Design Guidance Notes
The design guidance notes are considerations that the planning authorities will take into account in determining planning applications for development. They have been derived from the detailed examination of the character and appearance of the main settlements in the Parish and the buildings within them. They are numbered 1 to 11.
These design guidance notes cover the whole Parish and will apply to all development and buildings. The guidance also includes consideration of the surrounding countryside in as much as it affects views in and out of the settlements. It should be noted that the guidance is not intended to inhibit imaginative new design or the use of modern techniques or materials where these respect the character and quality of existing buildings and the distinctiveness of the local surroundings.
General design guidance notes, which apply regardless of the design of the individual building and where they are located, are given below:
Guidance Note 1: General design considerations
All new buildings and their curtilages have a significant effect on the character and quality of an area. The appearance of the proposed development and its relationship to its surroundings are material considerations in determining planning applications and appeals. Additions and alterations to existing buildings depending on their scale, proportion and design can also have a significant impact on the appearance of the immediate area. A holistic approach should therefore be taken to design to interrelate and integrate the building or alteration of the building within and to its curtilage and to its setting. The design and layout of all development should demonstrate a consideration of its individual site characteristics, setting and the relationship to adjacent buildings.
Guidance Note 2: Relationship to the existing building
Additions and alterations should respect the integrity and distinctiveness of the existing building. That is its massing and proportions, the period details, the roof pitch and height, proportions of doors and windows, the relationship of these with the proportions of walls, the materials, colours and textures.
Guidance Note 3: Landscape
The landscape of the Parish is so distinctive that its quality will be a material consideration in determining planning applications and development will need to demonstrate that features of importance in the landscape are not impaired.
Guidance Note 4: Village setting
The distinctive character and appearance of the village setting will be a material consideration in determining planning applications. In Whitmore Conservation Area new development will be required to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of the area.
Guidance Note 5: Visual amenity
The contribution that building density and gaps in the built frontage make to visual amenity, particularly those affording views to open countryside and which are distinctive features of the settlement or area, will be a material consideration in determining planning applications.
Guidance Note 6: Rural character
 Preserving and enhancing the rural character of the Parish is considered vital. Introducing more native deciduous trees, landscaping and preserving hedgerows will be a prerequisite in determining planning applications.
Agricultural buildings and extensions
New agricultural buildings and extensions can have a significant impact on the landscape. All agricultural buildings and extensions containing livestock and within 400 metres of the curtilage of a protected building require planning permission. There are a number of categories of buildings and extensions, however, which do not require planning permission. See the Town and Country Planning [General Permitted Development] Order 1995.
All new agricultural buildings and extensions on farms and agricultural holdings should be designed to be in sympathy with the surrounding built and natural landscape. This should be reflected in the scale; relationship to existing buildings and natural features; the facing materials, their colour and texture and, where appropriate, landscaping should be provided.
Guidance Note 7: Agricultural buildings
Where planning permission is required for new agricultural buildings and/or extensions the materials used in construction will be of an appropriate colour and a landscape scheme will be implemented.
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