Introduction to planning and building control

We provide a range of services, including

• Consideration of planning applications and applications for consent under building regulations.
• Formulation of planning and transport policy.

Development management

The planning control of new development is an essential part of maintaining the history and managing the future development of Southwark. This is carried out by the development management service, previously known as development control.

The development management service determines planning applications to ensure that proposed new developments support the council's community strategy, the council's development plan and both national and regional, Greater London Authority (GLA), planning policies.

The development management service also provides advice on the quality of design and negotiates planning agreements to deliver affordable housing and, where appropriate, other benefits to mitigate the impact of new developments on the environment and local community.

For assitance with your planning application, see our advice pages.

Planning Policy

Planning Policy prepare the strategy and planning policies for regeneration and change, conservation and development in Southwark. We provide information and advice for residents, businesses, consultants and other interested people on our planning policies. Other services include:

• Creating planning policy on areas such as Aylesbury, Canada Water and Peckham/Nunhead (area action plans and supplementary planning documents) technical subjects such as design and sustainability (supplementary planning documents). Our area strategies for Elephant and Castle, Peckham and Nunhead, Bankside, Borough and London Bridge, Camberwell, Dulwich, Canada Water and Bermondsey and strategic policies such as housing, business and transport are in our core strategy and our detailed, technical policies are set out in our Unitary Development Plan. The list of these documents can be found on our Local Development Framework  page.

• Preparing detailed evidence about a wide range of issues such as housing, employment, transport, sustainability and areas.

• Being clear about how we will get people involved in preparing policies as set out in our Statement of Community Involvement .

• Monitoring changes from development in our Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) every December.

Building control

The Building control service makes sure all building work in the borough complies with building regulations. Building control approval is an independent check to ensure that building regulations have been complied with. Approval is gained by prior application and submission of details or by inspection of the ongoing works on site.

The building control team provides a comprehensive consultancy service for your building control requirements. Committed to providing a quality, flexible and responsible approach, the team work to make your building control submission as simple as possible.