Published advice and guidance

The Chilterns Buildings Design Guide contains practical advice on how to build or restore properties in a way that is appropriate in and around the AONB. It covers such topics as the setting of buildings, the design of vernacular features and the use of traditional local materials. By promoting the use of the Guide the Board aims to ensure consistency of design and materials across the AONB.

The Guide was originally published in 1999, and was updated in 2010 with a new chapter on farm buildings and more detail on how to design and build properties to cope with the effects of climate change.

There is a separate handy checklist that people can use to see how well their proposal meets the guidelines.

We have also published more detailed Technical Notes to help people with the use of particular materials: flint, clay products and roofing materials.

Please note that the Technical Notes currently suggest that the Chilterns Conservation Board maintains “details of suppliers, practitioners and other useful contacts” and invites readers to view those details on our website or by contacting us. This service has been discontinued, as it suggested that the Board approved the quality or appropriateness of listed suppliers and did not approve others. This is clearly impracticable for us to assess and keep up-to-date.

Printed copies of the Guide and Technical Notes may be purchased from our shop.

The Chilterns Conservation Board has published documents that detail its position on various planning-related issues. As noted above, some references to national policy and guidance in some of these statements may need updating, but the principles and advice remain valid.

Note that since the publication of our Position Statement on Development Affecting the Setting of the Chilterns AONB, the National Planning Policy Framework was amended in 2021 to include a specific new policy that development within the setting of AONBs “should be sensitively located and designed to avoid or minimise adverse impacts on the designated areas” (paragraph 176). Much of our Position Statement is a justification for paying attention to the setting of AONBs in the absence of a national policy on this issue at the time of writing. Paragraphs 12-19 of the statement provide guidance on how the Board considers that this policy can be met.

We are currently working on a new Position Statement concerning the impact of lighting on the AONB, including the protection of our dark skies, for publication during 2022/23.