The full drawing set for a Lewisham application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Lewisham 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.
Lewisham Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Policies resist the loss of family-sized houses, so conversions to flats face an added hurdle, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) and Edwardian (1901–1910) 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. Lewisham carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Blackheath, Telegraph Hill and Brockley remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Lewisham is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Blackheath (grand villas and terraces on the Lewisham side of the heath), Brockley (long Victorian terraces within one of London's largest conservation areas), Telegraph Hill (hilly Victorian terraces framing the two parks), Deptford (Georgian survivals like Albury Street amid dense terraced streets), Forest Hill (Victorian villas and terraces stepping up the slopes) and Sydenham (Victorian terraces and semis toward the Crystal Palace ridge) — these are the Lewisham pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Blackheath, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Deptford High Street and Sydenham. Lewisham Council weighs each proposal against the Lewisham Local Plan and the borough's Alterations and Extensions SPD, where in the Brockley and Telegraph Hill conservation areas original slate roofs and front elevations are closely guarded. Brockley, Forest Hill and Deptford hold large numbers of houses long ago converted into flats and maisonettes, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly roofs on the Victorian terraces and gabled roofs on the villas, over Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and converted flats and maisonettes.
Whatever you are building, Lewisham 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. Lewisham Council assesses each proposal against the Lewisham Local Plan and the borough's Alterations and Extensions SPD, 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 Lewisham's stock, which runs to Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and converted flats and maisonettes, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Policies resist the loss of family-sized houses, so conversions to flats face an added hurdle, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Blackheath, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Deptford High Street and Sydenham among Lewisham's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Lewisham operates Article 4 directions in conservation areas such as Brockley alongside controls resisting the conversion of family houses into flats, so works that are permitted development elsewhere routinely need an application here. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.
Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Lewisham grants the large majority of householder applications, though its policy shielding family houses from conversion and its Victorian conservation areas shape roof and rear works street by street. 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 — Lewisham 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 Lewisham applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. In the Brockley and Telegraph Hill conservation areas original slate roofs and front elevations are closely guarded. Across Blackheath, Brockley and Telegraph Hill 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 Lewisham neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Blackheath's grand villas and terraces on the Lewisham side of the heath — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Brockley's long Victorian terraces within one of London's largest conservation areas — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Telegraph Hill's hilly Victorian terraces framing the two parks — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Deptford's Georgian survivals like Albury Street amid dense terraced streets — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Forest Hill's Victorian villas and terraces stepping up the slopes — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Sydenham's Victorian terraces and semis toward the Crystal Palace ridge — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
The route decides what Lewisham Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Lewisham 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 Blackheath and Telegraph Hill, householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Lewisham Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Lewisham Council issues its decision.
Lewisham 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. Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Blackheath and Telegraph 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council decides. The Lewisham 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.