Bromley Council decided 1,538 householder applications last year, more than any other London borough, and refused 323 of them. On a caseload that size, an application that makes the officer work is an application that waits.
Bromley handles roughly one in sixteen of every householder application decided in London. Its approval rate and its speed both reflect that volume, and both are drawn from the same MHCLG return for the same four quarters.
| Measure | Bromley | London | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Householder applications decided | 1,538 — the most in London | 24,758 | 151,867 |
| Householder approval rate | 79.0% | 85.6% | 90.3% |
| Householder refusals | 323 — the most in London | — | — |
| Determined within 8 weeks | 89.4% | — | — |
| Householder appeals allowed | 37.6% | 39.9% | 34.4% |
| Large extension prior approvals refused | 12.0% | — | — |
Approval, speed and prior approvals: MHCLG district planning application statistics (PS1/PS2), financial year 2025-26. Appeals: Planning Inspectorate casework, five years to 30 June 2026 — 189 of 502 determined householder appeals allowed, the largest appeal sample of any London borough. Derived in scripts/aggregate/.
Bromley decides more householder applications than Richmond upon Thames, and around four times as many as Camden. It also determines a lower share of them inside eight weeks than any borough covered here — 89.4%, where Barking and Dagenham manages 100% on a caseload a quarter the size.
That is a throughput problem rather than an attitude problem, and it has a practical consequence. A case officer working through a large queue has limited time to interpret an ambiguous drawing, chase a missing section or work out for themselves whether a proposal sits inside the permitted development envelope. Applications that answer those questions on the sheet move; applications that raise them wait.
The same logic applies to the refusal figure. 323 refusals is the highest count in London, but on 1,538 decisions the rate is 21.0% — higher than average, not extraordinary. The way to stay out of that fifth is not to argue better; it is to submit a pack the officer can approve without needing anything from you.
Each of these is avoidable before submission, and each costs weeks when it is not.
Permitted development allowances run from the house as first built. 30.0% of Bromley's homes are interwar and 26.8% date from 1945 to 1972, and a great many have gained a rear addition or a garage since. Without an accurate baseline, neither you nor the officer can tell which route the project is on.
Bromley has 69 conservation areas — second only to Richmond — and 108 Article 4 directions recorded in the national register. Both curtail permitted development rights, and both are set out street by street rather than by district.
Missing sections, no north point, an unstated scale, or a boundary treatment left undrawn. On this caseload an officer will ask rather than assume, and the eight-week clock keeps running while you answer.
Bromley is a twentieth-century suburban borough with a substantial older minority: 30.0% interwar, 26.8% post-war, and 17.1% predating 1919. Its 142,770 homes are the second-largest stock in this part of London.
| Build period | Share of homes | What usually follows |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1919 | 17.1% | Victorian and Edwardian housing concentrated in the older centres, and the stock most likely to fall inside one of the 69 conservation areas |
| 1919 to 1939 | 30.0% | Interwar semis and detached houses on generous plots — hipped roofs suited to hip-to-gable conversions and side gaps worth testing |
| 1945 to 1972 | 26.8% | Post-war suburban housing, typically with the deepest gardens in the borough and the strongest case for the prior approval route |
| 1973 onwards | 26.1% | Later estates and infill, where plot coverage is tighter and the original-house measurement matters most |
Shares of the 142,770 Bromley dwellings with a recorded build period. Source: Valuation Office Agency, council tax stock of properties (CTSOP4.1), as at 31 March 2025. The published bands have a genuine gap over 1940-1944.
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The first is the larger home extension prior approval. Bromley refused 15 of the 125 it decided in 2025-26 — 12.0%, comfortably below Richmond's 27.8% — and the borough's post-war housing, with deep gardens and regular building lines, is well suited to it. Where an extension can be delivered on that route, it avoids the main queue entirely.
The second is a lawful development certificate. Where a project genuinely falls within permitted development, a certificate confirms it in writing without asking the council to exercise judgement. It is a lighter determination than a planning application, it settles the question before you build, and a buyer's solicitor will ask for it at sale.
Both routes depend on knowing the original building and the constraint position first. On a borough handling 1,538 householder decisions a year, choosing the right route is worth more than arguing the merits of the wrong one.
The objective is a submission the case officer can approve without coming back to us — because on this caseload, every question costs a fortnight.
