Fire safety statements for London planning applications
London Plan policy D12 says every development must reach the highest standards of fire safety, and a council can ask you to show it. We write a short fire safety statement from your drawings for a fixed £135, and tell you at the start if your scheme needs an independent fire engineer instead.
Fixed fee from £135 · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
What policy D12 actually asks for
Part A of policy D12 in the London Plan 2021 is written for all development proposals, large or small: they "must achieve the highest standards of fire safety". It then lists what a scheme has to show. One item is to identify suitably positioned unobstructed outside space, both for fire appliances to stand on and for use as an evacuation assembly point. Others are escape routes with an evacuation strategy, features that reduce risk to life such as alarms, and construction that limits fire spread.
That list is the skeleton of our statement. Each point gets a short, plain answer tied to your own drawings, so the planning officer can tick it off without chasing you.
Fire Safety Statements
from £135
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 written fire safety statement set against each part of policy D12(A)
- Where fire appliances can stand and where people gather, marked on a site plan
- Means of escape and the alarm approach described for your layout
- A short note on how the building limits the spread of fire
- A plain answer on whether your scheme needs a third-party fire engineer
- The statement as a PDF for the planning application
- Check what is asked
We read your council's validation list and the scale of the scheme to see which fire document applies.
- Mark the outside space
Fire appliance position and an assembly point, shown on your site plan.
- Describe escape and alarms
How people leave from each floor, and how they are warned, taken from your plans.
- Address fire spread
Construction, compartments and materials in plain words, tied to the drawings.
- Issue the statement
A PDF ready to upload with your application.
When it is a major scheme, and why that changes the answer
Part B of policy D12 goes further. It says all major development proposals should be submitted with a Fire Statement, which is an independent fire strategy produced by a third party, suitably qualified assessor. In planning law, a scheme of 10 or more dwellings counts as major development under article 2 of the Development Management Procedure Order.
So a house, an extension or a small block of flats is below that line, and a short statement is a proportionate answer to part A. A scheme of 10 or more homes needs an independent assessor, and a statement from us would not meet part B. If that is you, we say so before you pay, and our fire strategy plans page explains when a fire engineer is brought in.
The London Plan itself says fire safety compliance is covered by Part B of the Building Regulations.
The separate national fire statement for tall buildings
Do not confuse the London Plan statement with the national one. Under article 9A of the same Order, an application for a relevant building must carry a fire statement. A relevant building is one with two or more dwellings (or educational accommodation) that is 18 metres or more in height, or has 7 or more storeys.
A house or a loft conversion sits well under both measures. If your building meets either, it needs the national statement and a fire engineer, and this page is not the right product.
Showing fire appliance space on the site plan
The London Plan's supporting text asks applicants to demonstrate on a site plan that space has been identified for the appropriate positioning of fire appliances, and to keep that space clear of obstructions and conflicting uses. On a terraced street this is often the road itself, and we say so. On a backland or mews site it can decide whether the layout works at all.
We mark the space and the assembly point on your site plan, using the drawings you already have. If you do not have a site plan yet, our planning permission drawings cover it.
What it is not: Building Regulations
The London Plan itself says fire safety compliance is covered by Part B of the Building Regulations. The planning statement shows the council that fire has been thought about at the start. It does not replace the detailed fire design that building control checks later.
If your scheme also needs Part B detail, for a loft, a flat conversion or an HMO, the fire strategy plans set that out on a drawing against Approved Document B.
Fee and what you send
The fixed fee is £135, the total you pay, with no VAT charged and no survey visit. Send your drawings, the address and what you are building. If your scheme is major or meets the tall-building test, we tell you, and you pay nothing for a statement the council would not accept.
We do not promise that a statement settles the council's view. It answers the fire points the council is asking about, and the decision stays with the council.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| all development proposals | London Plan 2021 Policy D12 part A (p147): (source wording: "all development proposals must achieve the highest standards of fire safety") | www.london.gov.uk |
| unobstructed outside space | London Plan 2021 Policy D12 A(1): (source wording: "identify suitably positioned unobstructed outside space: a) for fire appliances to be positioned on b) appropriate for use as an evacuation assembly point") | www.london.gov.uk |
| third party, suitably qualified assessor | London Plan 2021 Policy D12 part B (p148): (source wording: "All major development proposals should be submitted with a Fire Statement, which is an independent fire strategy, produced by a third party, suitably qualified assessor") | www.london.gov.uk |
| Part B of the Building Regulations | London Plan 2021 Policy D12 supporting text: (source wording: "The matter of fire safety compliance is covered by Part B of the Building Regulations") | www.london.gov.uk |
| on a site plan | London Plan 2021 Policy D12 supporting text: (source wording: "Applicants should demonstrate on a site plan that space has been identified for the appropriate positioning of fire appliances") | www.london.gov.uk |
| 10 or more | DMPO 2015 art 2(1) "major development": (source wording: "the provision of dwellinghouses where ... the number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 10 or more") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 18 metres or more in height | DMPO 2015 art 9A(2)-(3): relevant building with two or more dwellings (source wording: "18 metres or more in height; or ... 7 or more storeys") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
The full guide lives on our sister site
We still prepare this for a fixed £135. The detailed guide to it is on fixedfeeplans.co.uk, part of the same practice.
Questions people ask
Does my house extension need a fire safety statement?
What is the difference between this and a fire strategy plan?
Can you write the independent statement for a major scheme?
When is the national fire statement needed?
Is a survey visit included?
Photographs: Tim Green from Bradford (CC BY 2.0).
.jpg){kind=link}