How much does a design and access statement cost in London?

Do you need one? The test in the law

Price row: the design and access statement is £235 here, no VAT to add. Its main page is on our sister site Fixed Fee Plans, run by the same team.

Article 9 of the procedure order sets the test. A statement must accompany an application for major development, or, where any part of the development is in a conservation area or a World Heritage Site, development that provides one or more dwellinghouses, or a building or buildings with 100 square metres or more of floor space.

So a single new home in a conservation area needs one. A small householder extension in the same street, under 100 square metres, does not need one under that article. Councils can still ask for a design statement through their local list, which we check.

What the statement must say

A design statement is a record of reasoning, not decoration.

The order asks for two things: the design principles and concepts applied to the development, and how issues of access have been dealt with. The detail is spelled out: explain the principles, show the steps taken to appraise the context and how the design responds to it, explain the access policy and how local policies were taken into account, state what consultation took place and what came of it, and explain how any specific access issues were addressed.

That is a document about reasoning, not decoration. A good one shows the officer that the design followed from the site, the street and the policy, and so answers questions before they are asked.

What it does not cover

The same article lists applications where the statement is not required: applications under section 73 to vary conditions, applications for engineering or mining operations, and applications for a material change of use of land or buildings. A conversion to flats is therefore usually a change-of-use case outside the article, though the council can still ask for a design statement on its local list.

The local list must be formally adopted and published on the council’s website less than two years before the application, so a request that is not on a current list cannot be required for validation.

Where it sits in the cost of an application

The statement is a separate fee from the drawings and from the council’s. For one house the council charges £548, and our fee for the statement is £235.

If you are buying planning drawings from us as well, we write the statement from the same survey, so the plans and the words describe the same building.