Lambeth planning guide: what the Local List asks for and the report that answers it
Lambeth calls its validation list the Local List, and the current edition is the Local Information Requirements 2024, issued in December 2024. It is written for every kind of application, so most of its rows will never touch a house. This guide picks out the ones that do: drawing rules, basements, flood risk, heritage, daylight and construction, with the report behind each. If you are unsure where your address stands, a planning constraints report for £19 shows the conservation area, listing and flood position first.
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The Local Plan 2021 and two policies that decide household schemes
Lambeth's development plan is the Lambeth Local Plan 2021, which the council says was adopted on 22 September 2021 and replaced the 2015 plan. For a house, two policies carry most of the weight. Policy Q27 covers basements. Policy Q22 covers conservation areas. Our Lambeth planning permission page covers drawings for applications in the borough.
Policy Q27 is the one that surprises people. In the plan's words, basement accommodation beneath existing residential buildings should “not result in any more than one storey of basement accommodation below ground level” and should “not create basement accommodation beneath existing basements or semi-basements”. A full basement that reaches beyond the house is supported only where it “is limited to the rear”. So a two-level dig, or one under the front garden, is a policy problem before it is a drawing problem.
Policy Q22 says development in a conservation area will be permitted where it preserves or enhances character or appearance by “respecting and reinforcing the established, positive characteristics of the area in terms of the building line, siting, design, height, forms, materials joinery, window detailing etc”. That list is a fair brief for what the elevations and the design statement need to show.
Lambeth Council Planning Guide
from £19
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
- The Local List rows that bite on householder work, in plain words
- Lambeth's Local Plan 2021 basement and conservation area policies, quoted
- Lambeth's own list of ten reasons an application is turned away as invalid
- Which reports your project triggers, each linked to its fixed-fee page
- Links to Lambeth's planning register, Local List, Local Plan and building control
- A planning constraints report for your address from £19, no VAT
- Look up the address
Conservation area, listing and flood zone decide most of which extra reports Lambeth wants.
- Draw to the rows
Elevations, sections and roof plans each have their own Local List row and scale rules.
- Add the triggered reports
Basement, flood, heritage, daylight and construction reports follow from the address and the scheme.
- Check the invalid list
Lambeth publishes ten common mistakes. Matching drawings and a CIL form head the list.
How drawings are checked against the Local List
Lambeth's Local Information Requirements 2024 give elevations, floor plans, cross sections and roof plans a numbered row each, all to be drawn to metric scale with a linear scale bar. Where a new elevation sits next to another building, the drawings “should clearly show the relationship between the buildings and detail the positions of the window and door openings on each property”. Cross sections should be “long and short”, through both the existing and proposed building.
Demolition has a precise trigger. Where there is substantial demolition, the list asks for the areas to be demolished to be hatched in red. It generally defines substantial demolition as over 50% of the external fabric of a non-listed building.
The council also publishes its own page of ten common reasons an application is invalid. Three of them are drawing mistakes: drawings not labelled clearly, plan, elevation and section drawings that do not match each other, and drawings not at a recognised scale. This is the check we run before a set goes in, using our planning drawings and house extension drawings as the base, with the Lambeth house extension page for the borough version.
The national Planning Data register lists 65 conservation areas for Lambeth.
Flood zones, basements and what they trigger
Row 34 of the Local List requires a site-specific flood risk assessment for all development in Flood Zone 2, Flood Zone 3a and Flood Zone 3b. The Lambeth Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and the Policies Map show where those zones sit. The row adds triggers in Flood Zone 1 for large sites and for sites with a critical drainage problem, so an ordinary house outside the zones is not usually caught.
Basements have their own row. Row 14 asks for a Basement Impact Assessment on all basement development, new or an extension, that provides extra floorspace below ground, covering flooding, ground water, surface runoff and structural stability. The council backs this with its Design Guide Part 5 on basements, which explains that Policy Q27 F limits residential basement accommodation to one floor below ground.
The first move is the address. A planning constraints report shows the flood zone, and the flood risk assessment page explains what the assessment holds. A basement feasibility visit tests whether the dig is realistic before the Basement Impact Assessment is commissioned.
Conservation areas, listed buildings and Article 4
The national Planning Data register lists 65 conservation areas for Lambeth. A register count describes what is recorded, not the whole picture, so check your own street. Article 4 directions, which withdraw permitted development rights, can turn small work into an application, so check both.
Row 69 of the Local List asks for a Statement of Heritage Significance for any application that has the potential to affect a designated or non-designated heritage asset or its setting. Conservation areas and statutory listed buildings are designated; locally listed buildings and archaeological priority areas are not. The level of detail should be “proportionate to the asset's importance”, and it should include an assessment of significance and an assessment of impact.
A Design and Access Statement is required in a conservation area where the scheme creates one or more dwellings or 100 sq m or more of floorspace, and for every listed building consent. Our heritage statement and design and access statement are written to those rows, and our listed building consent drawings cover listed work.
