London planning
If your planning application is in London, the policy framework is more complex than in the rest of England. You are not just applying the NPPF and your borough's local plan — you are also applying the London Plan 2021, which forms part of the statutory development plan for all 33 London boroughs and the City of London. Any planning supporting statement for a London application must address the London Plan alongside national and local policy.
This guide explains what the London Plan is, which policies apply to the most common application types, and how to reference them correctly in a supporting statement.
The London Plan is the Mayor of London's spatial development strategy for Greater London. The current version was published in March 2021. Under Section 38(3) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, it forms part of the development plan for every London borough — meaning planning decisions must be made in accordance with it alongside the borough's own local plan.
This matters because a planning officer assessing an application in Camden, Hackney, or Wandsworth must apply London Plan policies as well as Camden, Hackney, or Wandsworth policies. If your supporting statement only references the borough local plan and ignores the London Plan, it is incomplete.
Important: The London Plan applies to all planning applications in Greater London — not just major developments. A single householder extension in Hackney must be assessed against London Plan design policies just as much as a large residential development.
| Policy | What it covers | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| D3 | Optimising site capacity through a design-led approach — development should be of the highest quality design and respond to local context | All applications |
| D4 | Delivering good design — proposals that fail to achieve high quality design should be refused | All applications |
| D6 | Housing quality and standards — requires good quality living environments for occupants, adequate daylight, outlook, and amenity space | Residential applications |
| D8 | Public realm — development should contribute to a high quality, inclusive, and accessible public realm | Applications affecting public realm |
| H1 | Increasing housing supply — significant weight to housing delivery across London | New dwellings |
| H4 | Delivery of small sites — boroughs should support housing on small sites including infill and intensification | Small residential developments |
| HC1 | Heritage conservation and growth — conserving and making use of London's heritage assets | Heritage applications |
| G1 | Green infrastructure — protecting and enhancing London's network of green spaces | Applications affecting green space |
| SI 2 | Minimising greenhouse gas emissions — new development should be net zero carbon | New dwellings, major development |
Policies D3 and D4 are the most frequently cited London Plan policies in householder and residential applications. Together they establish the London Plan's design quality standard:
Policy D3 requires applicants to demonstrate that they have optimised the development's potential through a design-led approach — considering the site's context, character, and constraints before arriving at the proposed design. For a householder application, this means explaining why the design responds to the local character and the specific constraints of the site.
Policy D4 is the enforcement mechanism — it states that proposals that fail to achieve high quality design should be refused. In practice, London boroughs cite D4 as a basis for refusal where the design is considered poor quality, out of scale, or out of character.
Your supporting statement should address both policies explicitly in Section 4 (Planning Policy Framework) and demonstrate compliance in Section 5 (Assessment Against Policy).
Policy D6 sets out the Mayor's requirements for housing quality. For residential applications — including extensions that create new habitable rooms and loft conversions — it requires:
For a householder application, D6 is most relevant to the quality of the accommodation being created — particularly for loft conversions and annexes. Demonstrate that the proposed rooms have adequate ceiling heights, window areas, and access to natural light.
Planabl automatically detects London borough applications and includes the relevant London Plan policies in the AI-generated statement. When you enter a London Borough as your LPA — Camden, Hackney, Islington, Southwark, or any other — the statement will include London Plan policies D3, D4, and D6 (for residential applications) in Section 4 and assess compliance in Section 5.
For more specific London Plan policies — housing delivery (H1, H4), heritage (HC1), or sustainability (SI 2) — include the relevant context in the site context field and Planabl will reference it in the statement.
Planabl automatically includes London Plan 2021 policies for any London borough application. First draft free — no account needed.
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