Do I need planning permission for a front wall, fence or gate in London?

Listed houses, conservation areas and Article 4 directions

Paragraph A.1(d) removes the right altogether where the work would be within the curtilage of a listed building, or to a gate, fence, wall or other enclosure surrounding one. Listing also reaches further than the house itself: under section 1(5) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, a structure within the curtilage that has formed part of the land since before 1 July 1948 is treated as part of the listed building. An original front wall or set of railings can therefore need listed building consent for any change that affects its character, as well as planning permission. Our guide to what listed building consent drawings cost sets out that second application.

A conservation area does not by itself remove Class A, but councils can, and many London streets have them. The government's householder guidance explains that a council can remove permitted development rights by an Article 4 direction, or may have removed them on the original planning permission for the house, and that a planning application is then needed. Some London directions cover front boundaries for that reason: losing walls and railings to parking changes a street quickly. We read the direction text for your address, not just the conservation area map; our glossary note on Article 4 directions explains how they work.

Taking the front wall down to park a car

Removing a front wall is the step owners worry about least and councils watch most. Outside a conservation area, demolishing all or part of a gate, fence or wall is not development at all, according to the government's guidance on when permission is required for demolition. Inside a conservation area it is different. Only a gate, fence or wall less than 1 m high next to a highway, including a public footpath, waterway or open space, or less than 2 m elsewhere, can come down without an application. Anything taller is relevant demolition, and section 196D of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes demolition without the permission it needs a criminal offence.

The parking area that replaces the wall has its own rule. Class F of Part 1 allows a hard surface in front of a house, but where it lies between the principal elevation and a highway and covers more than 5 m², it must be porous or drain to a permeable area within the plot. Class B of Part 2 then allows a new access to a road that is not a trunk or classified road, where that access serves other permitted development; a new access onto a classified road needs a planning application.

None of this gives you a crossing over the pavement. Driving over a kerbed footway is controlled by the highway authority under section 184 of the Highways Act 1980, which in London is usually the borough, and it is a separate application with its own drawing. Our dropped kerb application drawings start at £195 and can be drawn from the same survey as the boundary plan.

Garden walls shared with a neighbour

Planning is only one law that touches a boundary. A masonry wall standing astride the line between two properties is a party fence wall under section 20 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, defined as a wall, not part of a building, that stands on the lands of different owners and separates them. The government's guidance on party walls and building work gives a garden wall as an example and excludes wooden fences.

So rebuilding or raising a brick dividing wall between two front gardens can mean serving notice on your neighbour, even when it needs no planning permission. A timber fence on your own side of the line does not. Our guide to what party wall notices cost explains the notice and when a surveyor is involved.

Drawings for a front boundary application

A boundary is small, but the council still needs to see it in context. For a planning application we draw a location plan, a block plan with the boundary line and the road marked, existing and proposed elevations of the wall, piers and gate with heights from ground level on both sides, and a plan showing any change to the parking area. Where the boundary is in a conservation area or in front of a listed house, the elevations show materials, coping and railing details, because that is what the officer judges.

Where the design stays within the limits, a lawful development certificate gives you the council's written confirmation instead. See our planning drawings for a boundary that needs permission, and lawful development certificate drawings for one that does not. For the general rules on back and side fences, read our guide to planning permission for a fence or wall, and for the full set a householder application needs, the drawings for a householder planning application.