Drawings for planning permission in Lewisham
A householder planning application in Lewisham needs a set of drawings and a design statement, and DrawingsDirect prepares them from £745 with no VAT to add as a fixed fee. The council's own application fee for a householder scheme is a separate £548, set nationally and paid on top.
Fixed fee from £545 drawings + £200 survey (£745 total) · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
What you get for the fixed fee
The starting price of £745 with no VAT to add covers four things for a householder scheme: a survey of the house, the planning drawings, a design statement and the submission itself. It comes from our published price list, so you can read it before you speak to anyone.
Larger or more involved projects can cost more than the starting figure. The price list shows how, and you will see a figure in writing before any work begins.
The council fee is paid separately
Lewisham Council does not set its own charge for a householder application. The fee is fixed nationally by regulations and is updated each April. For an application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse, the current figure is £548.
We show that fee apart from ours and never fold it into a headline price. It goes to the council, and the receipt is yours.
Government statistics record 1,256 planning decisions in Lewisham across the latest four quarters published.
What the drawings need to show
A planning officer reads the drawings before anything else, so they have to be clear about what exists and what is proposed. That means plans, elevations and sections of the existing house and of the scheme, drawn to a stated scale, along with a location plan and a block plan that mark the boundary of your property.
A design statement explains the choices behind the design. National guidance says a full Design and Access Statement is required for major development, for some development in conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, and for listed building consent applications. A short design statement is still useful on an ordinary householder scheme, which is why ours is included.
Check your road before you design
Lewisham has 30 live conservation areas and 57 live Article 4 directions on the national planning data platform. A conservation area changes the rules on materials, and on some visible alterations. An Article 4 direction can take away permitted development rights that would otherwise let you build without applying.
Neither is something to discover halfway through a design. Give us your address and we check the designations first, so the drawings are prepared for the right type of application from the start.
What the published figures show
Government statistics record 1,256 planning decisions in Lewisham across the latest four quarters published. Of those, 578 were householder decisions, and 89% of the householder decisions were granted. A grant rate describes the past, not your application, and we make no promise about the result of any scheme.
On speed, 95% of householder decisions were made within 8 weeks, which is the standard decision period under the Development Management Procedure Order for an application that is not major development. Some applications are decided later by agreement, and the statistics count those separately.
If an application is refused
A refusal can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate. Its casework database shows 162 householder appeals decided for Lewisham in the most recent period it covers, and 30% of them were allowed. Across every type of appeal the allowed share is 27%.
Those numbers are a reason to put the care in before submission. A well-drawn scheme that answers the planning policies in front of the officer is the best protection against an appeal.
How to get started
Send the address, a few photographs and a short description of what you want to build. We confirm whether a planning application is the right route, and whether a lawful development certificate would serve you better, then give you the price in writing before any work starts.
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), with no VAT to add, 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 |
| 578 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 89% | 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 |
| 162 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 30% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 30 | 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 |
| 1,256 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 27% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 57 | 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 |
| 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 |
Photographs: Chris Whippet (CC BY-SA 2.0).
