What Can I Do In a Conservation Area?

A Conservation Area is "an area of special historic and architectural interest".

Local Planning Authorities can designate Conservation Areas under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. In Wrexham County Borough there are 21 Conservation Areas. The character of each Conservation Area needs to be identified in order that proposals can be made to preserve or enhance it and change can be positively managed.

Character is sometimes difficult to identify but it usually derives from "sense and quality of place". This can include individual and groups of buildings, their scale and architectural features, spaces around buildings, gardens, boundary walls, views, landscape, trees, land form, the layout of roads, public space, archaeology, and even smells, sound and atmosphere.

What Can I do in a Conservation Area?

Conservation Area designation does not mean that you cannot change anything, but what you do must preserve or enhance the special character of the area. This is in addition to normal planning controls and you should seek the advice of a planning officer when making plans to alter or extend your property on 01978 292017.

You need planning permission if you intend to:

• Enlarge or improve your house more than 50³ or 10% of the original building.
• Clad any part of the exterior with stone, artificial stone, timber, plastic, plastic or tiles.
• Make any alteration to its roof.
• Add a building in the curtilage with a cubic content of 10m³ or greater.
• Install a satellite dish on a chimney, on a building exceeding 15m³ in height or on a roofslope which fronts a highway (a highway is a road, footpath or bridleway).

You need Conservation Area Consent if you intend to:

• Demolish any building with a cubic content of 115m³ or more other than a pre 1925 tomb stone.
• Demolish any gate, fence or other means of enclosure which is more than 1m high next to a highway, waterway or open space, or more than 2m anywhere else.

New Buildings

New development is acceptable in some instances, including the replacement of poor quality buildings, provided they are of high quality design and enhance the area.

You need Consent for Works to Trees Application if you intend to:

• Undertake any works to trees within your boundary (fruit trees are exempt).

For further information and advice contact:
Chief Planning Officer
Lambpit Street
PO Box 1290
Wrexham
LL11 1WL

Email: planning@wrexham.gov.uk | Fax: 01978 292502

For Planning Permission tel: 01978 292017

For Conservation Area Consent tel: 01978 292019

For Consent to Works to Trees, contact the Arboricultural Officer on tel: 01978 292019.

August 2003

More about Conservation Areas

Local Planning Guidance Note No. 4 - Conservation Areas

Planning Environment