Ealing Council planning guide: drawing to SPD 4 when there is no local validation list
Most London councils publish a long local list of documents a householder must submit. Ealing's validation pages do not: they point to the national requirements, a design and access statement and the Community Infrastructure Levy form. What Ealing does publish is SPD 4 on residential extensions, kept as interim guidance, and that is where its depth, set-back and dormer rules sit. This guide turns SPD 4 into a drawing checklist and names the report for each trigger. Start with a planning constraints report for your address, £19.
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What Ealing's validation pages ask for
Ealing’s Applying for planning permission page lists supporting documents under three heads: the national requirements, design and access statements and the Community Infrastructure Levy. It adds that “your application will not be made valid until all the required documents are submitted”. We found no householder local list on the council’s planning pages, so treat the national requirements as the floor and ask the duty planner if a point is unclear.
The validation page says the council aims to validate within 5-10 working days. An invalid application gets a letter giving the reasons, and if the council hears nothing after 28 days it returns the application and charges a £45 administration fee. Our Ealing planning permission page covers drawings for applications in the borough.
Ealing Council Planning Guide
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Every price is the full fixed fee you pay. No VAT is charged. Council application fees are paid to the council separately.
What you get
- A plain reading of Ealing's validation pages and its SPD 4 on residential extensions
- The depth, set-back and dormer rules in SPD 4, with the figures it gives
- Where Ealing's development plan stands and what to check before you submit
- Which reports your address triggers, each linked to its own fixed-fee page
- A planning constraints report for your address from £19
- Fixed fees shown before you ask, and no VAT charged
- Check the address
Conservation area, listing and Article 4 decide whether SPD 4's stricter rules and extra statements apply.
- Measure against SPD 4
Rear depth, side set-backs and dormer positions are all given as distances you can check on the drawing.
- Annotate the set
Label materials on elevations and room uses on plans, as SPD 4 asks.
- Add the triggered extras
A heritage statement, tree survey or basement method statement is added only where your property needs it.
Where Ealing's development plan stands
Ealing’s New Local Plan page says the final draft was submitted to the government on 18 November 2024 and that an independent Inspector is examining it. As it stands, the page lists no adopted policies, so confirm on the day whether the plan has since been adopted before you quote it.
Until then the council’s own supplementary planning page says the Development Sites and Development Management documents adopted on 10 December 2013 replaced the older plan’s remaining saved policies. Some older guidance was kept alive as informal interim guidance, and the next section is the one that matters to a householder.
SPD 4 says dormer windows will usually be acceptable on rear slopes and only very rarely on the front or side, and should sit at least 0.5m down from the ridge, at least 0.5m from the sides and at least 0.5m above the eaves.
SPD 4: the depth and set-back rules
The interim guidance list includes SPD 4, Residential extensions. The document itself still refers to the 2004 Plan for the Environment, so use it as a statement of how officers think rather than as current policy. It gives distances you can put straight onto a drawing.
For rear extensions, “a single-storey extension with a maximum depth of 3 metres and a maximum height of 3 metres will be acceptable” where the house has not been extended before and is aligned with its neighbour; a detached house, or one well separated from its neighbour, may go further. Two-storey rear extensions are called contentious and should be set back from shared boundaries.
For side extensions the front wall should be set back at least one metre at first floor and above, and in conservation areas at ground floor too. The extension should be set in at least one metre from the side boundary at first floor, to avoid a terracing effect. Two-storey side extensions are “not encouraged”, and the ridge should sit at least 0.5m below the main ridge. Our house extension drawings and rear extension drawings are set out to these figures.
Lofts and dormers
SPD 4 says dormer windows will usually be acceptable on rear slopes and only very rarely on the front or side, and should sit at least 0.5m down from the ridge, at least 0.5m from the sides and at least 0.5m above the eaves. It adds that mansard extensions that change the roof slope will not usually be acceptable, and that the ridge should not be raised for headroom.
In conservation areas it asks for traditional dormer designs in size, detailing and materials. Our dormer loft conversion drawings are set out to these distances from the start.
