Havering settles 97.9% of planning applications fast

How fast is Havering, and what does it approve?

Havering settled 97.9% of householder decisions inside eight weeks and only 0.6% ran beyond thirteen — among the tightest records in London. It approved 81.8% of 3,218 decisions and issued 1,637 lawful development certificates over the same three years. It also served 16 temporary stop notices, second only to Kensington and Chelsea.

Source: MHCLG District Planning Application Statistics (PS1 and PS2), decisions made in the twelve quarters to March 2026; conservation areas from planning.data.gov.uk, retrieved 1 September 2026; appeals from Planning Inspectorate casework decided 2016–2026. Open Government Licence v3.0. Havering issued 16 temporary stop notices in the window, the joint second highest count in London, so unauthorised work is picked up quickly here.

Planning in Havering — what you need to know

Havering combines a permissive attitude to extensions with a firm one about what happens afterwards. It issued 128 enforcement notices and 25 breach-of-condition notices in three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026), high figures for an outer borough. The breach-of-condition count is the telling one: those are served where permission was granted and its conditions then ignored, so conditions attached to a Havering consent should be read as instructions rather than formalities.

Outer east London; Metropolitan Green Belt covers north of the borough; permissive residential planning; strong PD use. The borough has a population of approximately 263,000 residents and covers postcodes RM1, RM2, RM3, RM4, RM5, RM7, RM11, RM12, RM13, RM14.

Havering is an interwar borough almost to the exclusion of anything older. At 31 March 2025, 31.9% of its 108,670 dwellings dated from the 1930s — third highest in London after Harrow and Bexley — while just 1.7% predated 1900, the second lowest share of the thirty-three (VOA council tax stock by build period, retrieved 1 September 2026). Hornchurch and Upminster are the clearest expression of it: street after street of semi-detached houses built to a handful of speculative patterns, with generous rear plots and hipped roofs. Harold Hill and much of Romford are post-war, and the Victorian fragment sits around the old town centre. For a homeowner, that uniformity is mostly good news, because a scheme that has worked three doors down has usually worked on the same house.

With 15 designated conservation areas and no current Article 4 Directions,Havering decided 97.9% of its householder applications inside eight weeks with just 0.6% running past thirteen, across 3,218 decisions (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026) — one of the fastest and highest-volume records in London. The Metropolitan Green Belt covers the north of the borough beyond Harold Hill and Upminster, and that is where the planning environment changes sharply: openness policy applies to outbuildings and extensions in a way it does not in Hornchurch or Romford.

Architectural Drawings London works across every RM and part-Essex postcode inside the borough, producing planning sets and building regulations drawings. Our chartered technologists know how Havering's officers read the Local Plan, which precedents they cite, and where the borough's design guidance is stricter than the national baseline.

Are there Article 4 Directions in Havering?

No. Havering has made no borough-wide Article 4 direction over householder work, so the national permitted development rights for lofts, rear extensions and outbuildings survive across most of the borough intact.

The council's behaviour matches the policy. Of 674 larger rear extensions notified to it under the prior approval procedure in the twelve quarters to March 2026, 519 came back as prior approval not required and only 91 were refused — a 13.5% refusal rate against 24.9% across London, and a 77.0% clearance rate that ranks fourth of the twenty-seven boroughs the national return supports a figure for (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026). If you are extending a Hornchurch or Upminster semi within the Order's limits, the numbers say the notification is normally a formality here rather than a contest.

What the absence of a direction does not do is remove the value of writing it down. Havering recorded 1,637 lawful development certificates over the same period — a count of applications, since the national return carries no granted-or-refused split for certificates anywhere in England. At £274 a certificate is the cheapest document in the process and the one a buyer's solicitor asks for four years later. Two things still bite without any direction in force: the fifteen conservation areas, and the Metropolitan Green Belt across the north of the borough, where the question is whether development is acceptable in principle rather than whether it looks right.

How many conservation areas does Havering have?

Havering has 15 designated conservation areas. Notable conservation areas include:

• Romford Market
• Upminster
• Hornchurch
• Rainham Village

Designation narrows permitted development rather than abolishing it. These are the limits that bite most often on a Havering house:

• 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

Fifteen designated areas, with nothing in the way of an Article 4 Direction, so designation touches only a small minority of Havering addresses. What affects far more is the Green Belt boundary across the north of the borough, where the test is the principle of development rather than its appearance. Havering delegated 99.2% of decisions to officers (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026) — one of the very highest shares anywhere in the capital, meaning policy is applied by a case officer rather than debated by members.

