Planning applications in Hackney

Planning in Hackney

Hackney has 37 conservation areas, 548 listed buildings and 94 Article 4 directions, and heritage features in about a third of refusals. Whether your home is covered by any of these is worth finding out before you plan anything, because it shapes what design and materials will be accepted.

Overall, about 1 in 5 decided planning applications in Hackney was refused, compared with about 1 in 7 across the areas we cover. Among neighbours, Hackney refuses more often than Haringey, Islington and Newham (each about 1 in 6) and Tower Hamlets (about 1 in 8), and the City, at about 1 in 70, is far gentler. Waltham Forest, at about 1 in 5, is about the same.

Of the 2,167 recent refusals we read, about seven in ten pointed to the size, bulk or design of the work, and over half to its effect on the look of the street or area. Neighbours’ light, privacy or outlook came up in nearly a quarter, highways in about one in six, and not enough information in about one in twelve. For a home extension, the message is to keep the scale modest and the design in keeping.

Loft conversions and dormers, with nearly 3,000 applications, are the hardest common project, refused about 1 in 4 times. Rear extensions, the biggest category with more than 5,000 applications, and front extensions and porches, side extensions and garden rooms and outbuildings were each refused about 1 in 5 times. Windows and doors were easier, at about 1 in 7, though that is still worse than the national rate of about 1 in 9. Fences, walls and gates were about 1 in 6.

Householder decisions across 2023 to 2025 took a median of 8 weeks, and about half (52 per cent) were decided within 8 weeks.

Recent decisions have been gentler. In 2025 about 1 in 7 decided applications was refused, against about 1 in 5 across the three years before. Applications were 2,656, close to the average of about 2,591 a year before, and the busiest year on record was 2021, with 3,385.

Figures in this section as of 9 October 2026.