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The District Council has the power to designate
Conservation Areas, which are defined as "areas of special
architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of
which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Broadly, the
designation of a Conservation Area means that:
- The Council can exercise a greater level of control over the
merits of development to ensure it is in sympathy with its
surroundings (in terms of materials, scale, etc).
- Applications for all proposed development in a Conservation
Area must be advertised on site as well as in the Press.
- Conservation Area Consent is required for the demolition of all
but minor structures.
- It is more likely the development will require planning
permission.
The Council will review these
Conservation Areas from time to time and may decide to alter the
boundaries of existing Conservation Areas or designate new
Conservation Areas. The latest information on such reviews and any
changes to boundaries will be included on this page.
A series of "Character Appraisals" has been produced for each of
the District's twenty conservation areas. The documents have been
formally adopted by the Council's Planning Portfolio Holder as
planning policy to be used when considering development proposals
within the conservation areas.
The Appraisals contain detailed descriptions of the special
character and appearance of the conservation areas highlighting
significant local features, important buildings and street scenes.
Some features are considered " neutral" or "negative" which may
require future action to bring about improvements. Also suggested
enhancements are included proposing improvements to certain
buildings, spaces around buildings or wider environmental
works.
Finally some of the Appraisals contain suggestions to alter the
existing Conservation Area boundary or introduce additional
planning controls [Article 4 Directions]. Any changes to
conservation area boundaries or the introduction of additional
controls will be considered in the future and will be subject to
separate, statutory procedures involving consultation
exercises.
The District currently has 20 designated Conservation Areas,
listed below.
Click on the links in the table below to view Conservation Area
Appraisals, where you will find text describing the rationale
behind the creation of each Conservation area, Buildings of note,
Maps of the areas and Photo sheets depicting areas and buildings in
their settings:-
DISCLAIMER
CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER
APPRAISALS
These Conservation Area Character Appraisals, adopted by the
Council in March 2006 and appearing on this WebPage are derived
from earlier documents produced for the Council by consultants
Smith Stuart Reynolds in 2001. Subsequently, the Council published
these documents for consultation purposes in late 2005. They were
then partially updated and amended to reflect the comments received
from town and parish councils and other interested parties. No
comprehensive revision and updating of the 2001 documents took
place.
The Council recognises that over time changes have taken place
to various buildings referred to in the Appraisals so that certain
comments / statements made in relation to those buildings are now,
no longer applicable. For up to date information relating to
planning applications, permissions or other developments on
individual buildings referred to in the Appraisals you are advised
to use the Council's
planning public access search engine or
contact Planning Services on 01255 686161
Conservation Area Management
Plans
Conservation Area Management Plans are also being
produced setting out various management proposals for the
Conservation Areas concerned. Such proposals include the
following:
- improvement to the public realm including paving
and landscaping works
- additional controls over small scale domestic
building alterations
- new guidance documents on a range of subjects
including shopfronts, traditional doors and windows, boundary
walls, trees and hedges
- design coding for new
developments
A Conservation Area Management Plan has been
produced for Frinton and it has been formally adopted by the
Council's Planning Portfolio Holder. The document has the status of
an important "material consideration" when considering planning
proposals within the Conservation Area
Please see below links for information on the
Frinton Conservation Area Management Plan -
Frinton Conservation Area Management
Plan
Further Conservation Area Management Plans are being
prepared for Walton, Kirby-le-Soken and Great
Holland.
Draft Conservation Area Management Plans (CAMP) have
now been prepared for Great Holland and
Kirby-le-Soken.
[
link to Great Holland CAMP PDF]
[
link to Great Holland map PDF]
[
link to Kirby-le-Soken CAMP PDF]
[
link to Kirby-le-Soken map PDF]
These documents are now on public consultation for
four weeks from 28 November 2008.
If you wish to make comments on the draft
Conservation Area Management Plans, please use the following simple
questionnaires:
[
link to Great Holland questionnaire ]
[
link to Kirby-le-Soken questionnaire ]
Please send completed questionnaires to
Eddie Booth at the
following address:
The Conservation Studio
1 Querns Lane
Cirencester
Gloucestershire
GL7 1RL
Alternatively, please email completed questionnaires to
info@theconservationstudio.co.uk
or, if you prefer, you may leave comments with Walton Library or
the Town or District Councils and they will be
forwarded.
All comments should be returned by 24 December 2008.
If you have any questions about either draft Conservation Area
Management Plan or the consultation process, please contact Eddie
Booth on 01285 642428 (or use the email address above).
The Conservation Area Management Plans will then be amended to take
on board any comments received and will eventually be formally
adopted by the Council's Planning Portfolio Holder. This will give
each document the status of an important "material consideration"
when considering planning proposals within each respective
Conservation Area.
Once adopted, final versions of each Conservation Area Management
Plan will be available on this website.
The
Draft Walton Conservation Area Management Plan (link here) has
now been published. Following a consultation period any amendments
will be made and then the adopted version will be available on this
page. |