Conservation areas, trees and Article 4
SPD 4 says that where a home is in a conservation area or is listed, a supporting statement may be appropriate to explain the design, and that wrap-around extensions are discouraged and will usually be refused in conservation areas. It also warns that the council may have removed permitted development rights with an Article 4 direction. Our heritage statement covers the supporting document, and a planning constraints report shows whether your address is affected.
The council’s interim guidance list also keeps SPG 9, Trees and development guidelines, and the SPD 4 site layout plan should show trees on the site and next door. If a tree stands near your extension, a tree survey for planning settles the question before drawings.
Basements
SPD 4 treats a basement as any other extension, judged on the design of the original house and its effect on neighbours and the structure. It says you need Building Regulations approval for the excavation, and that if permission is granted Ealing will require a method statement on structural and construction matters. The guide also says proposals in conservation areas will be resisted where they harm character or appearance.
The interim guidance list names no separate basements document. A basement feasibility visit comes before drawings.
Building control and party wall
Ealing’s building control forms and charges page says a full plans decision notice is issued within five weeks, extendable to two months if agreed. A building notice suits only small domestic work and cannot be used over or within 3.0m of a public sewer. Regularisation is only an option for unauthorised work carried out after 11 November 1985. Our building regulations reports guide sorts the routes.
A shared wall brings in the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which runs alongside planning. Our party wall services guide explains the notices.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 5-10 working days | Ealing Council, Validation page: (source wording: "We aim to validate your application within 5-10 working days.") | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 28 days | Ealing Council, Validation page: (source wording: "If we do not hear from you after 28 days, your application will be returned"), with a £45 administration fee | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| £45 | Ealing Council, Validation page: administration fee charged when an unanswered invalid application is returned after 28 days | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 18 November 2024 | Ealing Council, New Local Plan page: (source wording: "The final draft New Local Plan was submitted to the government on 18 November 2024.") and the plan is under examination by an independent Inspector | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 10 December 2013 | Ealing Council, Supplementary planning guidance and documents page: the Development Sites and Development Management DPDs were adopted on 10 December 2013 and superseded the remaining saved policies of the earlier plan | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 3 metres | Ealing SPD 4 Residential Extensions, 5.0 Rear Extensions: (source wording: "a single-storey extension with a maximum depth of 3 metres and a maximum height of 3 metres will be acceptable") | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| one metre | Ealing SPD 4 Residential Extensions, 4.0 Side Extensions: (source wording: "Side extensions should be set in at least one metre from the side boundary at first floor level.") | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 0.5m | Ealing SPD 4 Residential Extensions, 6.0 Roof Extensions: dormer windows should be located at least 0.5m down from the ridge, at least 0.5m from the edges of the roof and at least 0.5m above the eaves | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| five weeks | Ealing Council, building control application forms and charges page: (source wording: "A formal decision notice will be issued (approval, conditional approval or rejection) within five weeks") | www.ealing.gov.uk |
| 11 November 1985 | Ealing Council, building control application forms and charges page: (source wording: "Regularisation is only an option if the unauthorised works were carried out after 11 November 1985.") | www.ealing.gov.uk |
Every report on this page, with its fixed fee
| Report | Fixed fee | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Planning constraints report | £19 | Conservation area, listing, Article 4 and flood zone checked for your address Written up on fixedfeeplans.co.uk. |
| Heritage statements | £595 | A supporting statement SPD 4 suggests for conservation areas and listed buildings Written up on fixedfeeplans.co.uk. |
| Tree surveys for planning | £445 | Where trees stand on or beside the site, which Ealing's site plan must show Written up on www.propertyarchitecture.co.uk. |
| Basement conversion feasibility | £495 drawings + £200 survey (£695 total) | A visit and report before a basement that needs Ealing's method statement |
| Building regulations reports | £225 | Which building regulations report fits your project |
| Party wall services | £45 | Notices under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 for terraces and semis |
Questions people ask
Does Ealing have a local validation list for householders?
How deep can a rear extension be in Ealing?
Can I build a side extension up to the boundary in Ealing?
Is Ealing's new Local Plan adopted?
Do I need building regulations as well as planning in Ealing?
Photographs: Michael Dibb (CC BY-SA 2.0).
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