Bexley approves 91.7% of householder planning applications

How permissive is Bexley, measured against the rest of London?

Bexley approved 91.7% of the householder applications it decided in the three years to March 2026 — 2,622 of 2,859, with 237 refused. That is the third-highest householder approval rate of the 32 London boroughs for which the figure can be calculated, against a London average of 83.0%. Only 3.0% of applications were withdrawn before a decision, against 7.4% across London, which is worth reading alongside the approval rate rather than instead of it: a council that steers weak schemes into withdrawal reports a flattering approval figure, and this one does not appear to.

Source: MHCLG District Planning Application Statistics (PS1 and PS2), decisions made in the twelve quarters to March 2026, and Planning Inspectorate casework decided 2016–2026. Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 1 September 2026. A withdrawal rate this low is worth reading alongside the approval rate rather than instead of it: boroughs that steer weak applications into withdrawal report flattering approval figures, and Bexley does not appear to.

Planning in Bexley — what you need to know

Bexley approves more of what it receives than nearly any other London borough: 87.1% across all 3,938 planning decisions in three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026). That figure covers everything, not just extensions, and it holds up on the harder categories too — new-dwelling proposals were approved at 64.1%, where the London pattern is closer to half. With only 16 conservation areas and no Article 4 Direction, this is about as permissive as London planning gets.

Bexley sits on the outer south-east edge of London and its housing is remarkably uniform. Of 101,740 dwellings, 37.0% were built between 1930 and 1939 against 16.0% across the capital, and only 6.9% predate 1900 (VOA council tax stock at 31 March 2025, published via the London Datastore). More than a third of the borough is a single decade of speculative suburban building: bay-fronted semis, hipped roofs, a side passage, a garden running twenty or thirty metres back. That uniformity is why permitted development does so much of the work here, and why an argument from precedent is easy to make when it does not. The borough covers DA1, DA5 to DA8, and DA14 to DA18.

One constraint does bite in this borough, and it has nothing to do with heritage. Flood Zone 3 covers 18.42% of Bexley’s land and Flood Zone 2 covers 20.25% (Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning, retrieved 1 September 2026). The equivalent figures for Croydon are 1.46% and 2.22%. What that reflects is the Thames and Cray marshland behind Erith, Belvedere, Thamesmead and Crayford. A flood zone maps the undefended extent, ignoring the tidal walls and the Thames Barrier, so it is emphatically not a statement that a particular house floods. What it settles is procedural and unavoidable: a site in Zone 2 or 3 has to submit a Flood Risk Assessment with the application, and in the north of this borough a great many sites do. Check the address on the Environment Agency service before you budget the drawings.

With 16 designated conservation areas and no current Article 4 Directions,Bexley refused 237 of 2,859 householder applications and approved 91.7% of them (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026) — the most permissive record of any borough in this guide. The 1930s semi-detached stock that covers most of the borough was built to generous plot widths, and that geometry, more than any policy, is why so little is refused here: there is usually room for a rear extension that neither crowds a boundary nor overlooks a neighbour.

We prepare planning and building regulations drawings across every Bexley postcode. Two checks come before the survey is booked, because in this borough they are the only two that reliably change the answer: whether the address falls inside a conservation area, and whether it falls inside a flood zone. Listing is a rarer question here — Bexley holds 114 listed buildings, six of them Grade I and nine Grade II* (Historic England, via the MHCLG Planning Data Platform, retrieved 2 September 2026) — but it is worth asking on the older stock around Bexley Village and Crayford. Our technologists are MCIAT chartered.

Where do Article 4 Directions bite in Bexley?

No borough-wide Article 4 Direction operates in Bexley against ordinary householder work. Not for loft conversions, not for rear extensions, not for outbuildings. Set that beside a short list of conservation areas and most addresses in this borough are governed by the national rules and nothing else, which is uncommon in London and is the single biggest practical advantage of building here.

The statistics bear that out rather than merely restating it. Of the 282 larger householder prior approvals Bexley determined in the three years to March 2026, 213 were found not to need prior approval at all, 27 were granted and 42 refused — a refusal share of 14.9% against 24.9% pooled across London (MHCLG planning application statistics, PS1, retrieved 1 September 2026). A scheme that meets the national criteria on size, height and position will usually go through here without an argument. What we still recommend is the £274 Lawful Development Certificate. It is not a permission; it is evidence that you never needed one, and it is the document a buyer’s solicitor asks for several years later when nobody can remember who said what.

Where a conservation area does apply it applies completely, not partially. The house stands on article 2(3) land, so Class B roof enlargements leave permitted development along with side extensions and cladding, and a rear dormer needs a householder application however little of it can be seen from anywhere. Bexley’s designated areas are physically small — Old Bexley covers 20.8 hectares, Christ Church 20.4, The Green 14.5 and The Hollies 14.3 (planning.data.gov.uk conservation area register, retrieved 1 September 2026) — which is exactly why the boundary is worth checking precisely rather than approximately. A single street can be half inside and half out.

Which Bexley conservation areas affect your project?

Bexley has 16 designated conservation areas. Notable conservation areas include:

• Bexley Village
• Old Bexley
• Crayford
• Welling

Designation narrows what a Bexley householder can build without asking first. These are the restrictions that bite hardest inside a conservation area boundary:

• No cladding, stone, artificial stone, pebble dash, render, timber, plastic, or tile to any external wall without planning permission
• No side extensions under Permitted Development
• Rear extensions are limited and may require planning permission
• Dormer loft conversions facing the highway require planning permission
• Satellite dishes on front elevations or chimneys are not permitted
• Demolition of gates, walls, fences, or other boundary treatment requires planning permission

Sixteen conservation areas is among the fewest in London, and there is no borough-wide Article 4 Direction, so most Bexley addresses are governed by the national rules alone. The council served 57 contravention notices in three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026) — requests for information about suspected unauthorised work, which is a lighter instrument than an enforcement notice and a fair reflection of how this borough operates. Confirm the designation at the address; it will usually come back clear.

