Builders in Wandsworth Town

Homes in Wandsworth Town

Wandsworth's Urban Design Study describes Old York Road as a mini high street of consistent two- and three-storey London stock terraces, with the streets north of East Hill laid out in regular grids of two- and three-storey houses in gault brick with Gothic Revival detailing. The Old York Road conservation area appraisal dates its residential terraces, all two storeys and stepping down the hill from Dighton Road, to the late 1870s to 1890s.

Beside Wandsworth Common, the Toast Rack streets (Baskerville, Dorlcote, Henderson, Nicosia and Patten Roads) were laid out on a grid in the 1890s. The council's appraisal describes a tight grid of good-quality late-Victorian red-brick terraced, semi-detached and detached houses of two and three storeys, whose character relies on the uniformity of their features and front boundary walls.

Planning in Wandsworth Town

Wandsworth Town is covered by the London Borough of Wandsworth. The Old York Road conservation area, designated in 2019, covers Alma, Ballantine, Dalby, Bramford and Podmore Roads, Old York Road and part of Dighton Road. The Wandsworth Town conservation area includes the East Hill terraces, and the Toast Rack falls within the Wandsworth Common conservation area. All have appraisals on Wandsworth's conservation areas pages. None of these streets is covered by a householder Article 4 direction at the time of writing, but conservation area status still limits permitted development.

The Old York Road appraisal is specific: extensions are suitable only to the rear, rear mansards should not project above the existing ridge, new render is not normally approved, and lightwells and basements are not characteristic, so are likely only appropriate where a cellar already exists. It treats raised ridges from bulky mansards and outriggers as harmful, and names uPVC windows, artificial slate and irregular rooflights as pressures to manage. Around the Common, the Urban Design Study rates the area as highly sensitive and says extensive change is not appropriate. Wandsworth's Housing guidance covers lofts and rear extensions borough-wide.

Basements in Wandsworth are governed by Policy LP6 of the Wandsworth Local Plan (adopted 2023). It allows no more than one storey below ground, limits a basement to half of the existing rear garden, requires at least a metre of permeable soil and a drainage layer above any part under the garden, and asks for a pumped device to protect against sewer flooding. Lightwells must leave at least half the depth of the front garden, and in the higher flood zones basement bedrooms are not allowed.

Worth knowing locally

• Wandsworth's flood risk assessment places parts of Wandsworth Town in Flood Zones 2 and 3 around the River Wandle, which is culverted under Southside, with groundwater possible along the Wandle corridor and surface water flooding recorded at Frogmore and Armoury Way. Check your flood zone before planning anything below ground.
• The Toast Rack appraisal notes front boundary walls lost to parking, particularly on Nicosia Road, so keeping or reinstating walls and front gardens is part of a well-received scheme.
• Wandsworth Town station opened in 1846 as plain "Wandsworth" and was renamed in 1903; the terraces that grew up around it step down the hill, so roof lines and ridge heights are closely watched.