
The full drawing set for a Selly Oak application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Birmingham 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.
Birmingham City Council granted 84% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. The HMO concentration policy — refusing conversions where 10% or more of homes within 100m are already non-family — bites hardest in Bournbrook, 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.
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. Selly Oak carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Selly Oak is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Bournbrook (dense Victorian terraces beside the university, largely student HMOs), Selly Park (a conservation area of spacious plots and architect-designed houses), Selly Park Avenues (a distinct conservation area of Edwardian avenue housing), Tiverton Road (terraced streets in the thick of the student lettings market), Weoley Castle edge (interwar council-built semis to the west) and Ten Acres (terraces and light-industrial frontages towards Stirchley) — these are the Selly Oak pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues. Birmingham City Council weighs each proposal against Birmingham Development Plan (2017) and the Birmingham Design Guide / relevant SPDs, where the Selly Park conservation-area appraisal protects mature planting, front-boundary walls and generous plot spacing. Much of the Bournbrook terraced stock operates as HMOs and converted flats, none of which hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is gabled roofs on the terraced streets and hipped roofs on the Selly Park villas and interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Bournbrook and the student core, larger architect-designed villas in Selly Park and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer estates.
Whatever you are building, Birmingham 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. Birmingham City Council assesses each proposal against Birmingham Development Plan (2017) and the Birmingham Design Guide / 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 Selly Oak's stock, which runs to Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Bournbrook and the student core, larger architect-designed villas in Selly Park and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer estates, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. The HMO concentration policy — refusing conversions where 10% or more of homes within 100m are already non-family — bites hardest in Bournbrook, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues among Selly Oak's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Selly Oak sits at the heart of Birmingham's student belt, where the city-wide Article 4 direction requires planning permission for any C3-to-C4 HMO conversion, while the Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues conservation areas protect the leafier residential streets to the east. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.

Birmingham 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 Birmingham 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 Birmingham City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Birmingham grants a high share of householder applications overall, but Selly Oak is defined by HMO-concentration control in the student core set against conservation protection in Selly Park. 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 — Birmingham 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 Selly Oak applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. The Selly Park conservation-area appraisal protects mature planting, front-boundary walls and generous plot spacing. Across Bournbrook, Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues 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 Selly Oak neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Bournbrook's dense Victorian terraces beside the university, largely student HMOs — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Selly Park's a conservation area of spacious plots and architect-designed houses — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Selly Park Avenues's a distinct conservation area of Edwardian avenue housing — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Tiverton Road's terraced streets in the thick of the student lettings market — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Weoley Castle edge's interwar council-built semis to the west — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Ten Acres's terraces and light-industrial frontages towards Stirchley — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
The route decides what Birmingham City Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Selly Oak 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 Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues, householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Birmingham City Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Selly Oak 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 Birmingham 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 Birmingham City Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Birmingham City Council issues its decision.
Birmingham 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 Selly Oak 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. Birmingham 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 Selly Oak address specifically.
Yes. We prepare the full drawing set, lodge it on the Planning Portal on your behalf, pay the Birmingham 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 Selly Oak 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 Birmingham City Council's checklist the application validates quickly, so the statutory period begins without the delay a returned pack causes. This applies to your Selly Oak 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 Birmingham 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 Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues, permitted-development rights are often removed, so a full application may be needed after all — we confirm which before you commit. This applies to your Selly Oak address specifically.
We price each Selly Oak 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 Birmingham City Council decides. The Birmingham City 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.