Conserving Chislehurst
The Chislehurst Society fought long battles to have so much of Chislehurst designated as a Conservation Area. This status means that all buildings within the Conservation Area, whether listed or not, may not be altered or demolished without the consent of the Council. Furthermore, the Council, in considering any planning application for development in a Conservation Area, is required by law to pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing its character or appearance. The Society regards this requirement as particularly important when considering planning applications. The Society has two members representing Chislehurst on the Bromley Council Advisory Panel for Conservation Areas.
In 1992, Mary Holt produced a study of the Conservation Area, and this is attached as a pdf for you to download and read. Click here to find out more. It has been updated to take account of developments since 1992. We also attach a note of listed buildings, both those on the statutory list, and those on the local list. Bromley Planning Department are presently reviewing whether more buildings should be on these lists; we will be working with them.
Conservation of buildings and environments is only of value if people are aware of their surroundings, and to this end we work with London Open House and the Borough of Bromley to arrange for some of our public buildings to be open to visitors.
The Trustees of the Commons are responsible for the protection of the Commons, and we work with them to ensure that consistency in our approaches to protecting the Chislehurst environment as a whole. One of our Executive Committee members is a Trustee. We also provide funding to small local organisations such as Friends of Scadbury and Willow Wildlife.
Roy Hopper has prepared a short walk around the best of our buildings now in private ownership, and therefore not open to the public. Details of this walk (the CATTWALK - Chislehurst Architects Town Trail Walk - can be found by clicking here.