Daylight and sunlight
Row 22 asks for a daylight and sunlight assessment where development “has potential to cause adverse impacts upon the current levels of sunlight/daylight enjoyed by adjoining properties”, including their gardens. The report must follow the Building Research Establishment guide “Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight: A guide to good practice” (2022).
The trigger is potential harm, not a floor-area threshold. A deep rear addition next to a neighbour's kitchen window can reach it; a modest one on a wide plot may not. If yours could, our daylight and sunlight report is prepared by a specialist we coordinate.
Building control in Lambeth
Planning permission and building regulations are separate approvals. Lambeth's building control application page takes both full plans and building notice applications, charges a fee on submission, and says that within three working days it will confirm whether it can process the application.
Our building regulations reports guide sorts the drawings, comments answered, the drawing check and regularisation, and the building regulations drawings page covers the set that goes to building control.
Party wall, trees and the construction plan
Lambeth is full of terraces, so the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 often applies before work starts. It is national law, separate from planning, and covers work on or near a shared wall and excavation beside a neighbour. Our party wall services guide explains the notices.
Two more Local List rows catch householders. Row 21 asks for a draft Construction Management Plan on major development and on minor schemes, including basements, likely to disturb neighbours or obstruct the highway; see our construction management plan page. Row 78 asks for a tree survey where trees on the site or next door may be affected, to BS 5837:2012, which is what a tree survey for planning provides.
Row 7 asks for a completed Community Infrastructure Levy additional information form with every application. Our CIL form preparation covers it.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| December 2024 | Lambeth Local Information Requirements (the Local List) 2024, 1.2: the revised list was consulted on for 8 weeks between 30 October 2023 and 24 December 2023 and (source wording: "issued in December 2024") | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| 22 September 2021 | Lambeth Council, Lambeth Local Plan 2021 page: (source wording: "The Lambeth Local Plan 2021 was adopted on 22 September 2021"); it forms the statutory development plan for the borough and replaced the 2015 plan | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| one storey | Lambeth Local Plan 2021, Policy Q27 F: beneath existing residential buildings basement accommodation should (source wording: "not result in any more than one storey of basement accommodation below ground level"); Policy Q27 G supports full basement extensions beyond the footprint only where the proposal (source wording: "is limited to the rear") | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| over 50% | Lambeth Local List 2024, rows 2 and 4: for substantial demolition the areas to be demolished are shown (source wording: "hatched in red") on plans and elevations; (source wording: "'Substantial demolition' is generally defined as over 50% of external fabric in a non-listed building") | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| Flood Zones 2, 3a and 3b | Lambeth Local List 2024, row 34 Flood Risk Assessment: a site-specific flood risk assessment must be submitted for (source wording: "All development proposals in Flood Zone 2 (medium probability of flooding), Flood Zone 3a (high probability of flooding) and Flood Zone 3b") | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| 65 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (extracted 19 Oct 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 2022 | Lambeth Local List 2024, row 22 Daylight and Sunlight Assessment: prepared in line with the BRE (source wording: "Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight: A guide to good practice" (2022)), where development has potential to cause adverse impacts upon current levels of daylight enjoyed by adjoining properties | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| 100 sq m | Lambeth Local List 2024, row 6 Design and Access Statements: required in a designated area such as a conservation area where the development consists of one or more dwellings or (source wording: "a floor space of 100 sqm or more"), and for listed building consent applications | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| all basement development | Lambeth Local List 2024, row 14 Basement Impact Assessment: required for (source wording: "All applications for basement development (whether new build or extension to an existing building), which provide extra floorspace below ground") | www.lambeth.gov.uk |
| ten | Lambeth Council, 10 common reasons an application is invalid: the page lists ten reasons, including (source wording: "Plan, elevation and/or section drawings which do not match each other") and (source wording: "Drawings not drawn to a recognised scale") | www.lambeth.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. |
| Flood risk assessments | £395 | For sites in Flood Zones 2 and 3 and basements where Lambeth asks for one Written up on fixedfeeplans.co.uk. |
| Heritage statements | £595 | Significance and impact for conservation areas and listed buildings Written up on fixedfeeplans.co.uk. |
| Basement conversion feasibility | £495 drawings + £200 survey (£695 total) | A visit and report before drawings, against Policy Q27's limits |
| Design and access statements | £245 | Needed for new dwellings or 100 sq m in a conservation area Written up on fixedfeeplans.co.uk. |
| Daylight and sunlight reports | £895 | The BRE assessment where a scheme may reduce neighbours' light Written up on www.propertyarchitecture.co.uk. |
| Construction management plans | £575 | The draft plan Lambeth asks for on basements and disruptive builds Written up on www.drawings4planning.co.uk. |
| Tree surveys for planning | £445 | BS 5837 survey where trees on or beside the site could be affected Written up on www.propertyarchitecture.co.uk. |
| 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 excavation |
Questions people ask
Can I build a two-storey basement in Lambeth?
Do I need a flood risk assessment for an extension in Lambeth?
Why do Lambeth applications get turned away as invalid?
Does a loft conversion in Lambeth need a heritage statement?
Do I need to tell my neighbour about work on a shared wall?
Photographs: Chris Whippet (CC BY-SA 2.0).
