Planning & Permissions
in Hampstead, NW3

Camden has 40 conservation areas covering about half of the borough. Hampstead's was among the first ever created, following the 1968 Town and Country Planning Act.

This page sets out the consents a Hampstead project can need, the policies that decide them, and how our architects prepare the drawings and statements that go with an application. Because we work under one design-and-build appointment, the planning drawings come from the same team that engineers and builds the scheme.

Sources: Camden Council: Conservation areas, Camden Council: Hampstead Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)

For householder permitted development, the government's definition of a dwellinghouse leaves out flats and any building that contains them.

In a conservation area the rights shrink further: roof extensions, side extensions, rear extensions of more than one storey and any cladding all fall outside permitted development.

Rights can also be withdrawn locally, either by an Article 4 Direction or by a condition attached to an earlier permission for the house. Camden has used a borough-wide Direction for basements, which is why any basement or lightwell dig in the borough requires an application.

Where a project does seem to be permitted development, a Lawful Development Certificate from Camden gives certainty. Being permitted development does not switch off building regulations or the Party Wall Act.

Sources: MHCLG: Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance (September 2019), Camden Planning Guidance: Basements (January 2021)

Listed building consent is separate from planning permission. The 1990 Act requires it for demolition and for any alteration or extension that affects the building's special character, and Camden says it covers the whole building, inside and out, including later additions.

Listing also narrows permitted development: changes to a listed building's boundary wall, whether altering, enlarging or demolishing it, fall outside it.

Camden's Policy D2 resists total or substantial demolition of listed buildings, changes of use, alterations or extensions that harm their special interest, and development that harms them through their setting.

Camden's map of listed buildings lets you check a property before design work starts. Camden warns that carrying out unconsented work is a crime even when the owner was unaware of the listing.

Sources: Camden Council: Listed buildings, Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7, Camden: Hampstead Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026), Camden Local Plan 2017

Camden requires a heritage statement with any application in a conservation area. It describes the significance of the heritage assets affected and their setting, and gives clear and convincing justification for any harm.

If a design and access statement is required inside the Neighbourhood Plan area, Policy DH1 asks it to show how the scheme conserves or enhances the character area it sits in.

Expect local scrutiny. The Hampstead Conservation Area Advisory Committee, a group of local residents, advises Camden on every planning application in the Hampstead, South End Green, Fitzjohn's/Netherhall and Redington/Frognal conservation areas.

• Existing and proposed plans, elevations and sections, drawn from a measured survey and showing the neighbouring buildings.
• A materials schedule naming brick, mortar, roof covering, window sections and rainwater goods, so officers can see exactly what is proposed.
• Photographs of the house and street, and a short account of earlier changes to the building and its neighbours.
• Specialist reports where the scheme needs them, such as a basement impact assessment, an arboricultural survey or a daylight study, commissioned early so they inform the design.

Sources: Camden Council: Conservation areas, Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan 2025-2040 (adopted by Camden), Camden: Hampstead Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)

Building regulations approval is a separate requirement, and you may need it as well as planning permission. The approval can be issued by Camden's own building control team or by a registered building control approver in the private sector, and without it you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you sell.

Party wall agreements are different again from planning permission and building control. Building on or at the boundary, working on a party wall, or excavating near and deeper than a neighbour's foundations must be notified, and if the neighbour does not agree, appointed surveyors settle the terms in a legal document.

Camden must be notified before anyone works on a conservation area tree whose trunk measures over 75mm in diameter at 1.5 metres.

In a leasehold flat, LEASE advises that the landlord's permission may be needed for alterations even after planning permission or building regulations approval has been granted; see our licence to alter page.

Sources: GOV.UK: Building regulations approval, GOV.UK: Party walls and building work, Camden Council: Conservation areas, LEASE: alterations and home improvements