Construction Management Plans in Wandsworth

Wandsworth asks for a Construction Management Plan at application stage: its Local Validation Checklist (July 2026) requires one with every major application, with basement and other confined-site schemes, and with substantial demolition or excavation, and the plan must be signed by a chartered civil or structural engineer. There is no fill-in pro-forma. What the plan must cover comes from the checklist, Local Plan Policies LP6 and LP14, and the council’s Construction Code of Practice, which sets the working hours, dust and machinery standards every site is expected to follow, while TfL handles licensing on the borough’s red routes.

When Wandsworth Requires a CMP

Wandsworth’s Local Validation Checklist (July 2026) requires a Construction Management Plan to be submitted with the planning application for:

• All major planning applications
• Developments of sites in confined locations, including basements and subterranean developments, or near sensitive receptors
• Schemes involving substantial demolition or excavation
• Basement development to listed buildings or other heritage assets

Who Signs It and What It Must Cover

Unusually, the checklist requires the CMP to be signed by a Chartered Civil Engineer (MICE) or Chartered Structural Engineer (MIStructE), so engineering input is needed before submission. The same triggers appear in Local Plan Policy LP14 (adopted July 2023), which calls the document a Construction Management Statement; the abbreviation CMS is also used for the separate Construction Method Statement that basement schemes need, so check which document a condition actually refers to. LP14 was not changed by the Local Plan Partial Review adopted in March 2026, which replaced only six housing policies.

Rather than a template, the checklist sets the minimum content. The CMP must give details of:

• Control of construction noise and vibration during noisy activities, and how 24-hour disturbance to residents will be minimised
• A construction waste and materials strategy, including delivery booking, vehicle holding arrangements and targets for using the river to move materials where feasible
• Control and monitoring of dust, fine particles and odours, and a low emission strategy for construction traffic and machinery
• Construction traffic routing through the area and into the site, with signage and an enforcement system for breaches
• Piling and foundation methods in relation to groundwater, protection of controlled waters, and how cross-contamination and unexpected contamination will be dealt with
• Site security and coordination with neighbouring development sites
• Cranes and other tall equipment, including obstacle lighting, in line with Advice Note 4, Cranes and Other Construction Issues

Construction Logistics Plans and Red Routes

A Construction Logistics Plan and Delivery and Servicing Plan are required with all Mayoral referable applications, covering construction traffic levels, routes, significant traffic management and sensitive routes to avoid, with TfL’s freight guidance as the reference. Wandsworth’s Planning Obligations SPD (December 2025) adds that a CLP may be required on major sites even where no full transport assessment is needed, giving a 49-flat scheme as an example, and that on large or heavily trafficked sites the CLP will be secured through the Section 106 agreement or a pre-commencement condition. Under Policy LP50, schemes close to navigable waterways must consider maximising use of the River Thames to bring in materials and remove waste.

Red routes are TfL’s responsibility: Wandsworth cannot issue scaffold, hoarding or skip licences on them, only on side roads connected to them, and anything placed on a red route needs TfL’s permission. In Wandsworth they include York Road, Nine Elms Lane, Battersea Park Road, Battersea Bridge Road, Trinity Road, West Hill, Upper Richmond Road, Wandsworth High Street, Balham High Road and Tooting High Street.

Construction Working Hours in Wandsworth

Wandsworth’s Construction Code of Practice (January 2022) is a council policy attached to relevant planning approvals and building control applications. Where neighbours are likely to be affected, noisy work is normally restricted to 8am–6pm Monday to Friday and 8am–1pm on Saturdays, with no noisy activities on Sundays or bank holidays. Scaffolding counts as noisy work, vehicles and plant arriving at or leaving the site must keep to the same hours, and deliveries and collections should fall within them, timed to take account of schools, commuter traffic and transport hubs. Planning conditions or a Section 61 consent can set tighter limits, and any deviation from the Code needs the council’s agreement before the works start.

Watch the overlap with highway licensing: Wandsworth’s scaffold and hoarding licence conditions require erection in off-peak hours (early morning, at night or at weekends) in town centres and busy pedestrian areas, with times agreed in advance. Where that falls outside the Code’s hours, the council’s prior agreement under the Code is needed as well.

