Conservation area - applying for consent

[Fluffyhairteddy]

Hello everyone. A bit of a novice here so please excuse my ignorance. I live in a conservation area and need to make some minor ish changes to my property - I want to replace rotting shutters (like for like but change paint colour as it’s awful and not what original would have been), replace paving and patio stones front and back (again - these are in poor condition and not original), replace waste pipe with white one to match the render on the house (currently it is black and sticks out like a sore thumb. Next door - I’m in a semi- is white and it looks so much better).

I spoke to the council and they advised me that consent would be required. I’ve never had to apply for consent before - I moved in relatively recently - is this something I would prepare documentation wise or would an architect or another professional do this for me? If so which type?

I’m sorry for the ignorance. This is first place I’ve lived alone since my divorce. It’s hard not having anyone to discuss with. Thanks so very much for any reply xxx

You should be able to speak to planning services at the council and they can talk you through exactly what’s required, I would imagine you could do it yourself.

it's not ignorance :) - it's the sort of thing you wouldn't have done before!

yes, planning services at the council will give advice. It's worth asking them if you have to prepare any other statements - e.g. in our conservation area, depending on the work, they might ask for a heritage statement to make sure what you're doing is in line with the other buildings in the area. Our old house (also in a conservation area) wasn't bothered about that at all.

So give them a call and see what they say. if iyou aren't confident doing it yourself, have a look through the other planning applications in your area (you can search on your council's planning portal) and see who other people have used recently to prepare these type of things and give them a call and see if they will give you some free advice (or how much it will cost them to do the docs for you).

Good luck finding any planning authority who is willing and able to give advice at this time. You need to find the Article 4 direction for your conservation area which states what you will and won't need permission for. Then search their website for the planning checklist and what documents are required. You may be able to get away with just submitting photos of the old shutters and annotate them to say 'new to match existing, colour to be xxx'. (The colour may be dictated by the Article 4 direction.) If you're still struggling, find a small scale architect/architectural designer to help you out.

Thanks everyone. So helpful.
@wineymummy - yes, their ‘Pre application advice’ service is suspended sadly. Thanks again x

I’ve found design guidance for where I live. Really interesting. The checklist from the council states:

“When applying for Planning Permission you should submit the original and three copies of the relevant application form, design and access statement and scaled drawings showing:
• a location plan ideally at a scale of 1:1250 - with the site outlined in red
• what your property looks like now and what you propose to do to it (existing and proposed
block plans)
• how the proposal would affect neighbouring or adjoining houses (plans showing your property in relation to your neighbours)
• full elevations and floor plans at a scale of 1:100 or 1:50
• details of proposed windows, doors and other relevant features at a scale of 1:20 or 1:10.”

I think scaled drawings are beyond my area of expertise. Time to find some help. ☹️☹️