How London's 33 Boroughs Approach Planning Differently

One of the most frustrating things about building in London is that the rules are not the same everywhere. Two identical schemes on identical plots can get completely different outcomes depending on which side of a borough boundary they sit. One gets approved. One gets refused. And neither applicant fully understands why.

This is not a bug in the system. It is how planning in England is designed to work. National policy sets the framework, the London Plan adds a strategic layer, and each of the 33 boroughs writes its own Local Plan on top of both. The result is a planning system that varies considerably borough by borough, and sometimes ward by ward within the same borough.

If you are planning a new build in London, understanding the borough you are working in is not just useful, it is essential. This guide explains why boroughs differ, how those differences show up in practice, and what the approval rate data actually tells you. For a broader introduction to the process, our guide to planning permission in London is a good starting point.

Why Every Borough Is Different

All 33 London boroughs operate within the same national planning framework and are required to follow the London Plan, which is the strategic planning document for Greater London published by the Mayor. Below those two layers, each borough writes its own Local Plan: a document that sets out its own policies on everything from housing density to design quality to the protection of local character.

What this means in practice is that two boroughs operating under the same national rules and the same London Plan can produce very different planning environments, because their Local Plans interpret and add to those rules in different ways. One borough may set a higher affordable housing threshold than its neighbour. Another may have stricter design requirements for new residential buildings. A third may have designated most of its residential streets under Article 4 Directions that remove permitted development rights, while a neighbouring borough has not.

Beyond policy, there is also officer culture. Each planning department has its own professional team, its own interpretation of policy, and its own priorities. Some departments are responsive and transparent at pre-application stage. Others are slower and harder to engage. These differences are real and they affect how projects are handled in practice, independently of what the policy actually says.

The Three Layers Every Application Is Assessed Against

Before looking at how boroughs differ, it helps to understand the three-layer structure every London planning application is assessed against.

The London Plan also gives the Mayor call-in powers on significant applications, typically those above a certain residential unit threshold or gross floorspace. This creates a fourth layer for large schemes, where both the borough and the Mayor have a view. For most residential new build projects, the borough is the decision-maker throughout.

Planning Approval Rates Across London's Boroughs

One of the most useful publicly available measures of how boroughs perform is their planning approval rate: the proportion of applications decided in favour of the applicant. The data below covers 2025 and is sourced from PlanWatch's London borough approval rate table. The London average is 82.5%, compared to an England average of 87%.

With that caveat in mind, the data does reveal some meaningful patterns. The boroughs with the lowest approval rates tend to be those with higher regeneration activity, less established planning policy frameworks, or significant political pressure around housing targets. The boroughs with the highest approval rates tend to be those with well-resourced planning departments, clear design guidance, and established pre-application services that filter out weak schemes before formal submission.

The Main Ways Boroughs Differ in Practice

Approval rates tell you something, but they do not tell you why boroughs differ. The real differences show up in four areas.

Design expectations and local character

Some boroughs have invested heavily in detailed design guidance that goes well beyond national policy. Camden is a well-known example: its design standards for new residential development are among the most demanding in London, covering materials, proportions, elevational treatment, and the relationship between new buildings and their context. Westminster applies similarly rigorous standards in its Central London wards, with particular attention to materials and massing in relation to the prevailing streetscape.

Other boroughs operate with less prescriptive design guidance and give officers more discretion to assess schemes on their merits against broader principles. This can work in favour of applicants with strong contemporary designs, or against them if officer preference leans conservative. Understanding which kind of environment you are operating in before you design shapes the brief you give your architect.

Affordable housing thresholds

The London Plan sets minimum affordable housing expectations for new residential developments, but boroughs can and do set their own thresholds above the London Plan baseline. Some boroughs have negotiated higher affordable housing requirements as part of their Local Plans, which affects the viability of small to medium residential schemes differently depending on where you are building. For a homeowner building a single new home, this is less relevant. For anyone building a small development of two or more units, the borough's affordable housing policy directly affects what the scheme can deliver.

Article 4 Directions

An Article 4 Direction is an order made by a local authority that removes specific permitted development rights in a defined area. They are widespread in London and their coverage varies significantly from borough to borough. Some boroughs have Article 4 Directions covering virtually all their residential streets, removing rights to extend, alter elevations, or convert buildings without full planning permission. Others have more limited coverage, concentrated in conservation areas or specific wards.

This matters for new build projects because it affects what happens to a site after it is built, and it affects how the planning department approaches design quality generally. A borough with extensive Article 4 coverage is signalling that it takes design and character seriously across its residential areas, which informs how it will approach a new build application.