Popular projects in Bexley

Interwar semis dominate, from Sidcup and Welling through to Bexleyheath, with Victorian cottages in Bexley Village and Crayford and post-war estates at Thamesmead and Erith. The semis are the reason the borough's permitted development uptake is so high: a 1930s plot generally has the rear depth and the side space that the national limits assume. Where a property is on a post-war estate, the freeholder's consent is often the real constraint rather than the council's.

Two-storey extensions

A two-storey rear extension always needs planning permission, and on Bexley’s interwar semis it is usually achievable, because the plots were laid out with room between the pairs. Three tests decide it, and on this stock they resolve in a particular order. The addition has to read as subordinate to the original house. It has to be set in from the flank boundary, so that a pair of semis does not quietly become a terrace. And it must not take light or privacy from the house behind — which on gardens of twenty to thirty metres is rarely the binding constraint. In our experience it is the flank separation, not the daylight line, that decides most Bexley schemes.

Flat conversions and internal alterations

Internal work rarely needs planning permission at all. Two related changes do, and they are constantly confused with each other. Converting a house into self-contained flats takes one dwelling and makes several, and it always requires a full planning application. Converting a house into a small house in multiple occupation is a different move — Class C3 to Class C4 — and remains permitted development in Bexley, because no Article 4 direction has removed it here, though building regulations and HMO licensing still apply in full. Subdivision is the one area where this borough is not more generous than average: it approved 64.1% of its minor-dwellings applications, against 70.1% across London (MHCLG planning application statistics, twelve quarters to March 2026, retrieved 1 September 2026).

How much do planning drawings cost in Bexley?

The council charge is fixed nationally, and in a borough this permissive the more useful question is whether you need to pay it at all. Bexley agreed an extension of time on 23.8% of decisions (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026), one of the lower rates in London, so a submitted application here generally runs to the statutory clock. We set the drawing fee before the survey as one figure, around 30% under the London architect rate for identical output.

The package is a measured survey, existing and proposed plans, elevations and a site plan — the set Bexley Council needs before it will validate a householder application. Weigh the fee against what it is being spent on: the borough median sale price in 2025 was £430,000 across 2,912 recorded transactions (HM Land Registry Price Paid, retrieved September 2026). We hold the fee 30% under typical London architect rates for identical scope.

Ask for a Lawful Development Certificate covering proposed works, before anything is built: it is decided on the facts by an officer, not on the merits by a committee, and it produces a document a buyer's solicitor will accept. Bexley issued 882 of them in three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026), which for a borough this permissive is the sensible route.

Our experience in Bexley

We cover all Bexley postcodes: DA1, DA5, DA6, DA7, DA8, DA14, DA15, DA16, DA17, DA18. Whether your property is in a conservation area, affected by an Article 4 Direction, or in an unrestricted residential street, we have experience with Bexley Council and understand the borough's planning policies.

Our MCIAT chartered architectural technologists draw householder and residential schemes across Bexley, from the survey visit through to the officer closing the case. Bexley is a middle-market borough by London standards: half of the 2025 sales recorded by HM Land Registry landed between £345,000 and £525,000. That shapes the work. Most of what we draw here is a rear or side extension, or a loft, on inter-war stock — not the whole-house rebuilds that dominate our west London casework.

We also work in Bexley's neighbouring boroughs:

What are the odds of approval in Bexley?

91.7%of householder applications approved in Bexley

2,859householder decisions in three years

97.9%decided within eight weeks

882certificates of lawful development issued

Bexley grants householder applications more readily than London does. 2,859 householder decisions over the twelve quarters, 2,622 of them approvals: 91.7%, against 83.0% for the 33 boroughs pooled across the same period. Only 237 were refused. Set that against the money at risk — a 2025 borough median of £430,000, an upper quartile of £525,000 — and the arithmetic turns against the do-it-yourself submission. A refusal costs the eight weeks over again plus the resubmission, on a scheme whose whole point was to add value. The ones that fail cluster tightly: drawings that contradict each other, and a design that ignores what the rest of the street looks like.

Timing is the least of your worries here. Of the 2,415 Bexley householder decisions that count towards the statutory speed measure, 2,364 were issued inside eight weeks — 97.9%, where the 33 boroughs pooled together reach 92.5%. Treat the determination as a fixed eight weeks and put the contingency where it actually belongs: the survey, the drawings, and the revisions that happen before anything reaches the council.

Bexley determined 282 larger rear extensions through the neighbour-consultation route. On 213 of them the council decided prior approval was not required, and a further 27 were granted, so 240 — 85% — were free to build. Forty-two were refused. That refusal share, 14.9%, sits ten points under the 24.9% recorded across the 33 boroughs, so the route is a good deal safer here than the London figure suggests. What decides the unlucky 15% is still the adjoining owner, so the conversation over the fence remains worth more than anything you add to the drawings.

Bexley also recorded 882 certificates of lawful development over the same twelve quarters. A certificate is not a permission. It is the council putting in writing that no permission was ever needed — exactly the paper a buyer's conveyancer will ask for years later. The fee is £274, against £548 for a householder planning application. On a house that changed hands at the borough median of £430,000, that £274 is the cheapest piece of paper in the whole process.

Every Bexley count above is taken from MHCLG's PS1 and PS2 district planning returns, the statutory quarterly filing each English council makes. It spans thirty-six months of Bexley decisions, from the 2023-24 first quarter to the last quarter of 2025-26, dated by when the council issued the decision and not by when the file opened. Retrieved September 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Frequently asked questions