How long do planning drawings take once the survey is done?
Planning Drawings produces the drawing set about 7 days after the measured survey. The 7 days start when the survey is finished, not when you first get in touch.
The full journey from enquiry to a decision is longer, because it includes the survey visit, your design approval, validation and the council's 8-week statutory period. Two timescales matter: the drawing stage, about a week, and the whole route to a decision, parts of which sit with you or the council.
What happens between your enquiry and the council's decision?
Nine steps sit between your first message and a decision, and only one of them is the drawing stage. Each exists to prevent a later delay: a missed conservation area or a wrong neighbour dimension is cheaper to find before the council sees the drawings.
- Enquiry and constraints check: we check the address for conservation areas, listed status, Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders, flood zone and planning history, and choose the route.
- Fixed quote: you see the fee before anything is booked.
- Measured survey: the house as it stands, on one datum. The date depends on access and diaries.
- Design options: after the survey we model the house and show you options in 3D and plan.
- Design frozen: you choose an option in writing, and nothing changes after that without your say.
- Drawing set: the plans, elevations and sections the council expects, about 7 days after the survey.
- Independent check: a second chartered technologist checks every sheet, then a senior review signs it off.
- Submission and validation: we submit, and the council confirms the application is complete.
- Council decision: 8 weeks from receipt of a valid application for most householder cases, unless a longer period is agreed in writing.
Why does the enquiry and constraints check come first?
The check decides which route you need, and the route decides the paperwork. The options are permitted development, a Lawful Development Certificate, prior approval or a householder application.
Some projects do not need planning permission at all. Schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 lists the classes of work that can be built without a full application, subject to conditions and limits. Finding that out on day one saves the whole application stage.
You then get a fixed quote. Our published fee for householder drawings is from £515 drawings + £150 survey (£665 total), and the council's application fee is paid to the council separately.
When can the measured survey happen?
The survey date depends on access to the house and on diaries; the 7-day drawing stage starts when the survey is finished. Book it as early as you can, because the drawings cannot start until it is done.
The survey is a separate fee from the drawing fees, from £150. It records rooms, levels, boundaries, drains, trees and the neighbours' windows that the 45 and 25 degree daylight tests depend on, all measured from one datum.
Drawings made from guessed measurements show their errors later as redraws. See our guide to the measured survey for an extension for what is measured and why.
What happens in the drawing stage, and what comes after?
After the survey we model the house and show you options; once you choose one, the drawing set follows, about 7 days after the survey, provided you choose a design promptly. Our planning drawings service covers the full set and the location and block plans.
Your choice is the step we cannot speed up. You choose in writing, and that is the point the design is frozen. A quick answer keeps the timeline short; a long think, or a second round of ideas, adds days.
For what a set should contain, see which drawings you need for planning permission.
Why is every drawing set checked before submission?
Planning Drawings, a trading name of Property Architecture Ltd, whose MCIAT chartered architectural technologists draw and check every set, never lets the person who drew a set check it. A second chartered technologist checks every sheet, and a senior review signs it off before anything is submitted.
The check is against the council's validation checklist and the policy. An application that is not valid is not treated as received, so the council's clock does not start. Catching a missing plan here is quicker than finding out after submission.
What does the council's 8-week period actually cover?
For most householder applications, the council has 8 weeks to decide, beginning the day after it receives a valid application. That period is set by article 34 of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015, and the council and the applicant can agree a longer period in writing.
A valid submission starts the clock on receipt. If the application is not valid, or the council has to ask for something missing, the clock waits for it, so validation is part of the real wait. Other application types, such as major development, have different periods; check yours against the same article.
This is a legal limit on the council, not a prediction, and nobody can promise a decision date. If the council asks for changes, we make the amendments within five working days, and we redraw at no charge until approval. The council then sets its own pace in reading them.
For how the application route itself works, the GOV.UK guide to planning permission is the starting point.
What slows the timeline down?
Delays often come from missing information, late decisions or a failed validation rather than the drawing work. Knowing the common ones lets you avoid them.
- Waiting for survey access, which holds back everything after it.
- Changing the brief after the design is frozen, which means redrawing.
- Extra documents the council asks for, such as a heritage statement for a listed or conservation-area home.
- An application that is not valid when it arrives, so the council period has not begun.
- A neighbour's objection or a request for amendments after submission.
Questions about planning drawing timescales
Can I get planning drawings faster than 7 days?
We state about 7 days after the survey, and we do not promise anything quicker. The drawing stage is not the only factor: you still choose a design, and the set is checked independently before submission. If you have a deadline, tell us when you enquire so we can plan the visit.
Does the 7 days include the survey?
No. The 7 days run from the end of the measured survey. The survey is a separate visit and a separate fee, and its date depends on access to the house, so book it early.
What if the council asks for changes?
We make amendments within five working days of the council's request. How long the council then takes to read the revised drawings is its own timetable, so we cannot say when the decision arrives.
Sources
- Development Management Procedure Order 2015, article 34 (legislation.gov.uk)
- General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Planning permission (GOV.UK)
About the author. Ben Shaukat is Managing Director of Property Architecture Ltd, which trades as Planning Drawings.
Published by Planning Drawings. Checked against the sources above on . Planning rules change; check your council before you build.