Conservation Areas

• Planning Permission
• Demolition and Conservation Area Consent
• Trees
• Materials
• Article 4 Directions
• Determining Planning Applications in Conservation Areas
• Pre Application Advice
• Policy Statements and Design Guides

What is a Conservation Area?

There are 28 conservation areas in Haringey. They vary in age, size, character and style. They include areas such as Highgate, parts of Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Tottenham High Road and Stroud Green.

A conservation area is a place of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

Conservation areas can be designated for their special architectural interest that may derive from the setting or features provided by a collection of buildings and spaces. Alternatively, a conservation area may be designated for its historic interest. An example may be a site of some former historic event. In many cases an area is designated in recognition of both its architectural and historic interest. The Local Authority normally makes the designation.

Please refer to our 'interactive UDP' map for conservation areas or a paper version of the UDP map can be purchased for £25 from the planning policy team. Please follow the link to the local development plan page for further details.

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Why Designate A Conservation Area?

We have a duty to designate as a conservation area any area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

Conservation area designation is a means of recognising the importance of the quality of an area as a whole, as well as protecting individual buildings.

Conservation areas are not designated to stop future development. Instead, designation seeks to manage change in order to enhance conservation areas and ensure that new developments preserve and enhance their character.

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What Are The Effects Of Conservation Area Designation?

Planning Permission

Conservation areas are subject to additional planning controls under the planning legislation.

For example, you may need to apply for planning permission for alterations or extensions that would not normally require planning permission outside of conservation areas.

These include:

• Extensions over 50 cubic metres in;
• Outbuildings over 10 cubic metres;
• Cladding (inc. stone, artificial stone, timber, plastic or tiles);
• Roof alteration / enlargement and dormer windows; and
• Satellite antennae in certain positions.

Demolition and Conservation Area Consent

Special controls also exist over demolition in conservation areas. In some cases, persons wishing to carry out demolition may need to acquire conservation area consent beforehand.

You will need conservation area consent to demolish a building in a conservation area. Generally, we are in favour of keeping all buildings that make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of a conservation area.

Conservation area consent may also be required for the demolition of boundary walls in a conservation area. This would be the case for a wall that is over 1 metre facing a public highway, or over 2 metres in any other case.

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Trees

Trees in conservation areas are also afforded additional protection. You must give the Council six weeks notice, in writing, before any work is carried out to prune or fell a tree in a conservation area.

Materials

The Council may also require developers to use particular materials or styles that preserve the conservation area’s character.

Many smaller changes are not subject to control and the area’s character often depends on sensitive repair and maintenance by property owners. For example, alterations to windows / doors are not effected by Conservation Area designation; therefore the Council would not have control over this. The Council can only exercise control over alterations to windows and doors in flats as they do not have any permitted development rights in any case.

Article 4 Directions

Additional controls are applied to minor developments within certain conservation areas in the form of Article 4 Directions. These directions can control small-scale change that can gradually erode the character of a conservation area, such as alterations to windows and doors or the creation of car parking space at the front of a property. Where an Article 4 Direction is applied, planning permission would be required for specified developments.

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Determining Planning Applications in Conservation Areas

In conservation areas development control officers will deal with applications for planning permission or conservation area consent with input and support from the Design and Conservation Team. Applications will be subject to the usual time limits and procedures of any planning application.

Applications are considered against conservation policies and can be refused on conservation grounds alone. Permission or consent should only be granted if a proposal enhances or preserves the character or appearance of the Conservation Area. As with a planning application outside a conservation area, an applicant maintains the right to appeal against a refusal for planning permission, or against any conditions attached to a permission or consent.

Pre Application Advice

If you live in a conservation area, the Design and Conservation Team can provide you with pre-application advice regarding conservation issues that may arise during the application process. This service is available free of charge for householders and for applicants with proposals of less than two units Contact details for the team are available from the Design and Conservation home page.

If your proposal is for two units or more you will need to request a formal pre-application advice meeting. Please see the pre-application planning advice services page for more information.

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Policy Statements and Design Guides

A number of Haringey’s conservation areas have suppleamentary planning guidance in the form of Policy Statements and Design Guides that were produced as part of the 1998 UDP, but these have been superseded by Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) 2: Conservation & Archaeology.

However, these documents still provide useful background information on a conservation area’s history and form, and policies and proposals to preserve and enhance an area’s character and appearance.

Please refer to the attached file section below.

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Attached Files

Filename	Filetype	Size
spg 2 - conservation archaeology-2.pdf	PDF	68K
spg 3.1 tower gardens.pdf	PDF	4602K
spg 3.2 campsbourne cottage estate.pdf	PDF	147K
spg 3.3 bowes park conservation area.pdf	PDF	222K
spg 3.4 hillfield conservation area.pdf	PDF	181K
spg 3.5 highgate bowl.pdf	PDF	218K
PDF documents require Adobe Acrobat reader. Please click here to download.

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