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.

• Trees are given added protection.

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:

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.