Local plan
Bexley’s Local Plan was adopted on 26 April 2023 and forms the borough’s development plan alongside the Mayor’s London Plan. [2][1]
For home alterations, SP5 and DP11 address design and local character; the adopted design guidance explains their application to a proposal’s setting. [4]
Other relevant references include DP2 for backland and infill housing, DP5 for HMOs, DP6 for loss of housing, SP6 and DP14 for heritage, DP21 for greening, DP23 for parking, and DP32–DP33 for flooding and drainage, depending on the project. [3][5]
Use the policies map linked from the council’s Development Plan page to check which mapped designations affect the property before selecting the relevant policies. [1]
Council guidanceHouseholder design guide
The current home-alteration guide is Design Guide SPD Part 2 — Building Alterations and Extensions, adopted on 29 June 2026. [6][7]
For project-specific guidance, use B01–B03 for extensions, B04 for basements, B07 for roof alterations, and B12–B13 for flat and HMO conversions. [8]
Read it alongside Part 1 — Design Principles, adopted in January 2025, and the Part 2 Area Types, Small Sites and Technical Handbook documents. [7][36]
Part 2 replaces the former Design and Development Control Guidelines and Sustainable Design and Construction SPDs, together with the two Crayford design guides: older copies should not be treated as the current householder design guidance. [7]
Council guidanceValidation list
The council's application page links to Planning Application Requirements, whose cover records its last review as 17 October 2018. [9][10]
The householder checklist is on PDF page 8. Confirm the operative submission requirements with the council rather than assuming that this dated PDF includes every 2026 requirement. [10]
National guidance says local information requirements used for validation must be on an appropriately published, up-to-date local list, with requests proportionate to the proposal and lists reviewed at least every two years. [11]
Confirm the current checklist and submission arrangements with the council, including its conflicting file-size instructions: the application webpage says 5 MB per file, whereas the linked PDF says 20 MB. [9][10]
Council guidanceArticle 4 directions
A borough-wide C3-to-C4 Article 4 direction has required planning permission for that change to a small HMO since 24 September 2017. [13][14]
Separate Class MA directions restrict Class E-to-C3 conversions at selected mapped industrial buildings from 8 January 2025, and selected buildings within the borough’s 13 designated town centres from 10 December 2025—not every property throughout those wider areas. [13][15][37][38]
Conservation-related directions are also listed for Brook Street, Old Bexley, Old Forge Way and Red House Lane. [13]
Check the relevant address, map, elevation and specified works: the council’s Old Forge Way summary, for example, sets different controls for different groups of properties, so a conservation-area name alone does not establish identical restrictions. [19]
Council guidanceConservation areas
Bexley identifies 23 conservation areas and provides an index of their appraisals and management plans. [21]
Read the appraisal for the particular area, including its map and characteristic buildings, materials and landscape: for example, the Red House Lane appraisal identifies the brick boundary wall, cottages and greenery as important, not just Red House itself. [22]
Older appraisals remain useful character records, but their references to earlier planning policies must be read alongside the current development plan and design guidance rather than substituted for them. [22][23][1][7]
The council publishes spandgteam@bexley.gov.uk for conservation and heritage queries. [21]
Council guidanceBasement policy
Bexley has explicit basement guidance in B04, printed page 37 (PDF page 19) of the design guide adopted on 29 June 2026: its typical parameters are one underground storey, within the existing dwelling’s footprint. [8][6]
The guide says all basement planning applications should include a Basement Impact Assessment, and an engineer-certified Construction Method Statement is to be required by condition if approved. [8]
The guide states that DP32 rules out basements in Flood Zones 2 and 3, and calls for a Flood Risk Assessment in Zone 1 where surface-water, groundwater or sewer flooding is indicated. [8]
It supports ancillary space only—not a separate dwelling, principal living space or sleeping accommodation—and identifies sinkhole-prone locations as typically unacceptable. [8]
Council guidanceCIL rates
Bexley’s schedule, effective 30 April 2015, sets unindexed base rates of £40/m² in Zone 1 and £60/m² in Zone 2 for residential, hotel and student housing, subject to its mapped zones and specified use exclusions. [24]
The base rate is £100/m² for qualifying supermarket, superstore and retail-warehouse development over 280m², and £10/m² for other uses, with specified health and education categories at nil. [24]
The council’s published annual summary uses 2025 indexation. Obtain the applicable 2026 indexed borough rates before budgeting; neither that older summary nor the unindexed base rates above is a current project quotation. [25]
Separately, the GLA’s 2026 MCIL2 table lists Bexley in Band 3 at £30.30/m², indexed from £25/m², for relevant permissions granted in 2026; this is the Mayoral component, not the combined bill. [26]
Council guidancePre-application advice
For householder works and alterations or extensions to a single flat, Bexley’s Category G pre-application prices checked on 3 October 2026 are £153 for written advice or £354 for a meeting and written advice, including VAT. [27]
Category F small commercial proposals are £279 for written advice or £654 with a meeting, including VAT. [27]
Category E includes schemes of 1–9 net new homes, with meeting-and-written-advice fees of £408 for the first home and £234 for each additional home, including VAT. [27]
Use preapplicationrequest@bexley.gov.uk for initial enquiries; the advice service needs a description, location plan and suitable photographs or sketches, and its advice is not a planning decision or a guarantee of approval. [27]
Council guidanceBuilding control
For building-control quotations, send existing and proposed plans to building.control@bexley.gov.uk, particularly where work falls outside the published fees table. [28]
The tariff identified as effective from 20 April 2026 lists a domestic extension of more than 10 m² and less than 40 m² at £400 for plan checking plus £400 for inspections, excluding VAT; the stated VAT rate is 20%, while regularisation charges are treated separately. [28]
Book site visits through the online request on the council’s Site inspections page and follow the inspection schedule supplied with the application. [29]
The separate Building Safety Levy applies to qualifying residential building-control applications from 1 October 2026, subject to its charging conditions and exemptions; it is not included in the inspection fee above. [41]
Council guidance