Advice for Owners
Kingsdown contains an extensive conservation area including many buildings constructed during the eighteenth century and later. Just one is a listed building, but within the conservation area, there are specific restrictions on permitted development.
The planning section of the Dover District Council website gives detailed information on the conservation area, including the area appraisal. There is also a map showing its extent (a copy of which is reproduced here), together with the full text of the Article 4(1) direction that specifies constraints on development which would otherwise normally be permitted.
Advice for Owners
Kingsdown contains an extensive conservation area including many buildings constructed during the eighteenth century and later. Just one is a listed building, but within the conservation area, there are specific restrictions on permitted development.
The planning section of the Dover District Council website gives detailed information on the conservation area, including the area appraisal. There is also a map showing its extent (a copy of which is reproduced here), together with the full text of the Article 4(1) direction that specifies constraints on development which would otherwise normally be permitted.
About the conservation area
The purpose of establishing Kingsdown Conservation Area was to preserve its appearance for posterity because of the scene it creates and the history it contains and represents. It was established following an appraisal which was formally adopted as a local development document on 5 October 2015. Extensions to the conservation area boundary were the subject of a separate consultation and were agreed and adopted on 29 February 2016.
Gaining consent
There are limits to what you can legally do to alter or change your property without first gaining consent. Conservation legislation is not designed to stop changes being made, but to ensure that what is proposed is given careful thought. Adherence to planning rules is essential if you live in the conservation area.
Our advice is that any alterations should be discussed with the Planning Department of Dover District Council (DDC) prior to any planning application. Please don’t think this is an option: it is essential. Work with DDC from the beginning.
Planning decisions for the area are guided by ‘Article 4(2) Direction’, copies of which are available from the DDC. What follows is a summary.
Article 4(2) direction
External The direction requires the submission of a planning application for the following items of work, on a single dwelling house in the conservation area, open space:
• Alteration to the roof of a dwelling house
• Erection or construction or change of a porch outside any external door of a dwelling house
• Installation, alteration or replacement of a chimney, flue or soil and vent pipe on a dwelling house
• Installation, alteration or replacement of a microwave antenna on a dwelling house or other structure within the curtilage of a dwelling house
• Erection construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure, within the curtilage of a dwelling house
• Painting of the exterior of any building
• Demolition in whole or part of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure
Permission may not be required if the work to be done is remedial and simply replaces ‘like for like’, for example the same colour paint or windows of the same design and material.
Trees All trees in a conservation area are protected. A tree may not be cut down without approval from the DDC Planning authority. Permission for work on a tree, including surgery and pollarding, must also be obtained. If permission is given for a tree to be removed, there is normally a requirement that another be planted in its place, or close by.
Internal Alterations that do not affect the elevations of the building such as interior decorating, wiring and the like are governed in the same way as for buildings outside a conservation area and planning permission may not be required. However, building regulations are enforced by the local authority building control department. It is unwise to start any kind of work without telephoning to check whether building control approval is required.
Contact information
The Conservation Officer, Dover District Council
White Cliffs Business Park, Dover CT16 3PJ,
tel: 01304 821199
email: conservation@dover.gov.uk
Here are some points to bear in mind when you write to Dover District Council. You can comment on the planning portal online, by email or by post.
In order that the application is referred to the planning committee rather than decided by an officer on the planning department, at least five separate objections must be submitted within the deadline specified on the website (typically 3-4 weeks from posting of an notice at the property). It is important that you comment individually. Petitions are likely to be disregarded. It is advisable that copies be sent to Ringwould with Kingsdown Parish Council too.
Ideally you should comment before the specified deadline to ensure it arrives in good time; however if you are a bit late you can do so right up to the day prior to the planning meeting.
In addition, you should consider attending the parish council meetings and voicing your objections to district councillors.
The objections need to be framed as Material Considerations which include:
Note that the following are not material considerations. However it does no harm to air your views.
