{"id":49,"date":"2012-03-01T22:13:34","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T22:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sthelensresidents.org.uk\/?page_id=49"},"modified":"2019-12-01T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T15:15:52","slug":"conservation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/sthelensresidents.org.uk\/?page_id=49","title":{"rendered":"Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over 70 per cent of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea is covered by 35 separate conservation areas.\u00a0 The council takes seriously its heritage.\u00a0\u00a0More details of the council’s approach to conservation are here<\/a><\/p>\n

The Oxford Gardens\/St Quintins Conservation Area was designated in 1975, comparatively early in the history of conservation areas in the Borough.\u00a0 This happened partly in response to the threat to the area from proposals for a Channel Tunnel terminal, and partly because of an active residents group keen to protect this part of London.<\/p>\n

The Oxfords Gardens Conservation Area was extended in 2002 to include properties in additional streets. \u00a0These included streets which were previously in Hammersmith & Fulham, prior to an adjustment of the borough boundary. \u00a0A map of the Conservation Area boundary (thick green line) and the main features that lie within the SHRA\/StQW neighbourhood, is below.<\/p>\n

\"Boundary<\/a>

Boundary of Oxford Gardens Conservation Area<\/p><\/div>\n

Our\u00a0streets are are within a conservation area because they were built as a high quality and homogeneous example of Victorian and Edwardian housebuilding.\u00a0 The area includes little by way of individual heritage assets.<\/p>\n

This part of the wider St Quintin Estate was built from 1905 onwards.\u00a0 The building firm of E T Daley and A S Franklin signed an agreement with W H Quintin to build several hundred two storey family houses.\u00a0 These were built on the ‘red brick’ streets laid out by the St Quintin family and now known as Oxford Gardens (west of St Helens Gardens), Finstock Road, Wallingford Avenue, Balliol Road, Highlever Road, Kingsbridge Avenue, Kelfield Gardens and St Quintin Avenue.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Oxford Gardens\/St Quintins Conservation Area Proposals Statement can be found on the RBKC website\u00a0here <\/a>(scroll down a long list to ‘Oxford Gardens).\u00a0 It was reviewed and updated in 1990.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the Council has been replacing these ‘CAPS’ documents with a new format of Conservation Area Appraisals (CAAs).\u00a0 A\u00a0draft version<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/a>of the new\u00a0 Conservation Area Appraisal for Oxford Gardens<\/a> was consulted on in 2018 but has yet to be published in its final form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where a property is in a conservation area, it does not mean that changes or alterations cannot be made.\u00a0 But there are tighter controls on what is allowed. \u00a0In many cases these restrictions result from specific Article 4 Directions adopted by the Council. \u00a0These Directions remove specified ‘Permitted Development’ rights that apply nationally, and mean that planning permission is needed for the types of works or development involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Common examples of alterations where planning permission is likely to be needed\u00a0 include rear dormer windows for loft conversions, roof coverings (slates may need to be replaced with slates, and tiles with tiles), using impermeable paving or slate in front gardens, installing roof-lights, and alterations to facades facing the street. \u00a0Alterations to front boundary walls, and adding oversized bin or bike stores in front gardens,<\/strong>\u00a0may also need planning permission unless the works involved fall within national Permitted Development Rights and these rights have not<\/em> been removed or varied via a RBKC Article 4 Direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it can be complicated to establish what building alterations are allowed, and not allowed, within this neighbourhood.\u00a0 House owners would be well advised the check the position carefully before undertaking works, particularly where these affect the appearance of the house from the street. \u00a0You can contact the RBKC conservation team by calling 020 7361 3352.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Council has an active team working on planning enforcement, and will issue Enforcement Notices requiring property owners to carry out remedial works or to remove alterations where planning permission was needed but has not been obtained. \u00a0This can prove an expensive business.<\/p>\n

The St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan\u00a0<\/a>includes a number of new and\/or updated conservation policies which are applied by RBKC when considering planning applications within the boundary of the StQW neighbourhood area (thin red line on map above).<\/p>\n

These policies were formulated and agreed via open meetings of the Forum during 2015, as the StQW Draft Plan was being prepared. \u00a0In some cases they introduce variations to former RBKC policies. \u00a0The aim has been to ensure that policies are consistent across the neighbourhood, and pay more heed to how house-owners wish to adapt and use their properties internally.<\/p>\n

For example, installation of rear dormer windows was not previously allowed in a number of streets in the area, under RBKC policies. \u00a0This prevented some owners from creating a loftroom, a popular means of extending a home.<\/p>\n

StQW Policy C1 now applies, allowing rear dormers in all streets (excluding the ‘cottage’ properties where roofspace is insufficient for loftrooms, in the streets shown in orange as area 2 on the map above).\u00a0 Rear dormers still require planning approval and need to meet RBKC guidelines on size and positioning within the roofscape.<\/p>\n

Annexe A of the StQW Neighbourhood Plan gives more details and explanation on the relationship between RBKC conservation policies, StQW policies, Article 4 Directions and national Permitted Development Rights.<\/p>\n

You can check which Article 4 Directions apply in each street in the Borough via the list on the RBKC website at this <\/span>link<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0The main ones affecting this conservation area are numbers 46, 62, and 63.<\/span><\/p>\n

A brief summary of the issues covered by Article 4 Directions that apply within the Oxford Gardens Conservation Area is as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n