Planning statements for London applications
A planning statement is the written case for your scheme: which policies apply, how the proposal meets them and what you have done about any risk the council is likely to see. Depending on the scheme and the borough, a council can ask for one before it will register an application. We write it, tied to your drawings, for a fixed £315.
Fixed fee from £315 · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
Do you need one?
Not every application does. The national policy on preparing development proposals (policy DM1 of the August 2026 Framework) says proposals for major development should be accompanied by a concise planning statement. For other development it says proposals should be supported by the minimum necessary information requirements to enable a decision.
In between sits your council's local validation list. The Framework says local lists should only include additional information requirements if there is a policy in the development plan requiring a specific further assessment, and that such requirements should be proportionate to the scale of development. So the answer depends on the borough and the job, which is why we look at the list before quoting.
Planning Statements
from £315
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 description of the site, its planning history and the proposal
- The development plan and national policies that apply to this site, picked by what the council will actually test
- A reasoned case, policy by policy, that the scheme complies or why it does not need to
- How any pre-application advice was taken into account, where you have had it
- Any planning obligations, if the scheme needs them
- A PDF written to be read by a planning officer in a few minutes, tied to your drawings
- Check what is required
Your council's local validation list, and whether the scheme needs a statement at all.
- Find the policies
The London Plan, your borough's local plan, any design guide, and national policy.
- Test the scheme
Each policy tested against the drawings, with the weak points identified early.
- Write the case
Short, reasoned and in the order a planning officer works through an application.
- Check against the drawings
Every figure and claim matches the submitted plans before the PDF is issued.
What counts as major development
The Development Management Procedure Order defines it. For housing, it is the provision of dwellinghouses where the number to be provided is 10 or more, or, where the number is not known, a site of 0.5 hectares or more. For other buildings it is where the floor space to be created is 1,000 square metres or more, and any development on a site of 1 hectare or more counts as well.
Our typical job is far below that: one home, a house converted to flats or a change of use. For those the question is not the national rule but what the borough lists, and what a planning officer will need to see to reach a decision.
Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
What goes in it
For major development the Framework says the planning statement sets out how the proposal is consistent with relevant development plan and national decision-making policies, the outcome of pre-application engagement and the extent to which the proposal has changed in response, and the proposed use of any planning obligations. A statement for a smaller scheme is shorter, but the first of those three is the heart of it, so the structure is the same.
Ours starts with the proposal, then goes through the policies the officer will test, one heading each: land use, design and character, neighbour amenity, living standards, parking and any flood, heritage or tree issue the site raises. Each section says what the policy asks, what the scheme does and where in the drawings the reader can check it.
Why the argument is about the plan
The law tells the council how to decide. Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In London, the plan is the London Plan together with the borough's local plan. A good statement shows that the scheme sits inside those policies, and where it does not, names the material considerations that justify it.
Writing it honestly matters. If a policy is against the scheme we say so and explain what outweighs it, because an officer who finds an unmentioned conflict trusts the rest of the document less.
How it fits with the other documents
The planning statement is one of several reports that can accompany an application. A design and access statement explains the design and how people reach the building; a heritage statement deals with listed buildings and conservation areas; flood, drainage and tree reports answer specific questions. We write the planning statement last, so it can refer to each of them and the application reads as one case.
If you only need drawings, our planning permission service covers the full application. The statement can be bought on its own when you already have drawings, or when the council has asked for one after you have applied.
Fee and what happens next
The fixed fee is £315, the total you pay, for a scheme of up to a handful of homes, a conversion or a change of use. It is a written document, so there is no survey visit. A scheme that is large enough to need a specialist, such as a viability or town-centre assessment, is quoted separately and we say so at the start.
Send the address, a line on what you want to build and the council's wording if it has asked for a statement. We confirm whether one is required, and if it is not, you pay nothing.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| concise planning statement | NPPF August 2026, policy DM1(1)(b) (source wording: proposals for major development should "Be accompanied by a concise planning statement") | www.gov.uk |
| minimum necessary information requirements to enable a decision | NPPF August 2026, policy DM1(2) (source wording: "Proposals for other types of development should be supported by the minimum necessary information requirements to enable a decision") | www.gov.uk |
| only include additional information requirements if there is a policy in the development plan requiring a specific further assessment | NPPF August 2026, policy DM2(2) (source wording: "Local validation lists should only include additional information requirements if there is a policy in the development plan requiring a specific further assessment. Any such additional information requirements should not be applied equally to all applications but should be proportionate to the scale of development and its potential impact") | www.gov.uk |
| three things | NPPF August 2026, policy DM1(1)(b)(i) to (iii): a concise planning statement sets out how the proposal is consistent with relevant development plan and national decision-making policies; the outcome of pre-application engagement and the extent to which the proposal has changed in response; and the proposed use of any planning obligations (three items) | www.gov.uk |
| 10 or more | DMPO 2015 art 2(1), "major development" (source wording: "the number of dwellinghouses to be provided is 10 or more") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 0.5 hectares or more | DMPO 2015 art 2(1), "major development" (source wording: where it is not known whether the dwellings are 10 or more, "the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares or more"; any development on "a site having an area of 1 hectare or more") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 1,000 square metres or more | DMPO 2015 art 2(1), "major development" (source wording: "the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise | Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 s38(6) (source wording: "the determination must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise"); the page lists amendments not yet in force, so recheck | www.legislation.gov.uk |
The full guide lives on our sister site
We still prepare this for a fixed £315. The detailed guide to it is on fixedfeeplans.co.uk, part of the same practice.