Insights
Empirical findings from 15,533 planning applications across all 33 London boroughs. Each article is anchored to specific data, and every number is traceable.
Policy essay · London-wide
Across 12,451 decided applications in 32 boroughs, the gap between the most permissive and most restrictive boroughs runs to roughly 43 percentage points once caseload mix is held constant, and it tracks house prices. Descriptive, not causal. Written for applicants and authorities alike.
June 2026
Policy essay · London-wide
London’s ten most permissive small-sites boroughs reach the same yes by four different routes. Only one of them, a plan that says yes in writing, is something another borough can choose to copy.
July 2026
Policy essay · London-wide
London’s ten most restrictive small-sites boroughs do not restrict for one reason. Six can name a policy that accounts for it; four cannot, and one restricts in flat contradiction of its own adopted plan.
July 2026
Policy essay · London-wide
In the crowded middle of the table, a near-zero borough differential is the most dangerous number to trust. The same headline can hide a twenty-point split between one typology and another.
July 2026
Policy essay · London-wide
London’s ten cheapest boroughs sit inside a £107,000 band and still span forty points of small-sites outcome. Affordability cannot be the mechanism. The plan is.
July 2026
Policy essay · London-wide
Nine of London’s ten most expensive boroughs approve small sites above expectation. The tenth, Barnet, restricts on a written plan, and it explains the whole price gradient.
July 2026
Behavioural evidence · London-wide
A behavioural typology of the 4,267 developers behind London’s small-sites applications, and a test of whether knowing the system pays off. Filing again and again is not associated with higher approval. Descriptive, not causal.
July 2026
London-wide
From 1 July 2026 the NPPF §78c 20% five-year housing land supply buffer applies to seven London boroughs. What that means for sub-10 unit applicants, with the underlying refusal data for each.
May 2026
Policy analysis · London-wide
AMR21 was signed off on 18 February. It is the first London Plan AMR to formally record KPI failure on housing approvals, completions and affordable supply. The same document quietly moved the Intermediate Rent eligibility ceiling from £67,000 to £75,000. Both sit inside the bid math on small-site schemes that include an Intermediate sleeve.
May 2026
GLA Small Sites Release Fund
The fund opened on 12 May. The submission deadline is 12:00 on 10 July. The grant pays for site investigations, due diligence, feasibility, and legal surveys. It does not pay for OPS application drafting. The five planning questions every applicant team has to answer before then.
May 2026
London-wide
Two regulatory dates fall inside the next eight months. Between them they pin twelve London boroughs. The first has had most of the press coverage. The second is the one that probably matters more.
May 2026
Harrow
Harrow adopted a new local plan in March 2026. The change that matters most for 1-9 unit schemes is the one that didn’t happen. The exemption survived, but the tenure mathematics for 10+ unit schemes is meaningfully different.
May 2026
Policy intelligence
Camden’s affordable housing threshold is one unit. Bromley’s is eleven. The borough is doing more underwriting work than the scheme is, and most bid models don’t notice.
May 2026
Process intelligence
In Enfield and K&C, taking pre-application advice lifts the approval rate. In Croydon, 100 small-site schemes took pre-app and none were approved. The borough matters more than the procedure itself.
April 2026
London-wide
13,685 refusal reasons classified across 33 boroughs. Three quarters cite design, amenity, space standards, or transport. The case for small-site design codes, from the data.
April 2026
Croydon
Design accounts for 78% of coded refusal reasons in Croydon, the highest concentration of any borough. What makes the bar so high, and what gets through?
March 2026
London-wide
Conversion approval rates range from 22% to 93% across London boroughs, a 71-point spread. Same building type, radically different outcomes depending on where you apply.
March 2026
Brent
Brent’s 47% approval rate masks a deeper pattern: approved schemes lose an average of 1.2 units between application and consent. The real yield is lower than the headline suggests.
March 2026
London-wide
The assumption that conservation areas mean lower approval rates is widespread. The data across 33 boroughs tells a more complicated story. In some places, the effect reverses entirely.
March 2026
Havering
At 70.5%, Havering has the highest small site refusal rate in London. The causes run deeper than strict planning officers. Site type, density expectations, and political context all play a role.
March 2026
Camden
In most boroughs, conservation areas are a planning headwind. In Camden, applications inside conservation areas are approved at a higher rate than those outside. Here is why the data says that.
March 2026
London-wide
Inner London boroughs approve small sites at a higher rate than outer London, but the gap is not where most developers expect it. The data reveals which side of the boundary matters, and why.
March 2026
Hammersmith & Fulham
Approved applications in Hammersmith & Fulham take significantly longer to determine than refusals. The asymmetry points to negotiation, not inefficiency, and it has viability implications.
March 2026
London-wide
Industry folklore says 6 and 9 units are the sweet spots, just below committee thresholds and affordable housing triggers. The data from 15,533 applications tests whether the folklore holds.
March 2026
Newham
Space standards appear in more Newham refusal notices than any other reason category. In a borough with a 63% refusal rate, undersized units are the most common way to fail.
March 2026
London-wide
Planning outcomes follow patterns only visible at scale. As AI agents enter development appraisal, structured datasets become the infrastructure that separates informed bids from guesses.
March 2026
Every article is drawn from the borough dashboards. 15,533 applications, 33 boroughs, every officer report read, and the full method published in the open.