Patios in Stockton's conservation areas

Stockton's conservation areas

A conservation area is a place the council has designated for its special architectural or historic interest. Across the borough there are eleven, including:

• Yarm, the historic town and its High Street, with the separate Egglescliffe Conservation Area across the river.
• Norton, designated in 1969, around The Green and the High Street. The council's appraisal counts 81 listed buildings inside it.
• Hartburn, the old village street with its listed cottages, Hartburn House and the Grade II* Manor House.
• Eaglescliffe with Preston, taking in Preston Park and the Grade II listed Preston Hall.
• Wolviston, Billingham Green, Cowpen Bewley, Bute Street and Stockton Town Centre.

Boundaries are drawn street by street, and many homes that feel historic are outside them, while some newer houses are inside. Check the council's maps for your exact address.

Back gardens: usually no application

The Planning Portal's guidance on patios applies inside conservation areas too: there is no limit on the area of hard surface you can lay at or near ground level away from the front garden. So a new terrace behind a Victorian house in Norton or a Georgian house off Yarm High Street normally needs no planning application.

What can still trigger one:

• Raising the patio. A platform more than 30cm above the ground needs permission everywhere.
• Significant embanking or terracing to support the patio.
• New or higher walls. Walls next to a road used by vehicles are limited to one metre without permission, and two metres elsewhere. In a conservation area, demolishing an old boundary wall can need permission too.
• Planning conditions on newer houses that remove permitted development rights.

Fronts of houses and Article 4 Directions

This is the most important local difference. The council explains on its Article 4 page that Directions in parts of its conservation areas remove permitted development rights for:

• hard surfaces at the front of a house,
• gates, walls and front boundaries, putting them up or altering them, and
• demolishing gates, walls and front boundaries.

It lists Stockton Town Centre and Eaglescliffe with Preston as the conservation areas without these Directions. In the rest, paving a front garden, widening an opening in a front wall or replacing railings can all need planning permission, even where the same work would be allowed elsewhere in Stockton. A front seating area, a new front path or a change to the boundary should be discussed with the council before work starts.

Listed houses

Listed building consent is separate from planning permission and covers works that affect a listed building's character, inside or out. Paving right up against a listed house, cutting into old walls for steps, or changing a historic yard surface can all fall within it. National listing data shows dozens of listed entries in Yarm's centre and around Norton Green, so it is worth checking the list even if you do not think your house is old enough.

If the house is listed, we suggest speaking to Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's conservation team before any materials are ordered.

Trees

Trees in a conservation area are protected even without a Tree Preservation Order. GOV.UK explains that you must give the council six weeks' notice, using a section 211 notice, before carrying out most work on them. This matters for patios because:

• digging a base can cut through roots of a tree on your land or a neighbour's,
• a patio may need branches lifted for headroom, and
• hard surfaces over roots can starve a tree of water.

We plan patios around root zones, and where a tree is involved we advise giving notice early so the project is not held up.

Choosing materials for a historic setting

Even where no permission is needed, the patio will be next to an old house, and the right materials make the difference.

• Natural stone in buff, grey or warm tones sits well with Victorian and Georgian brick. Riven Indian sandstone or a sawn sandstone with a traditional finish are popular choices.
• Traditional laying patterns, random or coursed in mixed sizes, look more at home than a uniform modern grid.
• Reclaimed materials such as old brick or setts can be used for edges, steps and paths.
• Porcelain suits contemporary extensions and very shaded courtyards, and stone-effect finishes are widely available.

Our guide to porcelain or sandstone compares the two in detail, and our garden walls page covers matching new walls to old.

A practical checklist

1. Check whether your address is in a conservation area and whether an Article 4 Direction applies.
2. Check the national list to see whether the house, or a wall or outbuilding with it, is listed.
3. Identify any trees near the work and give six weeks' notice if needed.
4. Keep the patio low, or design levels so no part is more than 30cm above the ground.
5. Ask the council for pre-application advice if anything is unclear.

Questions people ask

Sources: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council: Article 4 Directions; Stockton-on-Tees conservation areas list (council report); planning.data.gov.uk: listed buildings; GOV.UK: Tree Preservation Orders and trees in conservation areas; Planning Portal: patios and driveways; Planning Portal: fences, gates and garden walls.

More Stockton patio guides

• Porcelain or sandstone?
• Patio drainage
• Patios on a sloping garden
• What affects the price of a patio