CoverageLambeth

Lambeth planning permission refused: the reasons, counted

Most were refused over design. We read 30 of the 32 applications for building work Lambeth refused since September 2026 and sorted each by what its reasons were about. Each dot is one of them.

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  1. Design and character of the area 19 of 30

  2. Neighbours' amenity 9 of 30

  3. Heritage assets 6 of 30

  4. Insufficient information 4 of 30

  5. Highways and parking 2 of 30

  6. Flooding and drainage 1 of 30

  7. Living conditions for future occupiers 1 of 30

  8. Principle of development 1 of 30

Each dot is one refusal. A refusal usually gives more than one reason, so it can stand in more than one row.

Also cited: trees, landscape and ecology (1).

Of the 30 refusals of building work Lambeth made since September 2026 that we read, 63% were refused at least in part over design or the character of the area. Plan Forecast, 4 November 2026.

01

Design and character of the area

of the refusals we read

19 of the 30 applications for building work Lambeth refused that we read gave a reason about how the work looked, or how it sat in its street: its size, its shape, its materials.

How the councils compare

  • Bolton 80%
  • Folkestone and Hythe 73%
  • Trafford 73%
  • Bromley 71%
  • Leeds 70%
  • Manchester 70%
  • Cheshire West and Chester 69%
  • York 67%
  • Epping Forest 66%
  • Lambeth 63%
  • Rochdale 63%
  • Croydon 60%
  • Reading 59%
  • Wakefield 59%
  • Salford 57%
  • North Yorkshire 51%
  • Northumberland 51%
  • Buckinghamshire 50%
  • Ealing 50%
  • South Gloucestershire 50%
  • Milton Keynes 46%
  • Stockport 42%
  • Ashford 41%
  • Cotswold 38%
  • Westminster 38%
  • Bracknell Forest 34%

Share of each council's refused applications for building work we read that gave a reason about it.

Also cited

  • Neighbours' amenity 9 of 30
  • Heritage assets 6 of 30
  • Insufficient information 4 of 30
  • Highways and parking 2 of 30
  • Flooding and drainage 1 of 30
  • Living conditions for future occupiers 1 of 30
  • Principle of development 1 of 30
  • Trees, landscape and ecology 1 of 30

How we count

These are Lambeth's own refusals of every kind of work we sort applications into (work we cannot name is left out), decided since September 2026 and listed on its register. For each one we read the decision notice and sorted its reasons by what they were about. 2 we have not read yet; they are counted as refusals and not as refusals without reasons.

A refusal usually gives more than one reason, so the shares add up to more than a hundred. Which refusals they were, where, and what each said, is in the Planning Forecast for your address, with a link to each council's own notice.

What Lambeth approves · Why planning permission gets refused, anywhere

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