Newham

Local plan

Newham Local Plan 2018, adopted on 10 December 2018, remains the local plan outside the former London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) area; within that mapped area, the LLDC Local Plan 2020–2036, adopted on 21 July 2020, remains applicable despite planning powers returning to Newham on 1 December 2024. [1][2][4][5][6]

The development-plan framework also includes the London Plan 2021 and the retained Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation DPD 2017 and Joint Waste DPD 2012, as applicable. [3][46][47]

For changes to existing homes, Newham policy H4 protects housing, particularly family houses, so a proposed flat conversion or HMO needs a policy assessment rather than an assumption that subdivision is acceptable; the former LLDC area has its own HMO policy H.6. [7][48]

The replacement Newham plan received its Inspector’s Report on 18 August 2026, but the council’s current examination page still describes formal adoption as a future step. [8][9]

Householder design guide

Use Altering and Extending your Home SPD, adopted February 2018, for extensions and roof alterations, alongside the applicable local plan. [11][12]

Its design guidance favours extensions that are subordinate to the original house, appropriate materials and roof form, preservation of street-facing roof character, and protection of neighbours’ privacy, daylight and outlook. [11]

Conservation-area projects also need the relevant local guide: Woodgrange’s October 2022 guide treats different house types separately, while Durham Road’s 2021 guide includes specific rear-roof guidance, including a maximum three-quarters roof width and a minimum 500 mm setback from the eaves. [13][14]

These are design-assessment guidelines, not a grant of permitted development rights. [11][14]

Validation list

The council currently links its December 2024 Planning Application Requirements (PAR): complete the submission checklist and provide the appropriate forms, certificates, scaled PDF drawings and supporting documents. [15][16]

Check the project-specific heritage, ecology, daylight, drainage, fire and CIL requirements; for flood-risk submissions, also use the Environment Agency’s updated standing advice rather than treating the PAR’s householder wording as an exemption from assessing flood risk. [16][29]

New homes and other specified residential uses inside the mapped 6.2 km Epping Forest zone can require Habitats Regulations Assessment and strategic mitigation arrangements, including at prior-approval stage. [17][18]

Check BNG against the 6 August 2026 national changes rather than the older PAR alone: householder applications remain exempt, and the new exemption for sites of 0.2 hectares or below does not apply where priority habitat is adversely affected. [50]

Article 4 directions

The confirmed HMO Article 4 direction removes the C3-to-C4 permitted development right from 31 July 2013, but its notice and map expressly exclude the land then within the LLDC area. [20][21]

Do not assume that the return of planning powers in 2024 extended this direction’s boundary; check the instrument and the site’s other controls. [4][20][21]

Separate conservation-area directions cover specified land in Durham Road, Romford Road and Woodgrange, with confirmation endorsements dated 1 May 2018 in the published instruments. [19][23][24][25]

Read the relevant schedules as well as the maps: Woodgrange’s restrictions are not all limited to street-facing work, and conservation-area designation alone does not establish Article 4 coverage. [22][23][24][25]

Conservation areas

Newham lists nine conservation areas: Durham Road, East Ham, Forest Gate Town Centre, Romford Road, Stratford St John’s, Sugar House Lane, Three Mills, University and Woodgrange Estate. [26][27]

Use the council’s document directory to check the property against the relevant boundary map and read its appraisal or management guidance; Sugar House Lane and Three Mills also appear in the former LLDC document collection. [4][27]

For extensions, roofs, windows, doors and front gardens, apply the area-specific guidance and separately check any Article 4 direction rather than assuming identical restrictions across all nine areas. [13][14][22][27]

Basement policy

Newham does have area-specific basement guidance: Woodgrange’s October 2022 guide, section 8.5 on page 44, accepts suitably sized basements but confines associated above-ground lightwells, stairwells and rooflights to rear gardens, subject to character, biodiversity and green-space safeguards; equivalent features in front gardens and harmful large-scale excavations are not supported. [13]

Elsewhere, establish the applicable Newham or former LLDC policies and the site’s flood, heritage and neighbour constraints before deciding whether a basement is feasible. [1][4][16][28]

The March 2025 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, section 7.2.5, discusses internal escape to a floor above flood level and recommends restrictions on basement uses, but those recommendations must not be presented as an adopted, borough-wide basement policy or an automatic permission route. [28][29]

CIL rates

For chargeable residential development under Newham’s own schedule, the published 2026 indexed borough rates are £133.89/m² in Zone 1 and £66.95/m² in Zone 2; use the charging-zone map, not the postcode alone. [31][32]

In the former LLDC charging area, the alternative local residential rate under the LLDC 2020 schedule is £88.50/m² for 2026, rather than an additional Newham zone charge. [30][33][34]

Mayoral CIL is separate: the 2026 MCIL2 table gives £30.30/m² for Newham’s Band 3 area and £72.73/m² for the mapped former LLDC Band 2 area. [35][36]

These are published rates, not a quotation: liability also depends on chargeable floorspace, the applicable permission and schedule, and any correctly claimed relief or exemption. [30][33][35][36]

Pre-application advice

Newham offers a paid pre-application service, with the current linked tariff dated February 2026. [37][38]

Category A written advice for alterations or extensions to a single dwelling is £180 including VAT; written advice spanning more than one dwelling is £360, and an additional 30-minute Microsoft Teams meeting is £144. [38]

However, the council’s conservation Article 4 page separately says written householder advice is free, while the tariff states that fees apply universally: obtain written confirmation of any concession before paying. [22][38]

Pre-application advice is not planning permission, and the appropriate service category should be confirmed for conversions or new homes. [37][38]

Building control

Contact Newham Building Control at reception.bco@newham.gov.uk for the council’s full-plans, building-notice and regularisation services, inspections and a project-specific fee quotation. [39]

For non-higher-risk work, a private registered building control approver is an alternative; work requiring Building Safety Regulator approval follows the separate higher-risk-building route. [41]

The council’s currently linked charging PDF has a visible effective date of 1 December 2022, so confirm the payable charge rather than treating it as a newly issued 2026 tariff. [40]

For relevant residential building-control applications submitted from 1 October 2026, also check the separate Building Safety Levy and its exemptions using current government guidance, rather than the council page’s older description of draft regulations. [41][42][43]