How to search Lewisham planning applications on the council's portal, the 24-day comment window, weekly lists, email alerts and what objections count.

Every one of the Lewisham planning applications lodged in the borough, from a rear extension in Sydenham to a tower block in Deptford, goes onto one public register before anyone decides it. It is free, it needs no account to read, and it carries the drawings, the reports, the case officer’s name and the deadline for having your say. Most people find out about a development when the hoardings go up, which is usually months too late. This guide covers where the register is, how to search it, how long you get to comment, what the council will and will not take into account, and how to set the portal to email you when something new appears near your home.

Where to find Lewisham planning applications

The council’s planning register runs on Idox Public Access, and it lives at a different address from the main council website:

That single portal is what the council means when it says “search and comment on applications and decisions” on its find and comment on planning applications page. You can “search current and past planning applications by address or planning application number” and “track current planning applications and receive notification when the status of the application changes”.

Reading it needs no login. An account only becomes useful for the alert features described further down.

How to search the portal

The portal gives four ways in, and picking the right one saves a lot of time.

  1. Simple search. Best for a single address. Type a keyword, a reference number, a postcode or an address.
  2. Advanced search. Filters on several criteria at once, useful if you want, say, all major applications in one ward over a date range.
  3. Weekly and monthly lists. Everything validated or decided in a given period. The weekly list is the single most useful page on the whole system, and it is covered below.
  4. Public notices. Applications formally advertised in a particular week, which is the statutory version of the site notice you see cable-tied to a lamppost.

Once you have an application open, the Documents tab holds the drawings, design and access statement, heritage and drainage reports and any consultee responses, and the Comments tab is where representations go. The summary page shows the case officer and the dates.

The weekly list: the habit worth forming

If you only bookmark one page, make it the weekly list. It lets you pick a week and see everything either validated in that week or decided in that week, filtered by ward if you want.

Lewisham’s weekly list currently offers around 51 weeks of history, so you can look back roughly a year, and it breaks the borough down into its 23 wards, from Bellingham and Blackheath through Brockley, Catford South, Deptford, Forest Hill, Lee Green, Lewisham Central and New Cross Gate, with an “Out of Borough” option for applications on the boundary.

What it means for you: filtering the weekly list to your own ward takes about fifteen seconds and shows you every new application near you before any of them are decided. Do it once a week and you will never again learn about a scheme from the scaffolding.

Get the portal to email you

Better still, stop checking manually. Register a free account on the portal and you get two kinds of alert, per the council’s guide to using our planning website:

  • Saved searches. Run the search you care about, usually a postcode, a street or your ward, then use the save search button on the results page. Saved searches “can be re-run automatically, notifying you by email of search results matching your criteria.”
  • Tracked applications. Follow one specific scheme and get an email whenever its status changes or a new document is added.

A saved postcode search is the closest thing to an early warning system for your own street, and it costs nothing.

How long you have to comment

Lewisham gives 24 days, not the 21 days most people expect from national guidance. The council’s guide to commenting says you have 24 days from the date the proposal is published, and its application process page repeats that consultees are given “in most cases, 24 days to make their representations”.

The council is careful to add that “this can vary, so you should check the notification publicity, letter or site notice for confirmation of the time you have to make your comment”. The date on the application’s own page is the one that counts.

Not every application can be commented on at all. The council excludes lawful development certificates, approval of details, advertisement consent, non-material amendments and environmental impact screening opinions from public comment, because none of them turns on planning merits in the way a full application does.

How to comment, and what counts

Comments must be in writing, and there are three routes:

  • online through the planning portal, which acknowledges receipt within two working days
  • by email to planning@lewisham.gov.uk
  • by post to the Planning Department, Lewisham Council, Laurence House, Catford Road, London SE6 4RU

Whichever you use, include your name, your address, the application number and the site address, or the comment may not be filed against the right scheme.

Now the part that decides whether your objection has any effect. Planning decisions can only turn on planning grounds. Lewisham will take into account local, strategic and national planning policy, impact on amenity such as privacy, sunlight, overshadowing and overlooking, highways issues, listed buildings and conservation areas, nature conservation, design and appearance, compatibility with surrounding uses, noise and disturbance, social infrastructure, and the potential to reduce pollution.

It will not take into account loss of property value, construction noise, loss of a private view, moral or religious objections, health and safety matters, competition with an existing business, anything governed by other legislation such as building control or licensing, private disputes between neighbours, or objections to a development that already has permission.

What it means for you: an objection saying a block will devalue your flat and ruin your view is worth nothing. The same objection, rewritten around overlooking, loss of daylight and conflict with the borough’s design policies, is worth a great deal. The council also asks that comments stay “rational, impersonal and directed principally to the planning issues raised by the proposal”.

One thing that surprises people: your comment is shown to “Councillors, the applicant and members of the public”, but it is not published on the portal itself. So it is genuinely read by the applicant, and it is not sitting on the open web under your name.

Who decides, and how long it takes

Most applications never reach a politician. They are determined by case officers under delegated powers, and only some are referred to a planning committee of elected councillors, who meet in public. Lewisham runs more than one planning committee, including Planning Committee B.

The council’s targets are the national ones: 8 weeks for minor applications and 13 weeks for major ones. Both are aims rather than guarantees, and both are the point at which an applicant gains the right to appeal for non-determination. If an application is refused, if conditions are disputed, or if no decision arrives in time, the applicant “can make a planning appeal”. Objectors have no equivalent right of appeal against an approval, which is exactly why the comment window matters more than most people realise.

If you do not have a reference number

Every application has a reference, and it is the quickest way in if a neighbour letter or site notice has given you one. If it has not, you do not need it: the simple search takes a postcode or a street address on its own and will list everything recorded at it, past decisions included. That makes the portal genuinely useful before a house purchase, when what you want to know is what was approved next door and on what conditions.

Two neighbouring registers are worth knowing about. The brownfield land register lists sites the council considers suitable for housing, which is often where the next big application comes from. And if a building has gone up without permission, that is a matter for planning enforcement rather than the comment process.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find planning applications in Lewisham?

Search the council’s portal at planning.lewisham.gov.uk/online-applications by address, postcode or reference number. No account is needed to view. For everything new, use the weekly list and filter it to your ward.

How long do I have to comment on a Lewisham planning application?

24 days from the date the application is published, which is longer than the 21 days many councils allow. The exact deadline is on the application’s own page and in the neighbour letter or site notice, and the council warns that the period can vary.

How do I object to a planning application in Lewisham?

In writing only: online through the portal, by email to planning@lewisham.gov.uk, or by post to the Planning Department, Laurence House, Catford Road, London SE6 4RU. Quote the application number and site address, and frame your points around planning grounds such as overlooking, daylight, highways and design.

Are comments on Lewisham planning applications made public?

They are shared with councillors, the applicant and members of the public, but they are not published on the planning website itself.

Can I get email alerts for new planning applications near me?

Yes. Register a free account on the portal, run a search for your postcode or street, then save it. Saved searches re-run automatically and email you any new matches. You can also track an individual application for status changes and new documents.

Who decides planning applications in Lewisham?

Most are decided by case officers under delegated powers. Significant or contentious schemes go to a planning committee of councillors, which meets in public. The council aims to decide minor applications in 8 weeks and major ones in 13.

Sources

Checked against Lewisham Council’s planning pages and portal in August 2026. Comment deadlines and application statuses change constantly, so confirm the date on the application’s own page before relying on it. See also our guides to parking in Lewisham and Lewisham council tax bands.