Southwark

Local plan

The Southwark Plan 2022, adopted 23 February 2022, remains the borough plan: it replaced the Core Strategy, saved 2007 policies and the Aylesbury, Canada Water and Peckham and Nunhead area action plans, and is read alongside the London Plan and applicable neighbourhood planning documents. [1][2][3][4][7]

Home-project starting points are P3 (existing homes), P9 (HMOs), P13–15 (design), P19–21 (heritage), P56 (amenity) and P68 (flood risk). [5] P3 rules out splitting a single home of 130 m² or less into two or more homes, measured as original net internal floorspace, excluding attics, basements and other non-habitable parts. [5]

The Southwark Plan 2045 and Old Kent Road Area Action Plan are emerging, not adopted replacements; check the Policies Map and any relevant site allocation before relying on a borough-wide summary. [9][11][6]

Householder design guide

The Householder Development SPD, adopted 7 July 2025, replaces the Residential Design Standards SPD’s 2015 technical update and covers alterations and extensions to existing homes. [13]

Chapter 3 covers front, side and rear extensions, loft and roof changes, garden rooms and basements; area-specific guidance, including the Dulwich SPD, must also be checked. [14][16]

These design guidelines are not the statutory permitted-development allowances. [15]

For conservation-area dormers, obtain clarification before fixing the design: section 3.6.2 on page 76 and Figure 32 on page 77 give inconsistent box-dormer wording and setbacks. [14]

Validation list

Use the council’s current application-type checklists: where planning permission is needed for works to a flat, use the full-planning route rather than the householder checklist. [22][23][24]

The householder checklist requires the core forms and drawings, CIL Form 1, and a fire-safety strategy or a justified exception under its stated criteria. [23]

Site-dependent documents include heritage, tree, ecology, daylight and flood assessments, while new basements and changes to existing basements trigger a Basement Impact Assessment. [23]

The full-planning checklist still describes self-build development as exempt from Biodiversity Net Gain, but national guidance removed that exemption for applications made from 6 August 2026, with transitional arrangements and other exemptions: check the current national test rather than that outdated passage. [24][25]

Article 4 directions

Southwark’s Article 4 restrictions are area- and property-specific, so check the actual instrument and boundary rather than assuming a borough-wide withdrawal of rights. [27]

The HMO page identifies Henshaw Street and Bywater Place; Bywater’s confirmation is recorded in its instrument, but the published Henshaw copy has a blank confirmation section and needs further evidence. [28][29][30]

Confirmed Class MA directions cover selected commercial-to-residential locations, with separate office/non-office provisions in the Central Activities Zone and railway arches; a Class ZA direction covers qualifying demolition and rebuilding on specified land. [31][32][33][34][35][36][37]

Household works may also be affected by Sunray Estate and Great North Wood directions, but the Great North Wood dates and the published Cobourg Road-area notice contain inconsistencies requiring clarification before an address-specific conclusion. [40][41][38][39][46]

Conservation areas

Find the property on the council’s conservation-area maps, then read that area’s appraisal and management guidance alongside P19–21, the Householder SPD and the council’s listed Heritage SPD. [44][5][13][49]

Conservation-area designation and an Article 4 direction are different controls: designation does not itself remove every permitted-development right. [15][27]

Local guidance matters, including the Dulwich SPD and the Sunray Estate appraisal where relevant. [16][42]

A solar-panel Local Listed Building Consent Order adopted 7 April 2026 provides a limited route for specified Grade II residential properties in the Sutherland Square and Liverpool Grove areas, subject to its schedules and conditions; it is not area-wide consent and does not remove the separate need for planning permission. [51][52]

Basement policy

Read P14 and P68, the Householder SPD and the newer Climate and Environment SPD together: the householder guidance limits basement extensions to one storey and 50% of rear-garden depth measured from the principal rear wall, not 50% of garden area. [5][14]

The Climate and Environment SPD, adopted 14 October 2025, requires a Basement Impact Assessment prepared and self-certified by a chartered engineer or chartered geologist for new or extended basements, and separately lists basement extensions as requiring a site-specific Flood Risk Assessment. [20][21]

Its flood-resilient-design section does not support overnight basement accommodation, whereas the Householder SPD conditionally contemplates bedrooms; obtain written clarification rather than assuming a bedroom will be accepted. [21][14]

Also address trees, neighbouring structures, groundwater and archaeology, including the additional Dulwich guidance where applicable. [23][18]

CIL rates

Use the charging schedule effective 29 September 2026 and the corresponding 2026 Part 2 rate summary, rather than the earlier 2026 summary or unindexed 2017 figures. [54][55][56]

The indexed borough residential rates are £598/m² in Zone 1, £300/m² in Zone 2 and £74/m² in Zone 3, subject to the published charging-zone map. [56] Mayoral CIL is separate: Southwark’s 2026 MCIL2 Band 2 rate is £72.73/m², with different rates for relevant office, retail and hotel development in the Central London charging area. [57]

Liability depends on the development and chargeable floorspace; applicable self-build, annex, extension or other relief must be checked and claimed where required, not assumed from the headline rate. [55]

Pre-application advice

For 2026–2027, householder extension pre-application written advice costs £317.16 including VAT; the listed meeting/site-visit option of up to one hour adds £317.16, giving £634.32 including VAT for written advice plus the meeting. [61]

The published small-scale category for 1–6 dwellings charges £554.88 including VAT for written advice, with meetings charged separately. [62]

The council offers free advice for eligible green-energy projects and has a no-charge provision for qualifying works solely benefiting a disabled resident. [58][61][60]

Submit the requested plans and project information, and confirm the fee category where the proposal combines development types. [59][61][62]

Building control

Contact Southwark Building Control at building.control@southwark.gov.uk or 020 7525 5582. [63]

The council’s application pages explain full plans, building notices and regularisation; confirm the appropriate route for the proposed work. [64][65]

Its 2026–2027 charges depend on the work, with individually assessed quotations outside the standard assumptions and separate plan/inspection components under full plans. [66]

Obtain a written fee confirmation before paying: the tariff contains conflicting replacement-window statements and some inconsistent totals, so a single table entry should not be assumed to be the complete or agreed charge. [66]