Planning Permission in St Paul's | Fixed-Fee Plans

An Article 4 Direction applies across City of London, so check it before assuming St Paul's permitted development survives. The fabric of St Paul's is Listed heritage commercial core, so a EC4M proposal is judged on fit before it is judged on size. Of the 27 conservation areas City of London designates, Barbican and Smithfield are the ones that most often change how a St Paul's project is routed. That check comes before anything else on a St Paul's job.

We map how Article 4 directions bite across EC4M before a line is drawn. A EC4M survey answers most of it — where the mostly commercial allows the rear wall to go. The borough policy layer over every EC4M address is set out on City of London planning. The St Paul's survey then carries into house extension drawings in St Paul's if the project runs on to construction.

The St Paul's clock does not start until City of London Corporation validates — one to two weeks. Week one is a laser measured survey at your St Paul's property; the existing plans are drawn from that survey, never from an estate agent's floorplan.

Statutory periods: 8 weeks from validation for a householder application, 13 weeks for a major scheme, 6 weeks for prior approval with a 21 days neighbour consultation, and 5 weeks for a full plans building control submission. A party structure notice requires one month notice and two months where excavation is involved.

A St Paul's case only reaches committee if it draws significant objection. A St Paul's pack that misses a scale bar is a pack City of London Corporation will reject — ours do not.

A EC4M objection about light or overlooking carries more weight than one about taste. Party wall positions on a St Paul's terrace are located during the survey.

Serve party wall notices early where EC4M neighbours share a flank wall — on St Paul's terraces they nearly always do. Once consent is granted, architectural drawings follows for the EC4M property.

St Paul's is characterised by mostly commercial, listed residential, concentrated across EC4M in the St Paul's area. On St Paul's streets the mostly commercial sets the structural grammar for everything that follows. In practice on a St Paul's job, most applications on these Victorian streets are householder applications validated on existing and proposed plans, elevations, a site plan and a location plan. For a St Paul's owner it decides the structural spec. Height on a St Paul's proposal is measured against its neighbours, not against a policy number; the St Paul's Cathedral terraces set that datum.

A EC4M dig turns on engineering more than on policy. Survey data from the St Paul's property flows straight into building regulations drawings for EC4M properties or loft conversion drawings without a second site visit.

What the St Paul's drawing pack contains

Everything a St Paul's submission needs is in the list below.

• site location plan for the St Paul's property
• block plan
• existing and proposed floor plans
• existing and proposed elevations
• Design & Access Statement

Streets and landmarks we survey around St Paul's

• Trafalgar Square — closet wings that change how a rear extension meets the Trafalgar Square back addition.
• Anthony Way — front-to-back level changes that drive the Anthony Way section drawings.
• St Augustine Watling Street — closet wings that change how a rear extension meets the St Augustine Watling Street back addition.
• High Park — side returns where the 45-degree amenity test decides how far a High Park extension goes.
• Paternoster Square — terraced rear elevations — the Paternoster Square party wall position is drawn first.
• Ludgate Hill — frontages visible from the highway, so Barbican materials detail governs the Ludgate Hill elevation.
• Tower Hill — side returns where the 45-degree amenity test decides how far a Tower Hill extension goes.
• St Paul's Cathedral — proposals in its setting are drawn with the St Paul's context elevation.
• Guildhall Library — schemes in view of it attract closer officer scrutiny.
• Temple Church — schemes visible from it get closer scrutiny in City of London.
• Keble College — sightlines from here are part of the City of London Corporation character assessment.

Getting to a St Paul's survey

Surveyors travel to EC4M addresses from the studio; the nearest stations are St Paul's. Appointments are booked in St Paul's on weekdays and Saturdays, and the measured survey of a standard mostly commercial takes two to three hours.

Where St Paul's sits

Practical detail for a St Paul's submission: transport for St Paul's runs through St Paul's; Grade I English Baroque sit within the St Paul's setting and are listed. Site plans are drawn to the address as City of London Corporation holds it.

St Paul's postcode coverage

St Paul's work spans EC4M (St Paul's), which St Paul's holds on its own — the designations change with the district line.

Streets and stations in St Paul's

We survey St Paul's addresses on Trafalgar Square, Anthony Way, St Augustine Watling Street, High Park, Paternoster Square, Ludgate Hill and Tower Hill. most St Paul's sites are within walking distance of St Paul's. and Grade I English Baroque is listed, which pulls neighbouring EC4M proposals into a setting assessment.

Areas we cover around St Paul's

St Paul's sits in a patch that also takes in Clerkenwell (EC1), Finsbury Park (N4), Archway (N19), Tufnell Park (N7, N19), Holloway (N7), Newington Green (N16), and we work all of it as far as the Southwark boundary.

What moves the number on a St Paul's job is the mostly commercial itself — party walls, level changes, and whether Barbican pulls a heritage statement into scope.

Statutory application fees are set by regulation, not by the council: £548 householder, £610 for a new dwelling, £274 for a lawful development certificate, £249 for prior approval.

City of London Corporation collects the statutory fee when the St Paul's application is submitted. London planning approval-rate dataset · City of London planning · planning permission in London · planning permission in Clerkenwell.

We are architectural technologists, MCIAT chartered, and every St Paul's set carries that accountability. Not every St Paul's scheme is clear-cut. Where Barbican or the St Paul's Cathedral setting is in play, City of London Corporation pre-application advice comes before the EC4M submission.

Drawings are produced by chartered members of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (MCIAT), the professional body for technical design and building-regulations competence. First-time approval across our London caseload is 98%. Statutory fees shown are those in force in England in 2026 under the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) Regulations. Confirm your local authority at gov.uk and submission requirements on the Planning Portal. Studio: 71–75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ.

Tell us the EC4M address and what you want to build; the rest we handle. This St Paul's page was reviewed in August 2026.