The site plan is the smallest drawing in a planning application and the most common reason one is invalidated. Two separate drawings are needed, at two different scales, on a licensed Ordnance Survey base — and the red and blue line edging has a precise legal meaning.
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They are two different drawings and a valid application needs both. Councils and applicants use ‘site plan’ loosely to mean either, which is exactly why submissions arrive with one and not the other.
| Location plan | Block plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | 1:1250 (1:2500 for large rural sites) | 1:500 or 1:200 |
| Purpose | Locates the site in its wider setting | Shows the proposal within the site boundary |
| Must show | Two named roads, north point, scale bar | Boundaries, footprint, hardstanding, trees |
| Edging | Red line around the application site, blue around other land in the same ownership | Not required |
| Base | Licensed Ordnance Survey extract | Licensed extract or measured survey |
The red line defines the application site — the land the permission will attach to. It must include everything the development needs, including any access route from the public highway. A red line drawn only around the building, on a site whose access crosses land in the same ownership, is a defect the council will pick up.
The blue line marks other land in the applicant’s ownership or control adjoining or near the site, and is required so the council can assess the proposal in the context of everything the applicant could do with the surrounding land. Omitting it where it applies is a misdescription of the application, not a formatting slip.
The ownership certificate on the application form has to agree with the lines. Certificate A is signed only where the applicant owns the whole of the red line site. If any part is owned by someone else — common on leasehold flats, shared-freehold conversions and shared driveways — Certificate B applies and notice must be served on the other owner. Getting this wrong invalidates the application and, in some cases, makes a granted permission challengeable later.
Because the underlying mapping is Crown copyright and licensed. Councils require the location plan to be based on an up-to-date extract from a licensed Ordnance Survey supplier, and a screenshot from a consumer mapping site breaches the terms of that data. It is a standard invalidation reason, and it is entirely avoidable: a licensed extract typically costs £25 to £60.
The practical problems compound the legal one. A screenshot has no reliable scale, no north point, and often shows a building footprint years out of date. An officer measuring the separation distance between your proposal and the neighbouring boundary cannot do so on an unscaled image, and will not accept a plan they cannot measure.
Every drawing package we produce includes both plans on a licensed base, with the red and blue lines set from the title plan and the ownership certificate checked against them before submission.
A licensed extract costs £25 to £60 from a reseller, and both plans are included in every package we produce — £840 Essentials through to £1,750 Complete — alongside the statutory application fee of £258 for a householder scheme or £129 for a Lawful Development Certificate. Both are determined within 8 weeks of validation under the relevant Local Plan, and we issue the set within 14–20 working days.
| Package | Fixed fee | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials — measured survey, existing and proposed plans | £840 | 14–20 working days |
| Loft conversion package — survey, plans, sections, elevations | £1,225 | 14–20 working days |
| Mansard / roof rebuild package | £1,575 | 18–24 working days |
| Complete — planning plus building regulations drawings | £1,750 | 20–28 working days |
Where the property sits inside a conservation area — the Bloomsbury Conservation Area and the Hampstead Conservation Area are typical London examples — the block plan carries more weight than usual, because the officer uses it to judge the proposal against the plot rhythm of the street. Our fixed fees run roughly 30% below typical London architect rates, and the plans are drawn from the same measured survey as the rest of the set rather than traced separately.
1:1250 for most urban and suburban sites, or 1:2500 for large rural sites. It must show at least two named roads, a north point and a scale bar, and be based on an up-to-date licensed Ordnance Survey extract.
It defines the application site — the land the permission attaches to — and must include everything the development needs, including any access route from the public highway. Land in the same ownership adjoining or near the site is edged blue.
No. The mapping is licensed Crown copyright data and a screenshot breaches those terms, which is a standard invalidation reason. It also has no reliable scale, no north point and often an out-of-date footprint, so an officer cannot measure separation distances from it.
Yes. They serve different purposes and are required as separate drawings: the 1:1250 location plan places the site in its setting, the 1:500 or 1:200 block plan shows the proposal within the boundary alongside hardstanding and trees.
Yes, in every package, on a licensed Ordnance Survey base with the red and blue lines set from the title plan and the ownership certificate checked against them before submission.
Site plans are included in every drawing package we produce, on a licensed Ordnance Survey base with the ownership edging done properly.
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