Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) has designated almost all of the Wildernesse Estate as a Conservation Area to try to ensure that the general appearance of the Estate, particularly its rural character, is maintained and that any developments in the Area are appropriate in design, size, setting and quality.
The Council’s Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (CAAMP) sets out a range of points which developments should follow. This important document has the status of formal planning guidance and should be considered by any owner, architect or developer intending work in the Wildernesse Conservation Area.
The CAAMP document states that “the historic environment is a social asset of immense value and one of the keys to the continuing prosperity of Sevenoaks District”. However, it also makes clear that Conservation Areas are not intended to prevent development and change. On the contrary, it states that “they are tools for the positive management of change”.
The latest version of the CAAMP document is available via a link on our CAAMP page. The document is 49 pages long, so the WRA Committee has produced its own checklist of key points in CAAMP as an easily digestible, convenient reference. This spreadsheet is also available on the CAAMP page. The scope of the Wildernesse Conservation Area is shown on Map.
The WRA Committee uses CAAMP and other planning documents as a reference when assessing proposed developments. In line with our agreed role, we will oppose any planning application which we believe poses a real threat to the character of the Conservation Area. This is most likely to be the case if the development is extreme in size, seriously threatens the rural appearance of the Estate or appears wholly inappropriate in overall design. (We do not object on narrow matters of style.) We will also object if a development breaches the key covenants protecting the rural character of the Estate. We expect to object only very rarely and if we believe doing so is clearly necessary. When we do so, we inform residents so that they can make their own comments on a planning application, whether for or against.
We expect owners to improve and where needed enlarge their properties in line with modern standards and family requirements. We are pleased to see developments and modernisation which enhance the Estate and Conservation Area.
We will not become involved in planning applications or differences between neighbours unless the issues involved are so extreme that they threaten the character of the Estate as a whole.