainham (historic village core alongside newer housing near the Thames marshes) and Elm Park (planned interwar semi-detached suburb) — these are the Havering pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn), Rainham Village, Emerson Park and Corbets Tey. Havering Council weighs each proposal against Havering Local Plan 2016–2031 and the borough's residential extensions and alterations guidance, where generous plot sizes make front-of-house impact and the gaps between detached homes a key design test. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the suburban semis and gabled roofs on the detached and older stock, over interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and village-core cottages and period frontages.
Whatever you are building, Havering 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. Havering Council assesses each proposal against Havering Local Plan 2016–2031 and the borough's residential extensions and alterations guidance, 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 Havering's stock, which runs to interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and village-core cottages and period frontages, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Green Belt coverage across the east restricts the scale of extensions and any new outbuildings on affected plots, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn), Rainham Village, Emerson Park and Corbets Tey among Havering's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Prized low-density enclaves such as Emerson Park sit under Article 4 controls, and with much of eastern Havering falling inside Metropolitan Green Belt, extension potential is tightly held on the borough's fringes. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.
Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Havering grants a fair majority of householder applications, with extensive Green Belt on its eastern side the main brake on what larger schemes can achieve. 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 — Havering 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 Havering applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. Generous plot sizes make front-of-house impact and the gaps between detached homes a key design test. Across Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster 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 Havering neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Romford's denser interwar and postwar housing around the town centre and Marshalls Park — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Hornchurch's interwar semis and the Langtons conservation area — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Upminster's larger suburban homes near the Tithe Barn conservation area — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Emerson Park's low-density detached houses on generous plots under Article 4 — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Rainham's historic village core alongside newer housing near the Thames marshes — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Elm Park's planned interwar semi-detached suburb — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
The route decides what Havering Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Havering 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 Langtons (Hornchurch) and Upminster (Tithe Barn), householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Havering Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Havering Council issues its decision.
Havering 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. Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering 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 Langtons (Hornchurch) and Upminster (Tithe Barn), permitted-development rights are often removed, so a full application may be needed after all — we confirm which before you commit.
We price each Havering 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 Havering Council decides. The Havering Council application fee is separate and paid to the council. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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