Conservation area coverage

As our guide to building in a conservation area explains, London has over 1,000 conservation areas, but their distribution is very uneven. Boroughs like Richmond upon Thames, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster have very high proportions of their residential areas within conservation area designations. Outer London boroughs like Barking and Dagenham, Havering, and Bexley have far lower coverage. The practical consequence is that building anywhere in certain inner London boroughs almost always involves conservation area considerations, while in parts of outer London you may encounter no heritage constraints at all.

Borough Profiles: What to Expect in Different Parts of London

Rather than listing all 33 boroughs, this section covers the patterns that tend to emerge across different parts of London. These are generalisations and individual sites will always vary, but they reflect how experienced contractors and architects approach different parts of the capital.

Central and inner west London: Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham

These boroughs have some of the most demanding planning environments in London, with high conservation area coverage, strong design policies, well-resourced planning departments, and significant political scrutiny of major decisions. Pre-application engagement is essential. Material quality is scrutinised closely. The high approval rates in Hammersmith and Fulham and Camden partly reflect how thoroughly applicants prepare before submitting.

The flip side is that these boroughs are experienced and generally efficient. When an application is well-prepared and the design is strong, decisions tend to come through predictably. Westminster has the highest volume of planning decisions of any London borough, which means officers handle a large workload; clear, well-documented applications are processed more smoothly than ambiguous ones.

Inner north and east London: Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham

These boroughs have seen enormous development pressure over the last decade, and their planning departments are used to handling complex schemes in areas of rapid change. Islington and Hackney both have strong design cultures and clear policies on character and materials. Tower Hamlets and Newham handle very high volumes of applications and are focused on housing delivery as well as design quality.

Article 4 coverage is high in Islington and Hackney, which means permitted development rights are restricted across large parts of both boroughs. In Tower Hamlets and Newham, the planning environment is more focused on larger regeneration-scale projects, but smaller residential schemes are handled by experienced officers who understand the context.

South London: Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Wandsworth

South London boroughs cover a wide range of character, from the dense urban grain of Brixton and Peckham to the suburban streets of Wimbledon and Dulwich. Southwark's high approval rate reflects a well-resourced department and clear design guidance. Lambeth's lower rate reflects higher development pressure and more contested applications in areas of significant regeneration.

Wandsworth is notable for being consistently efficient and developer-friendly in how it handles residential applications, which is reflected in its approval rate. Lewisham has been more active in articulating design expectations in recent years, particularly around new residential development in town centre locations.

Outer east London: Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest

These boroughs have lower approval rates and, in some cases, higher volumes of speculative applications. Barking and Dagenham's approval rate of 66.2% is the lowest in London, but this needs to be read in context: the borough has significant regeneration zones attracting speculative applications, and the low rate partly reflects that volume. For well-prepared residential new build applications, the experience is more straightforward than the headline number suggests.

Havering and Redbridge are outer London boroughs with predominantly suburban character, lower land values, and planning departments that handle lower volumes of complex schemes than their inner London counterparts. Pre-application engagement is advisable but the process tends to be more straightforward for standard residential new builds.

Outer south and west London: Richmond, Kingston, Bromley, Sutton, Merton

These boroughs cover large areas of suburban and semi-rural character, with significant green belt land in Bromley and portions of Richmond. Green belt policy is strictly applied across all of them. Conservation area coverage is particularly high in Richmond, which has extensive designations along the Thames and in its town centres. Kingston and Bromley have lower approval rates that reflect both the suburban character, where design expectations are strong, and the constraint of green belt land limiting where development can go.

What This Means When You Are Planning a New Build

The practical takeaway from all of this is simple: the borough matters, and you should find out how it works before you commit to a design approach.

•       Read the Local Plan. Each borough's Local Plan is publicly available on its website. The policies that apply to residential new builds will tell you what the borough prioritises: character, density, materials, parking, sustainability. Read the relevant policies before you brief your architect.

•       Download any character appraisals or design guidance. Many boroughs have published Supplementary Planning Documents covering design quality, materials, and character in specific areas. These are not legally binding in the same way as the Local Plan, but they are used by officers in assessments and referencing them in an application strengthens it.

•       Check for Article 4 Directions on your site. Your borough's planning portal will show which Article 4 Directions apply to a specific address. This tells you what permitted development rights have been removed and gives you a signal about how seriously the borough takes design quality.

•       Use the pre-application service. Most London boroughs offer a paid pre-application advice service. The cost varies, but getting the planning officer's view on your scheme before formal submission is the most reliable way to avoid a refusal. The boroughs with the highest approval rates tend to be those where pre-application engagement is most embedded in how applications are prepared.

•       Work with people who know the borough. An architect or contractor who has worked in a borough repeatedly will know how the department operates, what officers look for, and how to frame an application effectively. That knowledge is worth more than any amount of policy reading.