Plymouth's Architectural Heritage

Plymouth's Historic Planning Applications from 1851

Searching the plans

You can search the plans using our our online catalogue which currently contains details of around 17,000 properties and is being added to on a daily basis. You can view the catalogue in two ways:

• Go to the search page to enter the address or name of a property
• See all of the building control plans in the online catalogue as a list

Please note that not all of the records we hold have been added to our online catalogue. If you can't find details of a property that you're interested in, please email pwdro@plymouth.gov.uk.

For present day information on the planning process and planning enquiries, visit our planning pages or planning online website.

Area covered

The applications cover the areas administered by the following bodies:

• Borough of Plymouth
• Borough of Devonport
• Urban District of East Stonehouse
• Urban District of Compton Gifford
• Plympton St Mary Rural District Council
• Plymouth City Council

The applications

Each application is normally made up of three parts:

• The first part is the plan packet, which details the name of the property, the owner and the date of approval or rejection.
• The second part is the form of notice of either a new building or alteration to an existing one. This gives a written description of the property and details what is to take place. There may be numerous forms, detailing each planning application for the property.
• The third part consists of the architect’s plans. These detail what is to be built - the plans, sections and elevations - and will usually give the names of the architect, owner and developer. Again, there may be numerous plans corresponding to each application.

Access

The applications and plans can be viewed in our public search room, by appointment, during our normal opening hours. See our visiting us page for further details.

Copying service

In most cases the plans are too large for us to photocopy. Images can be taken of the plans in our Public Search Room using your own camera for a small fee.

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