Yes, and in most of Plaistow heritage rules won't be what stops you. Only a handful of buildings are listed. One conservation area covers part of it. The neighbours put in planning applications all the time. What deserves more attention than the paperwork is the clay underneath.
Historic England lists 20 buildings in and around Plaistow: one at Grade I, none at Grade II*, and 19 at Grade II. Listing protects the whole building, inside and out, so almost any change to one needs listed building consent on top of planning permission. Twenty buildings spread across this many streets means the chance of buying one by accident is small. If you do, the conservation officer has a say in what you do to it.
There is one conservation area, University Area. Inside it, Newham's planners control more than usual: demolition needs consent, and changes to how a house looks from the street get a closer look. Outside it, Plaistow's terraces have no conservation-area controls. In the one part of Plaistow where the planners care about the front of your house, the area is named after a university.
Plaistow is not short of planning paperwork. Between April 2024 and June 2026, 665 planning applications were lodged for Plaistow, and 326 of them in the last twelve months. Most of them are householders asking for more room, and in a place this crowded that is no surprise.
The ground is where Plaistow does stand out. The British Geological Survey puts the whole area in class 3 for shrink-swell, which means the clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry enough to move foundations. The whole area is also in class 3 for compressible ground. Neither is a reason to give up on an extension. They are reasons to get a structural engineer to look at foundation depth before the builder starts, especially near trees, where roots draw water out of the clay. An extension on Plaistow's clay costs more underground than you might expect.
One listed building in the area is on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register. That means it is in poor condition and being watched, and any repair may get grant money and will certainly get scrutiny. It is a problem for whoever owns that building, not a risk to the terraced house down the road.
In practice, the type of home decides most of it. About 46% of Plaistow's homes are terraced houses, and outside the conservation area many rear extensions and loft conversions on them can go ahead under permitted development rights without a full application. Flats, about 51% of the stock, do not have those householder rights, so almost any external change to one needs planning permission. For a terrace, the useful step is to ask Newham council for a lawful development certificate confirming that the work is permitted, and to have it in writing before anyone orders materials, because a builder saying it's fine is not the same as the council agreeing.
Plaistow is a fairly ordinary place to extend. Heritage rules affect very few homes, flats need full permission, and the clay underneath decides how much the job costs.