Drawings for planning permission in the City of London
Drawings for planning permission in the City of London follow the same national rules as the rest of the capital, but the Square Mile decided just 1 householder application in the four quarters to 2026 Q2, against 477 decisions of every kind. DrawingsDirect draws for homes there from a fixed fee starting from £745.
Fixed fee from £545 drawings + £200 survey (£745 total) · all prices
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A planning authority that mostly decides other things
The City of London Corporation is the planning authority for the Square Mile, and almost everything it decides is not a house. Our analysis of the government's planning application statistics, table PS2, counts 477 decisions across all application types in the four quarters to 2026 Q2. Only 1 of them was a householder application.
For a homeowner that has two practical meanings. There is no useful local grant rate to quote, and a flat or a rare house here is judged one case at a time. We would rather say that plainly than borrow a percentage from a bigger borough.
Heritage is where the care goes
By our analysis of the Planning Data Platform, there are 28 conservation-area entries on the national register for the City of London. The register is an index, not a boundary survey, so check your address on the council's own conservation area map before you decide how to proceed. If the building is also listed, that is a separate consent and a separate conversation.
National guidance says a Design and Access Statement is required for major development, some development in conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, and listed building consent applications. Our fixed fee for householder planning drawings includes a design statement, so it travels with the drawings when one is needed. Our guide to what a design and access statement is explains the content.
The council's own fee for a householder application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse is £548 from 1 April 2026.
What appeals have shown across the City
If an application is refused, the applicant can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. Across all types of application, 30% of the City's appeals decided between 2021 and 2026 were allowed, according to our analysis of the Inspectorate's casework database. Treat it as a record of past cases, not a forecast.
Costs and timing
Our starting fee is £745 and covers the survey, the drawings, the design statement and the submission. The council's own fee for a householder application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse is £548 from 1 April 2026. The statutory period for deciding a non-major application is 8 weeks from the day after receipt.
Full prices are on the pricing page. If you are comparing routes, how to get planning permission in London, step by step is a good place to begin, and the wider service is described on planning permission in London. For an overview of the set we draw, see planning drawings in London.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £745 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for householder planning drawings (survey, drawings, design statement, submission), from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| £548 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed), category 6(1): householder application for the enlargement, improvement or alteration of a single dwellinghouse (source wording: £548) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| Design and Access Statement | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 030: a Design and Access Statement is required for major development, some development in conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, and listed building consent applications | www.gov.uk |
| 1 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 28 | 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 |
| 477 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 30% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 8 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(b): decision period for an application that is not major development (source wording: "8 weeks beginning with the day immediately following that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |