Tonsley and Nightingale sit in Wandsworth conservation areas
Wandsworth has 45 conservation areas. What changes inside one, what your Heritage Statement is expected to contain, and which alterations survive the designation intact. One figure sets expectations before anything else: 2,282 of the 6,306 applications the council determined across 2023-24 to 2025-26 ran on an agreed extension of time. Better than one in three.
The register records 46 conservation areas covering about 1,061 hectares — roughly a third of the borough. Inside them Class B is switched off, which is why Wandsworth’s Datahub set records 2,310 mansard applications: a mansard is an application whichever way you cut it.
Measure
Wandsworth
London
Conservation areas (national register)
46
1,141
Area covered
1,061 hectares
—
Mansard applications in the Datahub
2,310
87% approved
Rear dormer applications in the Datahub
986
81% approved
Householder approval rate
91.3%
83.0%
Applications withdrawn before decision
9.4%
7.4%
Householder appeals allowed after refusal
35.8% of 285
40.8% of 13,067
Sources: conservation areas from the planning.data.gov.uk register, retrieved 1 September 2026, with hectares computed from the published boundaries and accurate to about 1%; Datahub rows from the Planning London Datahub, retrieved 15 August 2026, phrase-matched and comparable within Wandsworth only; decision figures from MHCLG PS1 and PS2, twelve quarters to March 2026; appeals from Planning Inspectorate casework decided 2016–2026.
Can I check a Wandsworth postcode against the conservation area boundaries?
Yes — type it into the map. The boundaries come from the national register, the borough outline sits beneath them, and the postcode match is computed in your browser, so no address is transmitted. The limit worth stating at the outset is precision: these are simplified outlines, good for telling you which area you are in and no use at all for deciding a property that sits on the line itself.
Over 1,060 hectares of Wandsworth fall inside conservation area boundaries, and one of them dominates. Wandsworth Common covers 245.3 hectares, close to a quarter of the borough’s designated total by itself, while the smallest, Mellison Road, is half a hectare — a couple of terraces rather than a district. What sets Wandsworth apart in the register is documentation. All but one of its areas has a council document filed against it, so before you settle a roof form, a window material or the depth of a rear addition, there is almost always a written appraisal for your particular area to read first, and it will usually tell you what the officer is going to object to. Two blanks remain. No designation date is recorded for any area in the borough, and no Article 4 direction has been filed for Wandsworth at all, which reflects what has been uploaded rather than what is in force on the ground.
Everything mapped and measured in this section comes out of two planning.data.gov.uk datasets, conservation-area and article-4-direction-area, taken 15 August 2026 and re-verified 1 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0
In detail
Answers for Wandsworth
How many conservation areas does Wandsworth have?
Forty-five conservation areas are designated across the borough, among them Tonsley, Magdalen Park, Nightingale Triangle and the land around both commons.
What changes need planning in a Wandsworth conservation area?
Any external alteration visible from a public space typically requires full planning permission inside a conservation area: roof additions, dormers, replacement windows, rendering, hardstanding, and demolition. Internal works generally do not, unless the property is also listed.
Do I need a Heritage Statement in Wandsworth?
In practice, yes. A Wandsworth conservation-area submission arriving without a Heritage Statement tends to stall at validation rather than at decision. It has to answer the appraisal document that sits behind the designation, name the heritage assets your proposal touches, then show how it preserves or enhances whatever made the place worth designating. Ours is drafted alongside the drawings, not appended once they are finished.
Can I have a roof extension or mansard in a Wandsworth conservation area?
Rear mansards and dormers do get consented inside London conservation areas where the roof form follows what the terrace already does, and the pattern holds in Wandsworth much as it does in Hackney, Islington and Southwark. Front-facing dormers are a different proposition altogether. They alter the street elevation, which is the thing a designation exists to protect, and they are refused a great deal more often than they are allowed.
How long does conservation area approval take in Wandsworth?
The statutory determination period for a Wandsworth householder application is 8 weeks. Conservation officer consultation adds two or three weeks on top of that in practice. Of 2,060 non-fast-track householder decisions the borough made, 1,767 landed inside the statutory window — 85.8%, where London as a whole managed 92.5%. Work on 11 to 14 weeks between validation and decision and you will seldom be caught out. Source: MHCLG live planning statistics.
Planning application setExisting, proposed and location plans on one sheet — as the council receives it through the Planning Portal.
Long sectionHead height over the stair, dormer geometry and ridge height resolved to scale.
A london terraced street of the type we survey — conservation area planning in Wandsworth.
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Where in Wandsworth does a conservation area application actually get determined?
District by district across Wandsworth: what the housing stock is mostly made of, and who validates an application coming from that address. Every fee figure further down is a 2026 England statutory rate rather than a guess at one.
Postcode
Area
Dominant stock
What it means for a conservation area application
SW4
Clapham
Victorian terraces, Edwardian villas
A conservation area application in Clapham may land with Lambeth Council or Wandsworth Council — SW4 crosses the boundary, and the SW4 policies map decides it street by street.
SW8
South Lambeth / Nine Elms
Victorian terraces, new-build apartments
SW8 straddles a boundary: South Lambeth / Nine Elms addresses fall to Lambeth Council or Wandsworth Council, so confirm which authority validates the conservation area application before submitting SW8 drawings.
SW16
Streatham / Norbury
Edwardian terraces, post-war flats
SW16 is Streatham and Norbury, and it is shared out: Lambeth holds most of it, with Wandsworth, Merton and Croydon each taking a slice. The address settles it, street by street.
SW19
Wimbledon / Colliers Wood
Victorian villas, Edwardian terraces
SW19 is mostly Merton — Wimbledon and Colliers Wood — with a Wandsworth edge to it. Establish the authority from the address before drawings go anywhere near a portal.
SW11
Battersea / Clapham Junction
Victorian terraces, mansion blocks
SW11 holds Battersea and Clapham Junction entirely within the borough, so Wandsworth Council validates everything submitted from an SW11 address.
SW12
Balham
Victorian and Edwardian terraces
SW12 is Balham, split along the Wandsworth-Lambeth line. Whether the council deciding it is one or the other depends on where the house stands relative to that boundary.
Putney and Roehampton fill SW15, effectively all of it Wandsworth, and the council takes applications from across the district.
SW17
Tooting / Earlsfield
Edwardian terraces
SW17 covers Tooting and Earlsfield, divided between Wandsworth and Merton. Both policies maps get checked before we settle on a route.
Which Wandsworth neighbourhoods suit a conservation area application best?
Two Wandsworth streets a few minutes apart can differ in plot depth, roof pitch and wall construction, and every one of those differences decides what a scheme can reach at that particular address.
Battersea (SW8, SW11) — Victorian terraces, riverside regen at Power Station defines Battersea, where victorian terraces, new-build apartments set what a conservation area application can do. Most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans across SW8. Any Battersea conservation area application is validated by Wandsworth Council, with Battersea Power Station the usual Battersea reference point on the site plan.
Balham (SW12) — a conservation area application in Balham starts from victorian and edwardian terraces, and Balham reads as Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans in SW12. Wandsworth Council assesses Balham conservation area applications against its own Balham character guidance, and the location plan we draw for Balham references Balham High Road.
Tooting (SW17) — Edwardian terraces, vibrant high street defines Tooting, where edwardian terraces set what a conservation area application can do. Edwardian houses here typically need the same householder set plus a roof plan where a dormer is proposed across SW17. Any Tooting conservation area application is validated by Wandsworth Council, with Tooting Market the usual Tooting reference point on the site plan.
Wandsworth Common (SW17, SW18) — a conservation area application in Wandsworth Common starts from victorian villas and terraces, and Wandsworth Common reads as Victorian villas around the common. Most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans in SW17. Wandsworth Council assesses Wandsworth Common conservation area applications against its own Wandsworth Common character guidance, and the location plan we draw for Wandsworth Common references Wandsworth Common.
Earlsfield (SW18) — a conservation area application in Earlsfield starts from victorian terraces, and Earlsfield reads as Victorian terraced streets. Most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans in SW18. Wandsworth Council assesses Earlsfield conservation area applications against its own Earlsfield character guidance, and the location plan we draw for Earlsfield references Earlsfield station.
Putney (SW15) — a conservation area application in Putney starts from edwardian terraces, victorian villas, mansion blocks, and Putney reads as Edwardian terraces, riverside. Most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans in SW15. Wandsworth Council assesses Putney conservation area applications against its own Putney character guidance, and the location plan we draw for Putney references Putney Bridge.
Southfields (SW18) — conservation area application work in Southfields means 1930s semi-detached, edwardian terraces. Southfields is 1930s semi-detached, grid plan. Edwardian houses here typically need the same householder set plus a roof plan where a dormer is proposed throughout SW18. Wandsworth Council decides the Southfields application, and Southfields station anchors the Southfields location plan.
How do conservation areas and Article 4 affect a conservation area application in Wandsworth?
Wandsworth conservation designations: 45 sit on the council's own list, taking in Tonsley, Magdalen Park and the streets either side of the commons. Designation removes the permitted development route, which moves the work onto a householder planning application in place of a prior approval. The householder application fee in England is £548, decided in eight weeks. The fee for a larger householder prior approval is £249, decided in six. Read those eight weeks as an opening position: Wandsworth agreed an extension of time on 36.2% of everything it determined over the same three years. Source: MHCLG live planning statistics.
What Article 4 removes near Wandsworth: Article 4 for HMO conversions covering the whole borough. Before pricing a conservation area application we check whether the SW11 address is inside the mapped area, because Wandsworth Council draws the Wandsworth boundary street by street rather than across the whole of Wandsworth.
The building fabric around Wandsworth: Extensive Victorian terraced streets — the classic London side-return extension opportunity; Edwardian villas around the commons; 1930s semi-detached in Southfields. Family-oriented, high side-return extension and loft conversion rates; planning department experienced with Victorian terrace modifications. A conservation area application in Wandsworth is scoped against that stock first.
What happens if a Wandsworth property sits on a boundary?
Richmond upon Thames — the Richmond upon Thames boundary runs against Wandsworth, so a conservation area application a street from Wandsworth is decided by Richmond Council instead. Richmond upon Thames runs 72 conservation areas across SW13 and its neighbours, which is why conservation area applications priced for Wandsworth are re-checked against Richmond upon Thames policy whenever the Wandsworth address sits on that edge.
Hammersmith and Fulham — the Hammersmith and Fulham boundary runs against Wandsworth, so a conservation area application a street from Wandsworth is decided by Hammersmith & Fulham Council instead. Hammersmith and Fulham runs 45 conservation areas across W6 and its neighbours, which is why conservation area applications priced for Wandsworth are re-checked against Hammersmith and Fulham policy whenever the Wandsworth address sits on that edge.
Westminster — cross the Wandsworth boundary and Westminster City Council takes the conservation area application instead, applying 56 conservation areas of its own around SW1. We re-price conservation area applications at the Wandsworth edge because Westminster policy and Wandsworth policy rarely align on conservation area application depth.
Lambeth — the Lambeth boundary runs against Wandsworth, so a conservation area application a street from Wandsworth is decided by Lambeth Council instead. Lambeth runs 64 conservation areas across SE1 and its neighbours, which is why conservation area applications priced for Wandsworth are re-checked against Lambeth policy whenever the Wandsworth address sits on that edge.
Sources for this Wandsworth conservation area application page: borough policies maps and
conservation-area registers (2025–26), Royal Mail postcode district boundaries,
the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (England) Regulations, the Town
and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 as amended,
and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
The planning set that goes to the council through the Planning Portal: proposed elevations, plans, and the OS location plan with your site outlined.
