Lawful development certificate drawings in Southwark
DrawingsDirect prepares lawful development certificate drawings for Southwark homes from £645, and the first step is to check your designation: the national register lists 56 conservation-area entries for the borough, and a designation can stop work being permitted development. The council's fee for a householder proposal is £274.
Fixed fee from £445 drawings + £200 survey (£645 total) · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
Start with the map: 56 conservation-area entries
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) counts 56 live conservation-area entries on the national register for Southwark. The register may be incomplete and is not the council's own total, so look up your address on Southwark's conservation area map first.
Some permitted development rights are cut back on conservation-area land, and an Article 4 direction can remove a right altogether. A certificate confirms lawfulness; it cannot create a right the designation takes away. Our guides on Article 4 directions and conservation area extension rules explain the tests.
If your home is outside a designation
Then the question is the measurements. For a single-storey rear extension on a house that is not detached, the permitted depth is 3 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house (GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A.1(f)(i)). The drawings must show that wall, the proposed depth and the heights, to an identified scale, as planning practice guidance requires.
Where no reliable drawings of the house exist, a measured building survey in Southwark gives the certificate drawings an accurate base. The rules are on legislation.gov.uk.
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 72 householder appeals decided for Southwark, allowed or dismissed, for decisions 2021 to 2026, and finds 31% were allowed.
What Southwark decided
Over the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2 Southwark decided 558 householder applications, including prior approvals, and granted 95% of them. Excluding prior approvals, 97% of its householder decisions were made within 8 weeks (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2).
In the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 it decided 418 certificates of lawful development (our analysis of table PS1). If a certificate is not available for your project, the planning permission page for Southwark covers the full application.
Appeal record
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 72 householder appeals decided for Southwark, allowed or dismissed, for decisions 2021 to 2026, and finds 31% were allowed.
Most householder appeals here were dismissed, which is a reason to submit careful drawings the first time. It is a history of householder cases, not a forecast for a certificate.
What it costs, and related work
Our fixed fee for the drawings and the certificate submission starts at £645; see the pricing page. Southwark's fee for a proposed-use or proposed-operation certificate is set at half the full application fee, which is £274 (half of £548) for a householder project from 1 April 2026. Changes the council asks for are redrawn free.
Once the work is lawful it still needs building control, so look at our Building Regulations drawings in Southwark. Our lawful development certificate drawings service lists what is included.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £645 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for Lawful Development Certificate drawings and certificate submission, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| £274 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed): certificate of lawful development for a proposed use or operation is half the full application fee; for a householder project that is half of £548 (source wording: "Half the Full Application fee"; the £274 is our arithmetic) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 3 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(f)(i): a single-storey rear extension may extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by up to 3 metres, house other than detached (source wording: 3 metres) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 558 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 95% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 97% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 72 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 31% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 56 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 418 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| identified scale | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 023: plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and plans must show the direction of north (source wording: "must be drawn to an identified scale") | www.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
Can I get a certificate if I live in a Southwark conservation area?
How many conservation-area entries does Southwark have?
What does the council charge for a certificate in Southwark?
Photographs: Fernweh (CC BY-SA 2.0).