Noise, Dust, Air Quality and Machinery

The whole borough is an Air Quality Management Area, and an Air Quality Impact Assessment is required with all major applications. The Code sets practical standards that a Wandsworth CMP is expected to reflect:

• Sheet piling by hydraulic or vibratory hammers wherever practicable, with conventional impact hammers avoided, Rapid Impact Compression generally treated as unsuitable in an urban setting, and the council consulted on the piling method
• Noise, vibration and air quality monitoring where the council requires it, agreed before work starts; continuous monitoring may be required on high-risk sites, with council access to the data
• Screening with debris screens, sheets or hoarding at least 2.4m high where practicable, covered stockpiles, sheeted lorries and wheel washing on larger sites
• No burning of materials on site, and a Dust Risk Assessment, usually within a Construction Environmental Management Plan, where one is agreed through planning
• Every site registered on the Mayor of London’s NRMM register on or before commencement, Stage V generators, and mains or temporary power connected as early as possible; Policy LP14 also allows NRMM standards to be imposed by condition
• FORS Bronze as the minimum expected of contractors, and all site vehicles compliant with the LEZ and ULEZ

Basements in Wandsworth

Local Plan Policy LP6 permits a new or extended basement only where it is no more than one storey deep and, for homes, extends under no more than 50% of the existing rear garden. With 46 conservation areas in the borough, the stricter lightwell rule applies widely: in conservation areas a lightwell must keep at least 2m or 50% of the original front garden depth, whichever is greater (50% elsewhere). At least 1m of permeable soil and a 200mm drainage layer are required above any basement beneath a garden, along with a positive pumped device against sewer flooding, and Policy LP12 rules out basements altogether in Flood Zone 3b.

On the construction side, a basement in a confined location triggers the CMP requirement above. Basement development to listed buildings or heritage assets also needs a Construction Method Statement covering the appointed civil or structural engineer, ground and hydrological conditions, temporary works and propping, sequencing to limit the effect on neighbours, cumulative impacts and a construction traffic management plan, and basements to listed buildings need a schedule of works and a Structural Impact Assessment. The council’s basement guidance strongly encourages a CMS on every basement project, says it must be independently verified at the applicant’s cost (a service Wandsworth Building Control offers), and advises joining a considerate constructors scheme and avoiding grab lorries, which can block the highway.

Highways Licences and Council Fees

Scaffold, hoarding and skip licences must be applied for at least five working days before the start date (applications received after 3pm count from the next working day), with £5 million public liability insurance. Scaffold and hoarding licences run for a minimum of 28 days, an Inspection and Enforcement Officer meets you on site to confirm fees and conditions, and renewals must arrive three working days before expiry or a new licence is needed. A temporary traffic order to close a footway or carriageway takes at least eight weeks and costs £2,016, mobile plant such as mobile cranes and concrete pumps needs at least two weeks’ notice at £212 a day, and a tower crane oversailing the highway is licensed at £162.74 for the first month and £108.19 a month after that.

Discharging a CMP or CLP condition costs the national fee of £309 per request (£89 for householder schemes) from 1 April 2026. Where the plan is secured through a Section 106 agreement instead, Wandsworth charges an S106 monitoring fee calculated on officer time, at £156 an hour in its 2026/27 Planning Obligations Calculator. Highway licence and suspension fees are additional; for 2026/27 they include:

• Scaffolding up to 10m of frontage, or hoarding up to 10m: £221.50 per 28 days
• Scaffolding over 10m of frontage, or hoarding up to 20m: £836 per 28 days; hoarding over 20m: £1,253
• An inspection fee of £53.50 per scaffold or hoarding application and renewal
• Skips: £37.60 for up to 14 days and £72.20 for 28 days, with a 12 cubic yard maximum and no grab lorries to empty them
• Parking bay suspensions alongside a licence in a CPZ: per 5m space per chargeable day, £43.40 for up to five days, £60.90 for 6–35 days and £77.40 beyond that

How CMP Construct Helps in Wandsworth

CMP Construct prepares council-compliant Construction Management Plans across Wandsworth and more than 20 London boroughs. We draft most plans within 7–10 working days, submit in the format Wandsworth Council expects, and handle officer comments through to discharge of your condition. Where your condition also asks for a Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP), a Construction Logistics Plan (CLP) or a Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP), we produce them as one consistent package. New to the process? Start with our complete guide to Construction Management Plans or see what a CMP costs.

Official Wandsworth Guidance

The council documents below set out Wandsworth Council's own requirements. We work to these day to day; they are linked here so you can verify any requirement directly:

• Wandsworth Construction Code of Practice (January 2022)
• Wandsworth Local Validation Checklist (July 2026)
• Wandsworth Local Plan (July 2023): Policies LP6, LP14 and LP50
• Wandsworth highway licence fees (2026/27)

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