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BUILDING GUIDELINES

The following guidelines appear as Chapter 9 of the new Village Design Statement.

• 9.1   NEW BUILDINGS
• 9.2   EXTENSIONS & ALTERATIONS
• 9.3   FEATURES TO AVOID
• 9.4   MAKING USE OF THESE GUIDELINES

While the following guidelines are of general application, they are of particular importance when dealing with a site within the Conservation Area or with any Listed Buildings. They also incorporate principles outlined inchapters 1 to 8 of the Village Design Statement.

9.1 NEW BUILDINGS

1. These should be designed in a style which harmonises with their immediate neighbours. The height, volume and overall appearance of any new building must be in proportion to what is already there. For example, a two storey building should not be built in the middle of a row of bungalows.
2. When a group of buildings is proposed, standard estate€� designs should be avoided and a mixture of designs adopted to provide a range of house sizes.
3. The imaginative use of design details - in windows, finials, barge-boards, hanging tiles, shaped bricks, etc., - should be encouraged, so long as they do not clash with those on neighbouring properties and so long as they are not architecturally inappropriate.
4. Designs should embody similar brick colouring and sufficient features from neighbouring properties to give the effect of continuity.
5. The use of knapped flint walling should be encouraged in new developments, both in the walls dividing properties and in the properties themselves. Hedges should be of indigenous hedging plants, such as hawthorn, beech, holly and yew.
6. Generous open spaces must be allowed for within any new housing development. The development at Southdene is a fine example of what can be achieved.
7. All new building development must incorporate off-street parking to ensure that current village parking problems are not worsened. New garages should be sited, wherever possible, behind the front wall of the house. Blocks of garages or parking spaces should be avoided.
8. Light pollution should be minimised. Future developments should not include provision for street lighting.
9. Any development which might involve an increase in current noise levels will not be acceptable.
10. The preservation of existing trees and the planting of new ones will need to be a central part of any new village development, whether the development consists of multiple or single buildings.

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9.2 EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS.

1. Higher standards of design and external appearance will be required on properties in or adjacent to Conservation areas and on prominent sites.
2. The preservation of existing period buildings of whatever size is required, whether or not they are listed, and their demolition in whole or in part should not be permitted without strong justification. Preservation of period features both externally and internally is equally important.
3. Extensions and outbuildings should be in matching materials and design to the main building and also be kept in proportion to it.
4. Roofs should similarly be in matching materials to those on the main roof and have a similar pitch.
5. Windows and doors should match the style, proportions, positioning and detail of those in the main building and be constructed of the same materials with similar glazing patterns. Double glazing should be installed in as sympathetic a style as possible.
6. Chimneys should not be shortened or demolished, as this can spoil the symmetry of a group of buildings, and can also distort the appearance of a single building.
7. Original external decorative features on the main building should be repeated in the extension.

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9.3 FEATURES TO AVOID.

1. Flat roofs.
2. Garages in front of the building line.
3. Buildings which exceed the height and scale of neighbouring properties, or (in the case of extensions) the original building.
4. Large buildings on small sites, without adequate garden or landscaping.
5. The use of concrete, multi-coloured or composition roof and wall tiles.
6. The use of cement or pebbledash rendering, except on extensions to a building so treated.
7. Badly designed, overlarge or otherwise incongruous windows. Window design should, wherever possible, reflect one of the wide variety of window styles already found in the village.
8. Planting of coniferous hedging on front boundaries. Cupressus leylandii are considered particularly unsuitable.
9. The use of yellow, bright red or multi-coloured bricks, synthetic stone or brick finishes.
10. The use of raised or coloured pointing on house or boundary walls.
11. The use of solar panels or satellite dishes on front elevations.

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9.4 MAKING USE OF THESE GUIDELINES.

1. Look at the front of the property from some distance and from any other angle from which the new building work will be seen by others.
2. Check whether the new work will obstruct or interfere with a well-regarded view.
3. Make a note of those features which makes the property distinctive or help it blend with its neighbours. Does the new work reflect these features ?
4. Look at the roof line of the proposed new building. Does it have the same pitch as the original building ? Do the new tiles match the old ?
5. Look at the windows. Are they the same size and style as those in the original building with matching glazing patterns ?
6. Are the bricks to be used the same colour as the originals and is any brick decoration on the original repeated in the new ?
7. Will there be adequate space between your property (when extended) and the neighbours ? Will it block light to your neighbours windows ?
8. Is any proposed extension in proportion to the original building, both in terms of height and size ?
9. If there is to be a new front boundary, will it blend in with those of your neighbour ?
10. Will the new building project beyond the front wall of your neighbours houses ?
11. Will there be sufficient off-street parking ?

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