Chartered planning drawings prepared for Bexley Council — interwar semis in Sidcup, Welling and Bexleyheath with the generous plots that make extensions and lofts work, drawn to the borough's guidance and revised free until you have a decision.
Bexley is one of outer London's most extendable boroughs: street after street of 1920s and 1930s semis in Sidcup, Welling, Blackfen and Bexleyheath, most on plots wide and deep enough for wraparound extensions, hip-to-gable lofts and garden rooms. Much of that work can proceed under permitted development — if the drawings prove the limits are met.
A large share of home projects in Bexley do not need planning permission — the borough's interwar houses on generous plots are classic permitted development territory, so single-storey rear extensions, most loft conversions and outbuildings can often proceed without a full application. You will usually need planning permission from Bexley Council if any of the following apply:
Bexley's housing story is overwhelmingly interwar. When the railways pushed out through Sidcup, Welling, Blackfen and Bexleyheath in the 1920s and 30s, developers laid out mile after mile of semi-detached Metroland housing — bay windows, hipped roofs, and plots that are noticeably more generous than inner London's. That stock is why Bexley is such productive territory for home improvement: hip-to-gable lofts with rear dormers, wraparound kitchen extensions, garage conversions and garden rooms all fit comfortably within these plots.
The planning consequence is that much of the borough's everyday building work runs through permitted development rather than full applications — but PD is only as safe as the evidence behind it. We draw PD schemes to the same standard as full applications and recommend a lawful development certificate, so you hold council-issued proof that the works are lawful when you come to sell. Where a full application is needed, Bexley's officers pay close attention to the balance of a matched pair of semis: a hip-to-gable that unbalances the pair, or a side extension that erodes the gap between houses, is where pushback tends to come.
The borough is not without heritage. Old Bexley village is a conservation area with a distinct historic character, and other designated areas and listed buildings are scattered across the borough. We check your address against the council's designations at the free approval check stage, so you know before drawing begins whether your street carries extra constraints.
Bexley's validation checklist is strict about scales and completeness, whether you are applying for permission or a lawful development certificate. Every pack we prepare for the borough includes:
Every affected floor at 1:100 or 1:50, dimensioned and labelled, so the officer can see exactly what changes and what stays.
All elevations altered by the work, with materials annotated — matching brick, tile and render matters on Bexley's uniform interwar streets.
OS-based, site edged in red, on a recognised paper size with a north point — the first thing Bexley's validation team checks.
Showing the proposal against boundaries and neighbouring houses — essential for proving PD limits like the 2m boundary/eaves rule and rear projections.
Loft schemes need a roof plan and section demonstrating the volume allowance, dormer set-backs and eaves heights that decide whether PD applies.
For PD projects, we prepare the certificate application alongside the drawings so you get council-issued confirmation the works are lawful.
Before you commit to a project, it helps to know how Bexley Council actually decides. The figures below come from official planning statistics for the borough. Outer London refusals tend to trace back to a familiar list — bulk that unbalances a pair of semis, side extensions that close the gap between houses, overlooking and loss of light — and each of those objections can be answered on a well-prepared drawing before an officer ever raises it. That is the approach behind every pack we submit.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us your postcode and project. We score the odds against live Bexley decision data, check whether PD or a full application is the smarter route, and flag conservation-area constraints such as Old Bexley.
We measure the property and produce accurate existing plans and elevations — including any past extensions that eat into your remaining PD allowance.
Chartered designers draw the scheme to Bexley's guidance, keeping matched semi pairs balanced and proving PD limits on the page where that route applies.
We submit the application or lawful development certificate via the Planning Portal, handle validation queries and liaise with your case officer through to decision.
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.
Bexley Council decides householder applications for Bexley, and its recent record and the permitted-development limits that apply here set out below give Old Bexley homeowners a realistic starting point before any drawing begins.
| Measure | Figure for Bexley |
|---|---|
| Bexley Council householder approval rate | 88% |
| England-wide householder benchmark | 87% |
| Loft dormer permitted-development limit (Class B) | 40m³ terrace / 50m³ semi or detached |
| Single-storey rear extension depth (Class A) | 3m terrace / 4m detached |
| Dominant housing era | Victorian (1837–1901), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) |
| Statutory decision period | 8 weeks |
| Conservation / Article 4 status | Article 4 direction in force; PD removed in Bexley Village, Danson Park and Upton |
Bexley runs 1 point above the national average. Approval rate: MHCLG householder planning statistics for Bexley Council; permitted-development limits: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1 (Classes A–B).
Usually not — the interwar semis across Bexleyheath, Sidcup and Welling suit hip-to-gable and rear-dormer conversions that fall within permitted development, provided the dormer sits on the rear slope, the volume allowance is respected and the dormer is set back from the eaves. We recommend a lawful development certificate so you have council-issued proof, and we prepare the drawings to demonstrate compliance line by line.
Under permitted development a single-storey rear extension can generally extend 3m from the rear wall of a semi or terrace, or 4m on a detached house — extendable to 6m and 8m respectively through the prior-approval process, where neighbours are consulted. Height, boundary and materials rules also apply, and previous extensions count against the allowance. We check your specific position before recommending a route.
Yes — Old Bexley village is a designated conservation area, and proposals there face closer scrutiny of design, materials and character than elsewhere in the borough. Some permitted development rights are also restricted. Bexley has other designated heritage areas and listed buildings too, so we check your address against the council's maps before any drawing work begins.
We strongly recommend it. A lawful development certificate is council-issued confirmation that your extension or loft is lawful, which protects you at resale and against future enforcement questions. The drawings need the same precision as a full application — the certificate is only as good as the evidence submitted with it.
A householder application needs existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at 1:100 or 1:50, a site location plan at 1:1250 with the site edged red, and a block plan. Loft schemes add a roof plan and section. Lawful development certificate applications need the same drawing quality plus dimensions that prove each PD limit is met.
Most refusals are resolved by targeted amendment — reducing a projection, rebalancing a roofline against the neighbouring semi, or adjusting a window. We revise the drawings free of charge and resubmit; a repeat householder application within twelve months of refusal usually attracts no further council fee.
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