The full drawing set for a Southwark application — location and block plans, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, drawn to Southwark 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.
Southwark Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Mansards and roof extensions on terraces are assessed against the established roofline and the conservation-area appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) 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. Southwark carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village and Bermondsey Street remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Southwark is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Camberwell (Georgian and Victorian terraces around Camberwell Grove), Dulwich (villas and the Dulwich Village conservation area under the Dulwich Estate), Bermondsey (warehouse conversions and terraces off Bermondsey Street), Peckham (Victorian terraces including the Holly Grove enclave), Nunhead (modest Victorian terraces near Nunhead Green and the cemetery) and Walworth (dense Georgian and Victorian terraces threaded through large estates) — these are the Southwark pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village, Bermondsey Street, Holly Grove and Nunhead Green. Southwark Council weighs each proposal against the Southwark Plan and the borough's Residential Design Standards SPD, where the borough runs detailed basement and residential design standards on top of the usual tests. Camberwell, Peckham and the warehouse quarters around Bermondsey are heavily subdivided into flats, none of which hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is butterfly and parapet roofs on the terraces and flat and pitched roofs on the former warehouses, over Georgian and Victorian terraces, former warehouse and industrial conversions and Dulwich villas and postwar estates.
Whatever you are building, Southwark 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. Southwark Council assesses each proposal against the Southwark Plan and the borough's Residential Design Standards 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 Southwark's stock, which runs to Georgian and Victorian terraces, former warehouse and industrial conversions and Dulwich villas and postwar estates, the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Mansards and roof extensions on terraces are assessed against the established roofline and the conservation-area appraisal, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village, Bermondsey Street, Holly Grove and Nunhead Green among Southwark's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. Southwark carries numerous Article 4 directions across conservation areas such as Camberwell Grove and Bermondsey Street, while the Dulwich Estate's scheme of management adds a separate layer of consent in Dulwich. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.
Southwark 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 Southwark 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 Southwark Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Southwark grants most householder applications, but heavy conservation-area coverage, its basement policies and the Dulwich Estate's scheme of management dictate what is achievable in many neighbourhoods. 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 — Southwark 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 Southwark applications lose weeks. We draw to the checklist so this never happens.
Second is the planning judgement itself, once the pack is valid. The borough runs detailed basement and residential design standards on top of the usual tests. Across Camberwell, Dulwich and Bermondsey 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 Southwark neighbourhoods and property types we prepare drawings for most often:
Planning drawings for Camberwell's Georgian and Victorian terraces around Camberwell Grove — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Dulwich's villas and the Dulwich Village conservation area under the Dulwich Estate — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Bermondsey's warehouse conversions and terraces off Bermondsey Street — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Peckham's Victorian terraces including the Holly Grove enclave — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Nunhead's modest Victorian terraces near Nunhead Green and the cemetery — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Planning drawings for Walworth's dense Georgian and Victorian terraces threaded through large estates — scaled, validation-ready and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
The route decides what Southwark Council needs and how long it takes. This is how the common Southwark 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 Camberwell Grove and Dulwich Village, householder permitted-development rights are often restricted, so a full application and heritage detail may be required.
A fixed process built around how Southwark Council validates and decides — most drawing sets are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Southwark 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 Southwark 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 Southwark Council's checklist.
We lodge the application on the Planning Portal, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Southwark Council issues its decision.
Southwark 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. Southwark 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 Southwark 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 Southwark 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 Southwark 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 Camberwell Grove and Dulwich Village, permitted-development rights are often removed, so a full application may be needed after all — we confirm which before you commit.
We price each Southwark 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 Southwark Council decides. The Southwark Council application fee is separate and paid to the council. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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