Audit adopted 27 November 2002Start with the St James's audit and its date
Westminster designated the St James's conservation area on 27 March 1969 and extended it in 1974 and 1987, with further boundary changes in 1990 when the Haymarket conservation area was designated. The audit was adopted as Supplementary Planning Guidance on 27 November 2002. Alongside lie Haymarket, first designated in 1968 and re-designated in 1990, and the Royal Parks conservation area, designated in 1990, which covers St James's Park and Green Park.
St James's conservation area audit SPG, adopted 27 November 2002 · Westminster’s conservation areas: character summaries and overview
On roofs, the audit says some terraces remain unaltered by roof additions, such as the secondary properties in Ormond Yard, that additions or alterations to the mansard and double-mansard profiles would be harmful and will be resisted, and that little opportunity remains for additional storeys. The policies it quotes have since been superseded; the council itself notes that an adopted audit may cite policies older than the present framework, and asks for audits to be read together with the adopted policies.
St James's conservation area audit SPG, adopted 27 November 2002 · Westminster: conservation area audits, maps and guidance L–Z · Westminster: conservation area audits, maps and guidance A–K
Article 4: basements since 31 July 2016Check the Article 4 position for the address
For basements, one Article 4 direction covers the entire City of Westminster, so it reaches every St James's house. Made on 22 July 2015, confirmed on 4 July 2016 and in force since 31 July 2016, it withdraws the householder rights that would otherwise allow a house to be enlarged, improved or altered by building a basement or lightwell, or by other development beneath the house or its curtilage.
Westminster: Article 4 directions and address map · Westminster: city-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed July 2016
Westminster's directions on changing commercial, business and service premises into homes apply in parts of the city and affect those conversions, not alterations to an existing home; the council's address map shows where they reach. The council lists its conservation-area minor-alteration directions by place, and none with an address is in St James's, yet listing, the conservation area and the lease still govern the work.
Westminster: Article 4 directions and address map · Historic England: listed-building consent · Westminster: conservation areas and audits · LEASE: alterations and home improvements
City Plan of 21 January 2026Apply the City Plan 2026; no neighbourhood plan is made
The adopted plan for St James's is the City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted by full council on 21 January 2026 and read with the London Plan. Its Policy 45E is now the roof policy that counts: roof extensions are supported in principle where heritage assets are not harmed, terraces with existing additions follow the established form, and unimpaired rooflines call for a coordinated approach. Policy 25, on the Mayfair and St James's Special Policy Areas, deals with commercial uses such as art galleries and antique trading, not alterations to homes.
Westminster: adopted planning policies and made neighbourhood plans · City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted 21 January 2026
No neighbourhood plan has been made for St James's. A submission version of the St James's Neighbourhood Plan 2022–2040 was consulted on from 2 December 2024 to 28 January 2025; the council presents examination and a referendum as next steps, so it is not adopted policy. Work has also begun on a New City Plan, with a notice of intention published in July 2026, and that too is emerging rather than adopted.
Westminster: St James's Neighbourhood Plan (submission version, not made) · Westminster: adopted planning policies and made neighbourhood plans · Westminster: New City Plan (emerging, not adopted)
Basements: Policy 50 and CoCP May 2026Keep a lower-floor refit apart from new basement space
Fitting out a room that already exists below ground is not the same project as lowering a floor, digging under a garden or opening a lightwell. Where new basement space is proposed, Policy 50 supports schemes reaching a single storey at most beneath the lowest original floor and extending under no more than half the garden, with at least 1 m of soil on top and an undeveloped margin around the site boundary.
City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted 21 January 2026
Where the building is listed, Policy 50 says new basement space must leave the original hierarchy of spaces in balance, and its supporting text calls for a structural methodology statement that a suitably qualified engineer signs off. Under the council's May 2026 Code of Construction Practice, a new or extended basement of any size counts as Level 3 work, and a Construction Management Plan has to be prepared for it.
City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted 21 January 2026 · Westminster Code of Construction Practice, May 2026
Settle the consent route for the address before you commit to new windows, roof changes or excavation. Building Regulations, the lease, the Party Wall Act, planning permission, listed building consent, conservation-area controls and the basement Article 4 direction are separate regimes: an approval under one does not answer the others, and the 2002 audit offers guidance rather than decisions.
Westminster: city-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed July 2016 · Historic England: listed-building consent · Westminster: conservation areas and audits · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · St James's conservation area audit SPG, adopted 27 November 2002
