Building work in Barking and Dagenham: area guide

Barking and Dagenham Council is the planning and building control authority for Barking and Dagenham, which covers IG11, RM6, RM8, RM9 and RM10 and takes in Becontree and Chadwell Heath. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Barking and Dagenham.

Barking and Dagenham's housing, as the Council Tax list records it, is about 81,800 homes: 64% houses, 36% flats, with 4% pre-1919, 50% interwar and 46% built since 1945. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 22 statistical areas in Barking and Dagenham. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Barking and Dagenham

What Barking and Dagenham Council publishes about building work in the borough, with each point linked to the council page it comes from:

• Barking and Dagenham has four conservation areas: Abbey and Barking Town Centre, Abbey Road Riverside, Chadwell Heath Anti-aircraft Gun Site and Dagenham Village. lbbd.gov.uk
• On 18 January 2022 Barking and Dagenham Council confirmed an Article 4 direction covering the whole borough except designated industrial land, removing the permitted development right to add storeys. lbbd.gov.uk
• The Barking and Dagenham additional storeys Article 4 direction requires planning permission for such development and came into force from 22 February 2022. lbbd.gov.uk
• Barking and Dagenham has 45 listed buildings and structures on the statutory list. lbbd.gov.uk
• Barking and Dagenham only allows other HMO proposals if criteria are met, including that flats and HMOs in a road do not exceed 10% of its houses. lbbd.gov.uk
• Barking and Dagenham's building control fee schedule is issued by Be First Building Control, part of Be First Regeneration Limited, at 15 Linton Road, Barking. lbbd.gov.uk
• Barking and Dagenham accepts 4 types of building control application: full plans, building notice, regularisation and demolition. lbbd.gov.uk
• In Barking and Dagenham the building control charge is the same whether you submit a full plans application or a building notice. lbbd.gov.uk

64% of Barking and Dagenham's homes are houses, which keep householder permitted development: a single-storey rear extension within the size limits can usually go ahead without an application, in a conservation area too unless an Article 4 direction removes it. The 36% that are flats have no householder permitted development, so their extensions and most external changes need planning permission from Barking and Dagenham Council. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Barking and Dagenham is defined by one enormous piece of planning: the Becontree estate, built through the 1920s and 1930s and still one of the largest housing developments of its kind anywhere. Across IG11, RM6, RM8, RM9 and RM10 you find those estate houses, later council-built flats and maisonettes, and newer development around Barking town centre. Ownership decides the job as much as construction: many homes were bought from the council, so a flat starts with consent, an estate house with planning.

Former council homes need freeholder consent before a wall comes out

Many properties here were bought from the council. Flats and maisonettes are usually leasehold with the council as freeholder, so written consent comes before any structural or layout alteration: a load-bearing wall removal starts only once that letter is in hand. The lease may also restrict floor coverings and working hours, which shapes any kitchen renovation or bathroom renovation.

On estate houses the gate is planning. Barking and Dagenham Council has designations that vary street by street, and Article 4 directions can remove permitted development rights, so confirm your address before design begins. Where rights apply, a single-storey rear addition is commonly three metres on a terraced or semi-detached house, deeper through prior approval: a house extension job.

Popular starting points in Barking and Dagenham: kitchen renovation in Barking and Dagenham, house extensions across Barking and Dagenham, builders in London and Full House Renovation Cost.