50 YEARS OF

CONSERVATION

AREAS 1967-2017

HIGHGATE IS A “CONSERVATION AREA”

If you live inside the red line – you live in the Highgate Conservation Area![The surrounding area, including Holly Lodge, is covered by separate Conservation Areas]

- What is a Conservation Area?

It’s an area which has such historical or architectural importance, or character, that it hasspecial statutory protection in the Planning process. There are some 10,000, set up under the groundbreaking 1967 Civic Amenities Act. Highgate, designated in 1967, was one of the first. One of the aims of the Highgate Society, founded in 1966, has been to ensure that its special character is protected.

- What does it mean for me?

Many works which you - or developers - or even the local authority - could do without planning permission in other areas need planning permission.

- I want to extend or alter my house. How can I find out what to do?

The local authority has a Conservation Officer to advise on the right and wrong ways of doing works, or onwhether your works are likely to get permission. Highgate Society members can getinformal adviceat our Saturday morning “Members’ Planning Surgeries” at 10a.Clumsy plastic windows, crude extensions, badly designed dormers, and other seemingly minor works can ruin not just a building but a whole street.

- Why are you trying to preserve Highgate in aspic? We aren’t; we want to ensure that change improves Highgate. Highgate came close to being destroyed in the early 1960s by proposals to demolish half of the High Street and turn it into a one-way lorry route; this led to the founding of the Highgate Society, and Highgate’s designation as one of the first Conservation Areas. We work to protect what is left, and to ensure that change is well thought out and benefits Highgate, its environment and those who live and work here. The wide support for our campaign to save Athlone House shows that the general public understands this.

- Do you resist modern architecture in Highgate? No!!Detractors like to accuse groups like the Highgate Society of “hating modern architecture”. Our 2016 Modern Architecture exhibition showed that, on the contrary, we welcome good modern design. Highgate’s architecture reflects its history over the past 400 years, so we want new buildings to be the 21st century’s contribution to Highgate’s architectural history. What we hate is bad architecture of any type!

- Isn’t there enough protection for what is important? No.A combination of financial cuts, which have seriously cut Camden and Haringey’s planning and conservation staff; soaring property values, which encourage developers to demolish our historic buildings and replace them with “Mac Mansions’; and Government’s relentless weakening of our world-respected Planning system – on the gravely mistaken argument that Planning and our historic Heritage are holding back the economy and creating the housing shortage - make it more difficult for developments to be resisted, however bad. Groups like the HighgateSociety are needed more than ever, backed by others like the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies, the national group Civic Voice, and Conservation Area Advisory Committees; but we also need your support.

- I own a Listed Building: does that mean I can’t do anything to it? No; you just need permission. Ownership of a Listed Building is a privilege and a responsibility; you are looking after it for future generations. Without proper advice, you could cause irreversible damage without realising it, and even reduce the value of your property. Remember, too, that any work to a Listed Building without permission is a criminal offence.

- Does that mean I don’t need permission to do works to an unlisted building? No. Highgate is a Conservation Area because it is special, not because it has Listed Buildings. Basically,work to any building in a Conservation Area needs planning permission. National policy requires that works should “Preserve or Enhance” the character of the area.Minor works known as “Permitted Development”, can be done withoutpermission; but in Conservation Areas these rights are limited, so always seek advice.

- How else is the area protected?Local Authorities are required to have policies to preserve and enhance conservation areas, including a Conservation Area Appraisal, setting out the area’s special qualities to inform new development (Highgate’s was written for the local authorities by the Society and the Highgate CAAC). They also make a “Local List” of buildings etc. which do not qualify for Statutory Listing, but are sufficiently important that demolition will not normally be allowed. Statutory Listing does not identify everything which should be preserved, while the rest can be demolished; it only highlights outstanding examples. The everyday “heritage” is equally important – Georgian terraces, once-derided Victorian and Edwardian terraces, and Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings. Though not Listed,they make up most of our historic environment. Without them, the few Listed Buildings would be meaningless fossils in a sea of mundanity. This is why Conservation Areas are so important, and why vigorous local groups like the Highgate Society are essential to defend them.

- What about Trees and Open Space? Highgateis surrounded by Metropolitan Open Land (the urban equivalent of Green Belt), such as Hampstead Heath and Highgate and Queen’s Woods, and other important open areas, so developments nearby could affect them need too and need to be monitored.Highgate is also rich in trees, particularly ancient ones surviving from when it was countryside. The most important ones are protected by Tree Preservation Orders, and you must get permission to do anything to them. In a Conservation Area, you must also notify the local authority of proposals forwork to any tree with a trunk more than 75mm in diameter 1.5m above ground level, so they can decide whether the work is justified.

- Doesn’t all this deprive me of my rights as a property owner?

On the contrary – it protects you. You live in a special area, and new development can improve it or damage it, for you and other residents. The aim is not to thwart householders, but to ensure that new development protects these special areas where we all live.It will also help if you can show that you have discussed your proposals with the local Conservation Officer, affected neighbours, and groups like the Highgate Society. If you don’t, don’t be surprised if we have to put in an objection! We don’t do it for fun; it’s hard work. Our aim is to help you get permission - or to explain why you may not get it.

------

If you want to help us in our aims of “making Highgate a better place to live and work”, join theHighgate Society, and come to our Members’ “Planning Surgeries” at 10a South Grove, every Saturday morning from 10.30 to 12.

For more information, follow us on

-

-

-

and follow our 50-year history at

2