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A quiet Hampstead street with dark brick houses on one side and an ivy-covered wall on the other, curving away downhill

Constraints

How much does a planning constraints report cost in London?

A small fee to find out, before you spend on drawings, whether anything on your street changes the rules.

By Ben Shaukat, Managing DirectorPublished 2 min read

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We check conservation areas and other limits for this address.

In a sentence or two: your plans, and any feedback from the council so far.

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What the report is for

Price row: the planning constraints report is £19 here, no VAT to add. Its main page is on our sister site Fixed Fee Plans, run by the same team.

Two houses with the same plan can have very different rights. One is in a conservation area, the other is not. One has an Article 4 direction removing a right the other keeps. A constraints report finds out which before you pay for a design.

Our fee is £19. We check the address against the constraints on our standard list and write the result in plain English, with what it means for the project you have in mind.

Location plan and block plan comparedTwo plans of the same plot. On top, a location plan at 1:1250 shows the surrounding streets, named roads, a north point, the site edged in red up to the road and other land owned by the applicant edged in blue. Below, a block plan at a larger scale shows the house, the proposed rear extension, the boundaries and the distances from the extension to each boundary.Location plan · 1:1250Elm RoadOak AvenueNBlock plan · larger scaleDistance to boundaryProposed
Fig. 1 Location plan and block plan compared · Source: Planning Practice Guidance: making an application (GOV.UK)

Why conservation areas matter first

The permitted development order uses a single phrase, article 2(3) land, for national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and conservation areas, and then cuts rights for it. In those places there is no permitted loft conversion, no side extension and no rear extension of more than one storey.

In London they are common. The City of London has 28 conservation areas, and Islington has removed permitted development rights by Article 4 direction in 40 of its 42. A quick check can save a design that could never have been built as drawn.

Where the information comes from

The government’s planning data platform publishes national datasets for Article 4 direction areas, conservation areas, flood risk zones, green belt, listed buildings, locally listed buildings and tree preservation zones, among others. It is open data, free to use under the licence of each dataset.

It is not complete. The platform says the number of local authorities and datasets covered is growing all the time. That is why we treat an empty result as a prompt to ask the council, never as proof that nothing applies.

Flooding is a planning constraint too

A flood risk assessment is needed for development in Flood Zones 2 or 3, and in several other cases such as a site of 1 hectare or more in Flood Zone 1 or one at risk of surface water flooding, according to GOV.UK guidance. The council may refuse an application that needs one and does not include it.

Our report flags the flood zone so you know early. If an assessment is needed, our flood risk assessment is a separate fixed-fee service.

By the numbers

Constraints report costs: common questions

Is the report a guarantee that nothing else applies?

No. National data is incomplete, and councils hold records the platform may not. Where something looks possible we tell you to confirm it with the council.

Source: About planning data (planning.data.gov.uk)

Is the report credited against the drawing fee?

No. The report is a separate fixed fee. It exists so you can decide, for a small sum, whether to go further.

Why would I buy one before buying a house?

Because the rights of a house are part of its value to you. Our pre-purchase report goes further, with what you could extend.

Sources

  1. Planning data: list of datasets (planning.data.gov.uk, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
  2. About planning data (planning.data.gov.uk)
  3. General Permitted Development Order 2015, article 2(3) (legislation.gov.uk)
  4. Flood risk assessment for planning applications (GOV.UK)
  5. Planning permission and permitted development in Islington (Islington Council)
  6. Conservation areas (City of London Corporation)

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.

Planning constraints report

from £19

Fixed fee
£19
VAT
None to add

£19. A starting fee: we confirm one fixed figure after checking your address. The council’s own fee, where there is one, is paid to the council.

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