South Lanarkshire Council

Following the decision by the council's planning committee, a finalised Conservation Area Character Appraisal (CACA) for the the UNESCO World Heritage Site of New Lanark and the Falls of Clyde will now be published along with supplementary planning guidance for the area.

The committee also authorised the council's Head of Planning and Building Standards to proceed with a public consultation for the conservation area before undertaking the statutory procedures for its formal implementation.

The move follows a public consultation which took place for a six-week period from February 2011. Letters were sent to all households in the village and a two-day public exhibition was staged.

There were no objections to the types of development proposed whilst New Lanark Trust supported the use of greater planning controls as a mechanism to preserve New Lanark's unique attributes.

As part of the wider public consultation, the issues which attracted most comment related to the need for an assessment of the Conservation Area's extent and the differentiation between the Conservation Area and the World Heritage Buffer Zone. The New Lanark Trust provided a comprehensive response and expressed their support for the Council's decision to prepare the Appraisal.

Councillor Graham Scott, the chair of the council's Planning Committee, said: "Local Authorities have a statutory duty to preserve and enhance the character and appearance of their conservation areas and, from time to time, prepare and publish proposals for doing so.

"The New Lanark and Falls of Clyde Conservation Area is hugely significant to South Lanarkshire and indeed to the country as whole, as it not only features some amazing history and scenery but incorporates a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"With this in mind we have been working closely with Historic Scotland the New Lanark Trust to take this process forward in a way which is both sympathetic and effective and I believe that with the finalised appraisal and this Article 4 Direction, we have struck a good balance."

The Council must now apply to Scottish Ministers giving a full justification for using an Article 4 Direction and evidence of prior public consultation.

This Article 4 Direction of the Town and Country Planning Act (General Permitted Development) (Scotland) Order 1992, gives planning authorities the option to seek approval from the Scottish Government to restrict permitted development rights which would control the proliferation of relatively minor alterations to buildings in conservation areas that could cumulatively lead to the erosion of their character.

The Article 4 Direction will be used to control:

• house extensions, enlargements and improvements (including window & door replacements)
• works within the curtilage of houses
• satellite dishes
• stonecleaning or external painting
• the construction of walls/fences etc
• local authority developments
• water undertakings
• development by gas suppliers
• development by electricity undertakers
• telecommunications developments
• agricultural and forestry operations