Policy information sourced from the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan

L1 General Design Policy

Development proposals should be permitted, provided that they comply with relevant policies in the Tandridge Local Plan and this Plan and meet all the following criteria where relevant.

A. General Character

Proposals for development:

  1. should retain or enhance the spacious, sylvan character of Woldingham and its setting;
  2. should respect and preserve views from and towards Woldingham;
  3. should allow the landscape to remain as the dominant feature, in which buildings should be subservient in terms of visual prominence;
  4. should not formalise road treatments: subject to considerations of safety, roads that do not currently have pavements should be retained as such;
  5. should not require the inappropriate or progressive subdivision of curtilages (subdivision will be inappropriate where it results in curtilages of less than 0.2 ha or where it involves the further subdivision of part of an already subdivided curtilage);
  6. should not include tandem development or development in depth involving the formation of cul-de-sacs;
  7. should maintain plot frontage widths of a size which is not below those prevailing in the road; and
  8. should place buildings informally without defining road edges (except in The Crescent and the Core Fringe Character Area).

B. Relationship of built form to site

Proposals for development:

  1. should not fill the width of the plot*: adequate space must remain on all sides of the building for planting of trees, shrubs and hedging and to allow views through;
  2. should not appear out of scale or dominate neighbouring properties in terms of location, orientation, height or bulk;
  3. should have a plot/footprint ratio similar to the average for the relevant character area as shown in Table 4.1 of the Woldingham Design Guidance unless there are strong reasons otherwise;
  4. should be sited in a way that is consistent with the topographical layout described in the Table 6.1 of the Woldingham Design Guidance; and
  5. should, where possible, ensure that where planning permission is required for a new drive entrance, the entrance is offset to avoid a formal layout, and is aligned neither with the centre of the frontage of the dwelling nor with any drive on the opposite side of the road

* Where permission is given for a new or replacement dwelling, a condition removing permitted development rights will normally be imposed to enable any subsequent proposals that would fill the width of the plot to be considered under Policy L1.B.1).

C. Built form and design

Proposals for development:

  1. should not involve extensions and replacements that are out of scale or disproportionate to the footprint or bulk of the original building: they should pay due regard to the footprint of the original building in relation to the boundaries of the plot;
  2. should maintain the tradition of high quality individual design in Woldingham (avoiding repetitive design on adjacent or nearby sites, and including high quality contemporary architecture); development should be constructed of high quality materials appropriate to the surroundings; and should incorporate high quality detailing;
  3. should not remove or damage Buildings of Character identified and included in the list maintained by Tandridge District Council or other existing examples of good quality architecture; these should be retained, and substantive alterations to them should be avoided;
  4. should comply with Design Principle SD1 of the Woldingham Design Guidance, with regard in particular to energy efficiency and sustainable water systems; and
  5. should where necessary be accompanied by elevation drawings that comprehensively and accurately show the proposed development in relation to its overall surroundings, existing and proposed ground levels and neighbouring buildings.

D. Neighbouring and local amenity

Proposals for development:

  1. should not significantly harm the amenities of occupiers of neighbouring properties by reason of noise, light, traffic or other adverse environmental effects;
  2. should avoid light pollution by keeping any lighting for which permission is required to a minimum.

E. Trees and landscaping

Proposals for development:

  1. should not involve the inappropriate lopping, topping or felling of trees, or removal of trees, shrub areas or boundary hedges which contribute to the character and amenity of the area, and should not involve the overall loss of tree cover;
  2. should provide for additional tree and shrub cover where necessary to lessen the impact of any development, and provide in particular for the replacement of trees that are removed or damaged before planning permission is sought or during construction, with an appropriate species and size that will in years grow to full maturity and add to the tree cover;
  3. should include a landscaping scheme for the site when they involve new or replacement dwellings, to be submitted with the application, demonstrating that landscaping is an integral element in the design. Landscaping should be compatible with the guidance on landscaping, gardens, open spaces and boundary treatments for the relevant Character Area as shown in Tables 7.1, 7.2 and 8.1 of the Woldingham Design Guidance.

F. Parking, garaging and ancillary buildings

Where planning permission is required, parking, garaging and ancillary buildings should be well integrated into the plot and its landscaping. They should be visually subservient and should not obscure or dominate the house frontage or approach, and should be softened with adjacent planting.

For more information please see the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan