Planning permission in Kensington and Chelsea: approval is likely, exemption is not

The council granted 94.3% of the householder applications it decided in the 2025-26 financial year — 541 of 574, with just 33 refused. That is one of the highest approval rates in London, against 85.6% across the capital and 90.3% across England. The figure needs context: because so much of the borough sits in a conservation area or under an Article 4 direction, applications are required here for work that would need none elsewhere, so the pool reaching a decision is unusually well prepared.

Far more often than in outer London. Permitted development rights under Part 1 apply to houses, not flats, and much of the borough is flats. Beyond that, 41 conservation areas and 84 recorded Article 4 direction areas withdraw those rights across a large share of the remaining houses. In practice most external alterations here need a full application, and if the building is listed you will need listed building consent as well.

The statutory period for a householder application is eight weeks from validation, and the council met it on 97.1% of its householder decisions in 2025-26 — 329 of 339 cases once agreements and extensions of time are set aside. Roughly four in ten of its householder cases run instead on an agreed extension of time, which is common in boroughs handling complex historic buildings. The eight weeks begin at validation, so an incomplete pack costs time before the clock starts.

41 conservation areas are recorded for the borough in the national planning data register, alongside 84 Article 4 direction areas. Between them they cover a large proportion of the borough. Inside a conservation area the council controls alterations that would be permitted development elsewhere — side extensions, roof changes, cladding and window replacement — and assesses design against the character of the area. Boundaries can run mid-street, so the specific address is what matters.

The larger home extension route allows a single-storey rear extension of up to 6m on an attached house or 8m on a detached one without a planning application. Kensington and Chelsea reported no such decisions at all in 2025-26 — an explicit zero in each of the four quarters, matched only by Westminster and the City of London. The route applies to houses rather than flats, and its rights are removed by the Article 4 directions and conservation-area designations covering much of the borough, so there is simply very little stock it can apply to. Projects here go straight to a full application instead.

Listed building consent is a separate permission from planning permission, and it covers internal alterations as well as external ones — removing a chimneypiece or a staircase can need consent even where no planning permission is required. Carrying out unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, not merely a planning breach, which is why the survey and the historic assessment come before any design work. Many listed buildings in this borough also sit within a conservation area, so both regimes apply at once.

About the London average. The Planning Inspectorate allowed 39.2% of householder appeals against the Royal Borough over the five years to 30 June 2026 — 47 of 120 — compared with 39.9% across London and 34.4% across England. With only 33 householder refusals in the last full year, refusals here are uncommon enough that the reason given is usually specific and substantive. Where it is, addressing it in a revised application is generally faster than appealing.

You will need planning permission for external alterations, because permitted development rights do not extend to flats or maisonettes. You are also likely to need freeholder or landlord consent under the lease, which is a separate matter from planning and is not resolved by obtaining permission. Internal reconfiguration may not need planning permission at all unless the building is listed — but it will usually need building regulations approval, and party wall notices where structural work affects a shared wall.

All of it — Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill, Holland Park, South Kensington, Earl's Court, Brompton, Knightsbridge, World's End and Kensal Town. Every application is decided by the same authority against the same local plan. What varies street by street is conservation-area boundary, Article 4 coverage and listed status, which is precisely why the designation check comes before anything is drawn.

Existing and proposed floor plans and elevations, sections where levels or roof form change, a site plan and a 1:1250 location plan with the site edged red, all at a stated metric scale with a north point on the plans. In a conservation area or on a listed building, expect to provide more: material and window details, and often a heritage statement explaining the effect of the proposal on the significance of the building and the area. That statement is frequently what the decision turns on.