Conservation area, Article 4 direction and permitted development position for your address, and which of the three routes — certificate, prior approval or full application — actually fits.
Bromley's interwar and post-war stock has frequently been extended already. The survey establishes what allowance remains, which is what decides the route.
Existing and proposed plans, elevations, sections, site plan and 1:1250 location plan, every sheet at a stated metric scale with a north point — validated on submission rather than after a fortnight of correspondence.
We submit, answer the officer promptly, and revise the drawings free of charge until Bromley issues its decision.
Bromley's approval rate on the largest householder caseload in London, refreshed each quarter against the national figure.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Bromley granted 79.0% of the householder applications it decided in the 2025-26 financial year — 1,215 of 1,538, with 323 refused. That is below the London average of 85.6% and England's 90.3%. Both figures are the largest of their kind in London: no borough decides more householder applications, and none refuses more. On a caseload that size the rate is a meaningful measure rather than a small-sample artefact.
Longer than most outer-London boroughs. Bromley determined 89.4% of its non-agreement householder decisions within the statutory eight weeks in 2025-26 — 1,011 of 1,131 — where Richmond upon Thames manages 97.9% and Barking and Dagenham 100%. Around a quarter of its householder cases run on an agreed extension of time instead. Given the volume, the practical lesson is that anything requiring the officer to come back to you is expensive: the clock does not stop while you answer.
Partly because it decides so many. 323 refusals is the highest count in London, but against 1,538 decisions the refusal rate is 21.0% — above average rather than exceptional. The borough also carries 69 conservation areas, second only to Richmond, and 108 Article 4 directions recorded in the national register, both of which withdraw permitted development rights and push more work into the application system where it can be refused at all.
Often not, on a house outside a conservation area. A single-storey rear extension can be built under permitted development if it projects no more than 3m from the original rear wall on a semi-detached or terraced property, or 4m on a detached one, and stays within 4m in height. Beyond that, up to 6m or 8m, prior approval is required rather than full permission. The two things that most often change the answer here are conservation-area status and the fact that many of the borough's interwar and post-war houses have already been extended.
69 conservation areas are recorded for Bromley in the national planning data register, the second-highest total in London after Richmond upon Thames, along with 108 Article 4 directions. Inside a conservation area the council controls side extensions, roof alterations, cladding and window replacement that would be permitted development elsewhere, and assesses design against the character of the area. Boundaries commonly follow individual streets, so the address is what determines the position.
Frequently yes. Bromley refused just 12.0% of the 125 large householder extension prior approvals it decided in 2025-26 — 15 refusals — against 27.8% in Richmond upon Thames. The route allows a single-storey rear extension of up to 6m on an attached house or 8m on a detached one and is decided on neighbour amenity alone, which suits the borough's post-war housing with its deep gardens and regular building lines. It also sidesteps the main application queue, which on this caseload is worth having.
Close to the London average, on the largest evidence base in the capital. The Planning Inspectorate allowed 37.6% of householder appeals against Bromley over the five years to 30 June 2026 — 189 of 502 determined, more appeals than any other London borough — against 39.9% across London and 34.4% across England. An appeal takes several months and is judged against the same policies the council applied, so where a refusal cites something adjustable, a revised application usually reaches a built extension sooner.
It is a formal confirmation from the council that your project is permitted development and needs no planning permission. It is not compulsory, but it is worth having in a borough with 69 conservation areas and 108 recorded Article 4 directions: it settles the question in writing before you build, it is a lighter determination than a full application, and a buyer's solicitor will ask for it when you sell. Building on an assumption and being wrong is far more expensive to unpick.
Usually yes on a house outside a conservation area. A rear dormer or hip-to-gable conversion is permitted development if the added volume stays within 40m³ on a terraced house or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached one, nothing rises above the existing ridge, and the dormer sits on the rear or side roof slope rather than the front. Bromley's interwar stock, 30.0% of all its homes, suits hip-to-gable work particularly well. Flats have no such rights, and a conservation area or Article 4 direction can remove them from houses.
The whole borough — Bromley town, Beckenham, Orpington, Chislehurst, Petts Wood, West Wickham, Hayes, Penge, Biggin Hill and the villages to the south. Every application is decided by the same authority against the same local plan. What changes across the borough is the housing and the designation map: the Victorian centres, the interwar suburbs and the post-war estates each raise different permitted development questions, which is why the address check comes before the design.
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