Planning application drawings in Bourne

Householder planning in Bourne — the record

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council granted 97% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 10 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Bourne contains Budd's Green, Shipbourne, Claygate Cross, Plaxtol, Fairlawne conservation areas (Budd's Green, Shipbourne designated 1993), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.

The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. In conservation areas such as Budd's Green, Shipbourne, Claygate Cross, Plaxtol and Fairlawne those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bourne is determined against an 8-week statutory target.

Budd's Green, Shipbourne (conservation area designated in 1993), Claygate Cross, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Fairlawne (conservation area designated in 1972), Hadlow (conservation area designated in 1972), North Frith, Hadlow (conservation area designated in 1993), Old Soar and Allen's, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1972), Roughway, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Shipbourne (conservation area designated in 1989), The Freehold, Hadlow (conservation area designated in 2011), Hadlow (civil parish within Bourne), Plaxtol (civil parish within Bourne) and Shipbourne (civil parish within Bourne) — these are the Bourne pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Budd's Green, Shipbourne, Claygate Cross, Plaxtol, Fairlawne, Hadlow, North Frith, Hadlow, Old Soar and Allen's, Plaxtol, Plaxtol, Roughway, Plaxtol, Shipbourne and The Freehold, Hadlow. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council weighs each proposal against Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, where the 2,170 homes here are 29% pre-1900, 10% 1945-1954, 10% 1965-1972, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and simple gabled and hipped roofs typical of early postwar building, over Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 2,170 homes), early postwar houses (10%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (10%).

Bourne: the local constraints that decide your scheme

Before anything is drawn we check your address against the designations that apply in Bourne: Budd's Green, Shipbourne (conservation area designated in 1993), Claygate Cross, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Fairlawne (conservation area designated in 1972), Hadlow (conservation area designated in 1972), North Frith, Hadlow (conservation area designated in 1993), Old Soar and Allen's, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1972), Roughway, Plaxtol (conservation area designated in 1993), Shipbourne (conservation area designated in 1989) and The Freehold, Hadlow (conservation area designated in 2011). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council assesses materials, window detail and roof form against the area's own appraisal, so a scheme that would be waved through two streets away can need a full application here.

Beyond the designated areas, Bourne takes in Hadlow, Plaxtol and Shipbourne. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, but Bourne's 10 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.

On stock, Bourne is Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 2,170 homes), early postwar houses (10%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (10%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and simple gabled and hipped roofs typical of early postwar building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council decided 515 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 97%, with 49% issued inside the eight-week target. That decision record, not a national figure, is what we design to.

The full build-period split for Bourne runs pre-1900 29% (640 homes), 1900-1918 2% (50 homes), 1919-1929 5% (110 homes), 1930-1939 1% (30 homes), 1945-1954 10% (220 homes), 1955-1964 9% (200 homes), 1965-1972 10% (210 homes), 1973-1982 6% (140 homes), 1983-1992 6% (140 homes), 1993-1999 6% (120 homes) and 2000-2008 5% (110 homes). That distribution is why pre-1900 detailing dominates the drawings here, and it is measured from council-tax records rather than assumed from the street name.

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council also decides for Borough Green & Platt, Hildenborough, Judd, Larkfield and Pilgrims with Ightham, so a decision in Bourne sits inside a wider pattern of decisions we track across the same authority — useful when an officer cites a precedent from the next area over.

What goes in a Bourne planning application

Whatever you are building, Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council decides it from the same core set. A location plan at 1:1250 fixes the site on the map with the red-line boundary; a block plan at 1:500 shows the property in its plot; then existing and proposed floor plans and elevations at 1:100 or 1:50 show the house as it is and as it will be. Larger schemes add a section and, where policy requires, a design and access statement. Miss one and the application is returned invalid before an officer has looked at it.

The drawings are also the argument. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council assesses each proposal against Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, and the elevations are where the case is won or lost — ridge and eaves heights, window positions, materials and how the change reads from the street. On Bourne's stock, which runs to Victorian and earlier houses (29% of 2,170 homes), early postwar houses (10%) and late-1960s and early-1970s houses (10%), the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Bourne contains Budd's Green, Shipbourne, Claygate Cross, Plaxtol, Fairlawne conservation areas (Budd's Green, Shipbourne designated 1993), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so the pack is built to pre-empt exactly that.

Where the property sits in a conservation area — Budd's Green, Shipbourne, Claygate Cross, Plaxtol, Fairlawne, Hadlow, North Frith, Hadlow, Old Soar and Allen's, Plaxtol, Plaxtol, Roughway, Plaxtol, Shipbourne and The Freehold, Hadlow among Bourne's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, but Bourne's 10 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.