The full drawing set for a Merton application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Merton 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.
Merton Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. The wooded, low-density character of Wimbledon Village and the Common caps bulk and roof enlargement on many plots, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910) and interwar (1918–1939) 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. Merton carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Wimbledon Village, John Innes (Merton Park) and Mitcham Cricket Green remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Merton is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Wimbledon (the leafy Village above Edwardian and Victorian streets), Merton Park (the John Innes estate of Arts and Crafts and Edwardian houses), Mitcham (interwar housing wrapped around the historic cricket green), Raynes Park (grids of Edwardian terraces west of the line), Colliers Wood (compact Victorian terraces along the Wandle) and Morden (1930s semi-detached suburbia and the St Helier fringe) — these are the Merton pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Wimbledon Village, John Innes (Merton Park), Mitcham Cricket Green, Cottenham Park and Wimbledon West. Merton Council weighs each proposal against Merton Local Plan and the council's Design SPD, where the John Innes estate's Arts and Crafts detailing is protected in fine grain, down to porches, gates and boundary walls. Pockets of Wimbledon and Colliers Wood hold converted Victorian flats and maisonettes, which carry no householder permitted-development rights of their own.. On roofs the borough is pitched and gabled roofs on the terraces and villas and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces, detached Wimbledon villas and interwar semi-detached houses.
Whatever you are building, Merton 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. Merton Council assesses each proposal against Merton Local Plan and the council's Design 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 Merton's stock, which runs to Victorian and Edwardian terraces, detached Wimbledon villas and interwar semi-detached houses, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. The wooded, low-density character of Wimbledon Village and the Common caps bulk and roof enlargement on many plots, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Wimbledon Village, John Innes (Merton Park), Mitcham Cricket Green, Cottenham Park and Wimbledon West among Merton's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Merton has withdrawn permitted-development rights on parts of the John Innes and Wimbledon Village conservation areas through Article 4 directions, so alterations that would be automatic elsewhere need a householder application here. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.
Merton 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 Merton 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 Merton Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Merton consents the large majority of householder schemes, yet the leafy Wimbledon conservation areas and the uniform villa streets set close limits on how far roofs and side additions can go. 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 — Merton 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 Merton applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. The John Innes estate's Arts and Crafts detailing is protected in fine grain, down to porches, gates and boundary walls. Across Wimbledon, Merton Park and Mitcham 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 Merton neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Wimbledon's the leafy Village above Edwardian and Victorian streets — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Merton Park's the John Innes estate of Arts and Crafts and Edwardian houses — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Mitcham's interwar housing wrapped around the historic cricket green — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Raynes Park's grids of Edwardian terraces west of the line — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Colliers Wood's compact Victorian terraces along the Wandle — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Morden's 1930s semi-detached suburbia and the St Helier fringe — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Merton Council's guidance.
The route decides what Merton Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Merton 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 Wimbledon Village and John Innes (Merton Park), householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Merton Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Merton 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 Merton 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 Merton Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Merton Council issues its decision.
Merton 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. Merton 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 Merton 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 Merton 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 Merton 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 Wimbledon Village and John Innes (Merton 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 Merton 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 Merton Council decides. The Merton 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.