The London Borough of Camden has continued the recent crackdown on basement development by Central London Boroughs by confirming a non-immediate Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights for basement development throughout the entire borough.
Currently, permitted development rights allow homeowners to carry out basement development without planning permission, so long as the basement is built entirely under the footprint of the existing dwelling.
The Article 4 Direction will remove these rights, requiring all basement development to obtain planning permission.
It will come into force on 1 June 2017 and will apply to the entire borough.
The reason for the Direction is to allow the Council to control the impact of basement development, which have been the subject of a significant number of objections from the community.
The Direction, once adopted, will allow the Council to apply its planning policy and have greater enforcement powers to minimise the disturbance of construction to adjoining properties.
One of the key evidence documents and justification behind the Direction was the release of a Survey of Basement Development, published in February 2016.
The survey identified that between 2008/09 and 2014/15, planning permission was granted to 761 basement applications throughout the borough. The report did not mentioned the extent of basement development undertaken using permitted development rights.
Over 9,000 properties adjoining recently completed basement development within the Borough were surveyed, with over 600 survey responses received. More than a 25% of respondents identified that they suffered property damage are a result of construction, with more than 50% identifying that construction impacts, including noise, dust and vibration were unacceptable.
This confirmation of the Article 4 Direction has followed a number of recent changes to Camden’s local policy, including the guideline that all basement development should not exceed more than 50% of each garden within the property and cannot be larger than 1.5 times the footprint of the existing building.
Planning applications for basement development are also required to demonstrate that they will have no impact on the natural or built environment, neighbouring amenity, the local water environment, ground conditions and biodiversity, usually through the submission of a Basement Impact Assessment.
These requirements will be required for all basement applications from 1 June 2017.
For the time being, permitted development rights for basement development will remain. However, when the Article 4 Direction comes into force, the London Borough of Camden will join Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea as the London Boroughs which have borough wide Article 4 Directions removing basement permitted development rights.
If you are considering a basement extension at your property, our advice is to act fast.