Prior approval in Enfield: where a decision can go either way, the drawings count
Enfield's decided cases are close to a coin toss: across the eight quarters to 2026 Q2 the council granted 70 larger home extensions and refused 63, with 496 more recorded as prior approval not required. When the outcome is open, how clearly the set is drawn matters. We draw it for a fixed £595, survey included.
Fixed fee from £395 drawings + £200 survey (£595 total) · all prices
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What Enfield's decisions look like
MHCLG's statistics for the eight quarters from 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 record 496 Enfield notifications as prior approval not required, 70 granted and 63 refused.
The first group is a go-ahead and the largest. In the other group, the 133 that needed a decision, 63 were refused: about 47% by our calculation, so roughly half went each way. That is a count of this borough's past cases, not a forecast for your house.
Prior Approval Extension Enfield
from £595
£395 drawings + £200 survey (£595 total)
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 measured survey visit to the house and garden
- Site plan showing the extension and its boundaries
- Existing and proposed ground floor plan and rear elevation
- Depth, maximum height and eaves height written out for the council
- The list of adjoining addresses the council must notify
- Submission as your agent, with replies to the council's questions
- Survey and constraints
Measure the house and check conservation and Article 4 limits.
- Draw for the reader
Depths and heights are shown where a neighbour will look.
- Notify the council
We send the set with the council's £249 fee.
- Neighbours comment
At least 21 days for adjoining owners and occupiers.
- Decision by day 42
Not required, granted, or refused.
Why the drawing carries weight here
Where the council has granted nearly as many as it refused, the set in front of it is more likely to matter. The council tests one thing, the effect on adjoining homes. A neighbour reading a clear elevation sees the real height at the boundary. A neighbour reading a vague one imagines more.
So we put the depth along each boundary, the eaves height and the maximum height in the written description, as the order requires, and draw the wall nearest each neighbour as it will stand.
MHCLG's statistics for the eight quarters from 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 record 496 Enfield notifications as prior approval not required, 70 granted and 63 refused.
Conservation areas and Article 4 in Enfield
The Planning Data Platform lists 24 live conservation areas in Enfield, and the 6 m and 8 m depths do not apply inside one. It also lists 33 Article 4 direction areas across all classes of development.
That 33 does not tell us how many remove extension rights, only a direction covering Class A would. We read the one for your address on the survey day.
Limits and the next step
The scheme allows 6 m behind the original rear wall (8 m for a detached house) and no more than 4 m in height, with 42 days for the council to decide. See our prior approval service page for the full rules. If your scheme does not qualify, the survey supports a householder application.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 6 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(g): larger single-storey rear extension, maximum depth beyond the rear wall for a house other than detached, subject to prior approval under A.4 (source wording: "6 metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 8 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(g): larger single-storey rear extension, maximum depth beyond the rear wall for a detached house (source wording: "8 metres") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 4 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(f)-(g): a single-storey rear extension may not exceed 4 metres in height (source wording: "exceed 4 metres in height") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 42 days | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.4(10)(c): work may start if the council has not notified a decision within 42 days of receiving the information (source wording: "the expiry of 42 days") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £249 | Statutory fee from 1 April 2026: prior approval for a householder larger rear extension (GPDO Part 1 Class A) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 496 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 70 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 63 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 24 | Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area register (extracted 19 Oct 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 33 | Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform article-4-direction-area register (extracted 19 Oct 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
How many Enfield notifications were granted and refused?
What does prior approval not required mean?
Can I extend 6 m in an Enfield conservation area?
Do Enfield's 33 Article 4 areas stop extensions?
What is the council's fee?
Photographs: David Howard (CC BY-SA 2.0); David Hawgood (CC BY-SA 2.0).
