Planning application drawings in Bourne Valley

Bourne Valley planning decisions and design rules

Test Valley Borough Council granted 96% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 9 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Bourne Valley contains Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe, Upton, Vernham Dean conservation areas (Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe designated 1976), 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) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.

Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. In conservation areas such as Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe, Upton and Vernham Dean those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Bourne Valley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.

Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe (conservation area designated in 1976), Upton (conservation area designated in 1983), Vernham Dean (conservation area designated in 1983), Faccombe (civil parish within Bourne Valley), Hurstbourne Tarrant (civil parish within Bourne Valley), Linkenholt (civil parish within Bourne Valley), Vernhams Dean (civil parish within Bourne Valley), Enham Alamein (civil parish within Bourne Valley) and Smannell (civil parish within Bourne Valley) — these are the Bourne Valley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe, Upton and Vernham Dean. Test Valley Borough Council weighs each proposal against the adopted Test Valley local plan and Test Valley Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, where the 1,550 homes here are 23% pre-1900, 12% 1973-1982, 12% 1983-1992, 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 shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building, over Victorian and earlier houses (23% of 1,550 homes), 1970s and early-1980s houses (12%) and 1980s estate houses (12%).

Why a Bourne Valley scheme is judged on Bourne Valley terms

What is permitted in Bourne Valley turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe (conservation area designated in 1976), Upton (conservation area designated in 1983) and Vernham Dean (conservation area designated in 1983). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Test Valley 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 Valley takes in Faccombe, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Linkenholt, Vernhams Dean, Enham Alamein and Smannell. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Test Valley Borough Council, but Bourne Valley's 3 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.

On stock, Bourne Valley is Victorian and earlier houses (23% of 1,550 homes), 1970s and early-1980s houses (12%) and 1980s estate houses (12%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow trussed roofs typical of 1970s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Test Valley Borough Council decided 533 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 96%, with 76% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.

The full build-period split for Bourne Valley runs pre-1900 23% (360 homes), 1900-1918 3% (50 homes), 1919-1929 3% (50 homes), 1930-1939 6% (90 homes), 1945-1954 6% (100 homes), 1955-1964 5% (80 homes), 1965-1972 10% (150 homes), 1973-1982 12% (190 homes), 1983-1992 12% (190 homes), 1993-1999 4% (60 homes) and 2000-2008 8% (130 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.

Test Valley Borough Council also decides for Blackwater, Harewood, Mid Test, Ampfield & Braishfield, Anna, Bellinger and Charlton & the Pentons, so a decision in Bourne Valley 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 Valley planning application

Whatever you are building, Test Valley 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. Test Valley Borough Council assesses each proposal against the adopted Test Valley local plan and Test Valley Borough Council's design guidance for householder work, 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 Valley's stock, which runs to Victorian and earlier houses (23% of 1,550 homes), 1970s and early-1980s houses (12%) and 1980s estate houses (12%), the same scheme is drawn differently to answer the concerns officers raise here. Bourne Valley contains Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe, Upton, Vernham Dean conservation areas (Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe designated 1976), 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 — Hurstbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe, Upton and Vernham Dean among Bourne Valley's — validation is stricter still, often demanding heritage detail and sometimes additional plans. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Test Valley Borough Council, but Bourne Valley's 3 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We confirm the designation before drawing so the pack meets the higher bar first time.