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Conservation areas

What is a conservation area?

Conservation areas are designated by the council for their special architectural and historic interest, which deserves careful management to protect their character. There are presently 30 conservation areas within South Gloucestershire.

The purpose of a conservation area is not to prevent any development but rather to enable its careful management.

What makes conservation areas special?

Various factors contribute to the special character of a conservation area. These include:

  • The quality of buildings, the historic layout of roads and historic settlement patterns;
  • Paths and boundaries;
  • Boundary treatments and patterns of enclosure;
  • Characteristic building and paving materials;
  • Uses and associations; and
  • The quality of the public realm and contribution made by trees and green spaces.

A strong ‘sense of place’ is often associated with conservation areas. It is the function of Conservation Area Appraisals to assess and evaluate ‘character’ as a means of assisting the planning process.

Character appraisals and reviews

Additional information concerning each conservation area is contained in Conservation Area Appraisals produced or adopted by South Gloucestershire Council. These can be found below.

Conservation Area Appraisals set out the main features contributing to an area’s distinctive character and appearance along with a suggested strategy for their preservation and enhancement. When adopted they supplement the policies of the Policies, Sites and Places DPD Plan and Core Strategy and will be used when assessing the merits of development proposals.

Planning permission in conservation areas

Conservation Areas have stricter planning controls so you might need to get permission before you carry out any type of development.

For dwellinghouses, this means you will need planning permission if you want to:

  • Extend beyond a wall forming a side elevation or extend beyond the rear wall with an addition of more than one storey;
  • Clad any part of the exterior;
  • Add to or alter the shape of the roof;
  • Erect a building within the grounds of the dwellinghouse that would be situated on land between the side elevation and the boundary;
  • Install a chimney, flue or soil and vent pipe on a wall or roof slope which fronts a highway and forms the principal elevation or a side elevation of the dwellinghouse;
  • Install an antenna or satellite dish on a chimney, wall or roof slope that faces onto, and is visible from, a highway;
  • Install solar PV or solar thermal equipment on a wall fronting a highway;
  • Demolish a building with a volume of more than 115 cubic metres; or
  • Demolish a gate, fence, wall or railing over 1 metre high next to a road, footpath or public open space or 2 metres high elsewhere.

Additional restrictions also apply to flats and non-domestic buildings in Conservation Areas and you should check with the Development Management Team about the need for planning permission prior to starting any works.

In order to protect the character of a Conservation Area the council may also restrict permitted development for particular classes of development through the imposition of an Article 4 Direction.

Apply for planning permission

Trees in conservation areas

Report a problem with a tree

Trees can make a significant contribution to the character and fabric of Conservation Areas. Anyone wishing to top, lop, fell, uproot or cut down a tree within a conservation area must give the council six weeks advance notice of the intention to do so. Where appropriate the council will make Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) to protect trees in conservation areas and will take into account their visual, historic and amenity contribution in deciding whether they are worthy of protection. Where appropriate the council may require planting of new trees to replace any lost in development.

If you want to carry out works to a tree in a conservation area, regardless of whether it has a TPO, you can apply by completing the form Work to Trees.

The penalty for undertaking work to a tree in a conservation area is the same as for a tree with a Tree Preservation Order (TPO).

Conservation areas

Below you will find links to each conservation area in alphabetical order.

Acton Turville Conservation Area Hambrook Conservation Area Siston Conservation Area
Beach Conservation Area Hanham Abbots Conservation Area Thornbury Conservation Area
Bitton Conservation Area Hawkesbury Conservation Area Tockington Conservation Area
Chipping Sodbury Conservation Area Horton Conservation Area Tormarton Conservation Area
Church Lane Winterbourne Conservation Area Iron Acton Conservation Area

 Tytherington Conservation Area
Cold Ashton Conservation Area Little Badminton Conservation Area Upton Cheyney Conservation Area
Doynton Conservation Area

 Lower Almondsbury Conservation Area Warmley Conservation Area
Dyrham Conservation Area Marshfield Conservation Area

 West Littleton Conservation Area
Frenchay Conservation Area

 Olveston Conservation Area

 Whitfield Tabernacle Conservation Area
Great Badminton Conservation Area Pucklechurch Conservation Area

 Wickwar Conservation Area
Winterbourne Conservation Area

 

 

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