Popular projects in Havering

Interwar semis through Hornchurch and Upminster, post-war stock in Harold Hill and Romford, Victorian around the older town centre, and Metropolitan Green Belt across the north. The borough took 4,739 planning decisions in three years, approving 73.6%, but new-dwelling proposals ran at just 40.6% — second-lowest in London (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026). The Green Belt accounts for much of that gap.

Two-storey extensions

Havering's semis have the rear plot depth that a two-storey extension needs, and the borough's householder record is encouraging: 2,633 of 3,218 householder applications granted in the twelve quarters to March 2026 (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026). Two storeys always needs permission — no prior approval route covers it — and the design tests are consistent enough to plan around. Keep the addition subordinate to the original house, which in practice means setting the ridge below the existing one and the rear wall in from at least one flank; keep it off the boundary so the neighbour's flank windows and rear garden keep their light; and expect the 45-degree assessment from the nearest neighbouring window to decide the depth. Worth noting the contrast with new-build: Havering approved only 40.6% of proposals for new minor dwellings over the same period, so an extension and a plot subdivision are very different propositions in this borough even on the same site.

How much do planning drawings cost in Havering?

Beyond the council charge, budget for the timetable: 1,987 applications had an extension of time agreed, 41.9% of all decisions (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026). And budget for compliance — with 25 breach-of-condition notices on the record, discharging conditions properly is part of the job rather than an afterthought. Our fee is a single figure settled ahead of the measured survey, roughly 30% beneath prevailing London architect charges.

The pack covers a measured survey, existing and proposed floor plans, elevations to every affected face, and a site plan at the scale Havering asks for on validation. Nothing else is needed to make the submission valid. Our price for that scope sits roughly 30% below the going London architect rate.

A certificate for proposed works has a specific attraction in this borough: it carries no conditions, so there is nothing to discharge afterwards and nothing a breach-of-condition notice can attach to. Havering issued 1,637 certificates over three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026), and on a Hornchurch or Upminster semi it is frequently the right route.

Our experience in Havering

We cover all Havering postcodes: RM1, RM2, RM3, RM4, RM5, RM7, RM11, RM12, RM13, RM14. Whether your property is in a conservation area, affected by an Article 4 Direction, or in an unrestricted residential street, we have experience with Havering Council and understand the borough's planning policies.

Planning and building regulations drawings for Havering homes are produced by MCIAT chartered architectural technologists. One team takes it from the first measured survey to the moment the application is validated, and deals with the case officer at Havering Council so you do not have to.

We also work in Havering's neighbouring boroughs:

What are the odds of approval in Havering?

81.8%of householder applications approved in Havering

3,218householder decisions in three years

97.9%decided within eight weeks

1,637certificates of lawful development issued

Almost nothing in Havering goes to committee. Officers decided 4,702 of the borough's 4,739 planning decisions under delegated powers — 99.2%, above the 97.0% recorded across the 33 boroughs together. Only 37 decisions in three years were taken by elected members. That matters for how you argue a case: your audience is a case officer working to the Local Plan and a validation checklist, not a room of councillors responding to objectors, so the persuasion has to be in the drawings and the design and access statement.

Waiting is not what costs you time in Havering. 97.9% of householder cases — 1,969 out of 2,012 once planning performance agreements are set aside — came back inside the eight-week statutory period. If the build has a fixed start date, the determination period is the one part of the programme you can put in a diary. What varies is how long the drawings take before anything is submitted.

674 larger rear extensions were determined here under the neighbour consultation scheme. In 519 of them — 77.0% — the council came back to say prior approval was not required, which means the householder was free to build. 64 were granted after neighbours were consulted, and 91 refused. A 13.5% refusal rate is a good deal safer than the 24.9% London figure, and what usually decides it is whether an adjoining owner objects inside the 21-day window.

Across the same three years of returns, Havering recorded 1,637 certificates of lawful development. Nothing is granted by one. It records the council's written view that the work you describe is already permitted development, which is the thing a buyer's solicitor will want to see in six years' time. The fee for a lawful development certificate is £274. The householder application fee in England is £548.

The numbers on this page come from the PS1 and PS2 returns Havering files with MHCLG each quarter, as every English planning authority must. They count decisions reached between April 2023 and March 2026, not applications lodged, which is why a scheme submitted in early 2026 may not appear at all. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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