Wealden District Council
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Conservation Areas

What are Conservation Areas?

Local planning authorities are obliged to designate as Conservation Areas any parts of their own area that are of special architectural or historic interest, the character and appearance of which is desirable to preserve or enhance. The first Conservation Areas were designated in 1967 and there are now over 8000 Conservation Areas in England.

There are 41 Conservation Areas within Wealden District, but 8 of these are located within and managed by the South Downs National Park Authority.

The 33 Conservation Areas within the part of Wealden District for which the Council is the Local Planning Authority were all designated by the Council in March 2017.

The easiest way to find out whether you are in  a Conservation Area is to use our Online Map.

To use the mapping system follow these simple steps:

  1. Open the Online Map
  2. Find the location using the map or use the search function located at the top of the map
  3. Using the left hand menu ‘What would you like to do?’, select ‘Map Features’ and click on ‘Heritage and Conservation’. You can then check the box next to the option ‘Designated Conservation Area’. 

Conservation Area Character Appraisals and Management Plan

The Council is presently drafting Character Appraisal Documents and an over-arching Management Plan for all the Conservation Areas in the District. The Character Appraisal Documents will articulate the special interest and character of each of the Conservation Areas to help inform planning decisions.

Once the text of a draft character appraisal of a Conservation Area has been completed, this document will be available below. Formal public consultation prior to formal adoption by the Council  is likely to commence once all 33 character appraisals have been drafted, along with the accompanying management plan.

Prior to formal public consultation on the documents additional photographs figures will be added along with maps associated with the Appendices. Text may also be updated within individual documents.

Conservation Areas in Wealden

A list of the Designated Conservation Areas within the Wealden District with a link to the map showing the boundaries in each area can be viewed or downloaded. The files are presented in a PDF format.

There are 8 Conservation Areas within that part of the District that now falls under the South Downs National Park as the Local Planning Authority and these are listed below:

  • Alciston
  • Alfriston
  • Berwick
  • East Dean
  • Jevington
  • Litlington
  • West Dean
  • Wilmington

Please see the South Downs National Park Authority (external link) website for further details relating to these 8 designated Conservation Areas.

Additional Controls on development in conservation areas

There are additional controls in respect of development, works to trees and demolition in Conservation Areas, further information can be found on our extra planning controls in Conservation Areas webpage.

Planning decisions affecting Conservation Areas should pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of that area as per
The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, Section 72 (external link).