Camden

Local plan

Camden’s adopted Local Plan dates from 3 July 2017, alongside the applicable area and neighbourhood plans. [1]

For home projects, identify H3 on retaining homes, H6 on housing choice, H7 on dwelling sizes, A1 on neighbours, D1/D2 on design and heritage, and A5 on basements. [2]

The replacement plan was submitted on 3 October 2025 and remains under examination; proposed changes, including the emerging basement policy, are not adopted requirements. [3][42][57]

From 10 August 2026, the Oxford Street Development Corporation (OSDC) became the planning authority within its mapped area, including part of southern Camden, while the relevant borough policies continue to apply there. [51][52]

Householder design guide

Use the January 2021 Home Improvements CPG, adopted on 15 January 2021, with the companion Design, Amenity and Basements guidance. [7][46]

The approved Home Improvements text calls for rear additions to remain subordinate, retain a reasonable garden and protect neighbouring amenity, rather than offering one extension depth that guarantees permission. [44][45]

The Amenity CPG’s 45° and 25° tests help screen whether detailed daylight and sunlight evidence is needed; they are not automatic approval or refusal thresholds. [47]

Assess roof alterations against the building and street’s character and relevant conservation guidance, and check the address’s Article 4 restrictions separately. [44][22][9]

Validation list

Use Camden’s Local Area Requirements published on 20 November 2025, applying the entries relevant to the application and site. [10][11]

The list requires a Basement Impact Assessment for new or enlarged basements, with heritage, ecology, daylight and construction-management evidence where the stated triggers apply. [11]

For applications from 6 August 2026, the national BNG small-site exemption covers 0.2 hectares or less unless priority habitat is affected, and self-build status no longer supplies a separate exemption; other ecological evidence may still be required. [12][11]

For land within the OSDC boundary, confirm the receiving authority’s current submission requirements rather than assuming Camden remains the decision-maker. [51][52]

Article 4 directions

Check the instrument, mapped boundary and withdrawn development class, because Camden’s Article 4 controls differ by location and type of work. [9]

The borough-wide basement direction has applied since 1 June 2017 to the specified Part 1 Class A basement/lightwell works, not every internal cellar alteration. [14][15]

Instruments confirmed on 9 June 2026 include Belsize, South Hampstead and Hampstead’s mapped Frognal Way area, as well as the narrower Fitzjohns/Netherhall hard-surfacing and boundary controls; these do not establish one rule for the whole borough or all of Hampstead. [17][18][54][55]

The council records the mapped Class MA commercial-to-residential directions as effective from 29 July 2022, with modifications from 23 February 2023; use the modified legal-notice maps rather than assuming every Class E property is covered. [19][20][56]

Conservation areas

Camden identifies 40 conservation areas and provides their boundaries and guidance. [21]

Use the property’s adopted appraisal and management material: the register dates the Fitzjohns/Netherhall and Redington/Frognal appraisals to December 2022. [22]

For example, the South Hampstead appraisal adopted in February 2011 explains the importance of roof profiles, original detailing and garden settings for alterations there, not universal rules for every Camden street. [23][24]

Read older guidance alongside the adopted Local Plan and current Article 4 instruments, including the 2026 updates, rather than treating an appraisal’s historical permission advice as a current address check. [1][16]

Basement policy

Adopted Policy A5, printed pages 214–215, normally limits basements to one storey, excludes new levels beneath existing basements and rules out habitable rooms and other sensitive uses in flood-prone locations. [2]

The January 2021 Basements CPG explains the combined tests: no more than 50% of each existing garden, an area less than 1.5 times the host footprint, and garden projection within both 50% of the host’s depth from the principal rear elevation and 50% of the garden’s depth, alongside boundary setbacks and limited exceptions for large comprehensively planned sites. [25]

Provide a professionally prepared Basement Impact Assessment, with independent technical audit generally required and construction-management information addressed separately. [26][11]

The emerging D6 and its examination modifications are not adopted, so do not replace A5 with the earlier draft’s general host-footprint-only restriction. [27][57]

CIL rates

Camden CIL and Mayoral CIL are separate: confirm the 2026 indexed borough rate for the development category and zone, because the annual local-rate summary linked from Camden’s page remains labelled 2025. [28]

The GLA’s 2026 summary gives Camden’s ordinary Band 1 Mayoral CIL2 rate as £96.97/m², with separate treatment for specified central-London commercial uses and health or education uses. [30]

For the OSDC area, DD2796 retains borough charging and collection until an OSDC CIL charging schedule is approved and takes effect; transfer of planning powers alone does not establish a new levy or collecting authority. [53]

Do not deduct proposed temporary London CIL relief merely because draft regulations have been published. [31]

Pre-application advice

Camden’s homeowner prices checked on 3 October 2026, including VAT, are £481.50 for Level 1 and £963 for Level 2, with the higher level covering multiple or more complex works such as basements. [32]

The separate listed-building service costs £963 or £1,926, while minor residential conversions creating up to four dwellings without an extension are listed at £1,342 and the medium 1–9 new-home category at £5,028, all including VAT. [33]

The basement specialist service is £214 including VAT plus an additional BIA-review fee, not an all-inclusive assessment or audit. [33]

Prepare the requested proposal information, drawings and photographs, but use OSDC’s pre-application route for a site within its boundary, not Camden’s tariff. [32][51]

Building control

Contact Camden building control at building.control@camden.gov.uk, 2nd Floor, 5 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG, and use its application and inspection pages. [35][43]

For example, 2026 Schedule 2 publishes £750.22 for plan checking plus £1,125.33 for inspections, including VAT, for a dwelling extension over 10 m² and up to 60 m², including a basement; confirm the project’s assessed charge because some printed net/VAT/gross figures differ by a penny. [36][48]

Building regulations are separate from planning: work outside the higher-risk regime may use the council or a registered building control approver, while relevant higher-risk work requires the Building Safety Regulator. [37]

The Building Safety Levy took effect on 1 October 2026 for relevant residential applications, subject to exemptions and transitional provisions; ordinary improvements creating no new dwelling or student-accommodation bedspace are not automatically chargeable. [38]

The 2026 Future Homes and Buildings Standards regulations generally commence on 24 March 2027. Specified provisions for higher-risk building work and work to existing higher-risk buildings commence on 24 September 2027, with separate transitional arrangements. Confirm the provisions, application and start dates applicable to the project; the new-home standard is not a blanket requirement to retrofit an existing home. [39]