Design Access and Planning Statement Project Location: Judge House Farm Woodcock Lane Grafty Green Maidstone Kent ME17 2AY 14 July 2021 Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. Client: Mr. A. Dean Document Title: Design, Access, and Planning Statement Local Planning Authority: Maidstone Borough Council Parish: Boughton Malherbe Our Ref: D1749 Proposal: Proposed Replacement of Existing Barns as Approval for Residential Conversion in Accordance with Ref 20/501693/PNQCLA, with New Built Dwellings Utilizing the Same Footprint Issue Revision Description Date 1 0 Draft to Client - 29/04/2021 2 0 Draft to client scheme amended 14/07/2021 Copyright ©Price Whitehead Co. Ltd, trading as Price Whitehead. All rights reserved. No part of this report may be copied or reproduced by any means without prior written permission from Price Whitehead Co. Ltd. If you have received this report in error, please destroy all copies in your possession or control. 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Ltd until payment has been made in full. 2 | P a g e Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. 1.0 Contents Page No. 2.0 Instructions and Summary 3 3.0 Site Location 4 4.0 Proposal and Background Information 3-5 5.0 Design Statement 6-8 6.0 Access Statement 9-10 7.0 Planning Statement 10-12 8.0 Conclusions 13 9.0 Caveats 13 10.0 Appendices 14+ 3 | P a g e Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. 2.0 Instructions 2.1 Price Whitehead is instructed to prepare and submit a full planning application on behalf of Mr. Alan Dean, who is the Applicant and property owner for the proposal. 2.2 This proposal is located on the Applicant’s property known as Judge House Farm, Grafty Green. 3.0 Site Location 3.1 Judge House Farm is situated in the parish of Boughton Malherbe, which includes Grafty Green and Sandway. 3.2 The village of Grafty Green is a small collection of houses off the main Headcorn Road with road access to Headcorn to the south-west, and the county town of Maidstone. 3.3 Nearby Amenities include a pub, Church, and village hall. 3.4 The nearest bus stop is 0.3 miles from the proposal site, which is an approximate 6-minute walk. 3.5 The site comprises a mix of farm buildings, converted buildings, and houses nearby, which are surrounded by farmland, largely laid to pasture. 3.6 This site has existing access to the highway, which passes the original farmhouse before reaching the subject group of buildings. 3.7 There is no hedge defining the site, nor any key trees. Boundary treatments to the farm buildings comprise stock fencing. However, there are tree and hedge lined boundaries to the adjoining fields nearby. 4.0 Proposal & Background Information 4.1 Prior approval for the conversion of three of the existing agricultural buildings on the site to 3No. dwellings, in accordance with application reference 20/501693/PNQCLA has been achieved. 4.2 This application seeks the replacement of the Class Q consent with a full permission to replace the subject barns with new build construction, which will still provide 3No. dwellings, but will provide superior build quality. The proposal also include the reconfiguration of the dwellings to improve and enhance space available, flow, and the overall quality of the scheme for future occupants use. 4.3 The replacement barns will be positioned in the same locations as the existing barn footprints. The smallest building will integrate the existing lean-to footprint into the scheme, which was previously not included in the proposal. This will enable this very modest unit to function better as a dwelling. 4.4 The existing barns have previously been granted approval for conversion under Prior Approval for the change of use and associated operations into 3No dwellings. The basis for this proposal is instead to replace the current agricultural buildings is that, in construction and amenity terms, new purpose- 4 | P a g e Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. built dwellings will be better equipped to comply with modern construction and insulation requirements, as opposed to the conversion of the existing barns. 4.5 The proposed replacement dwellings are located on the existing barn footprints. Adjacent buildings are proposed to be removed as the plans show, which will provide an overall net decrease in built footprint at this site. 4.6 The following frames show the existing agricultural building at Judge House Farm as well as the surrounding curtilage on the site. Barn A. 4.7 The barns proposed to be removed under application 20/501693/PNQCLA will be removed in this scheme, and the floor areas released will form access and amenity areas for each dwelling. Barn B Below: 5 | P a g e Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. Barn C Below 5.0 Design Statement 5.1 Amendments to each barn is proposed to enable better flow and use for occupants. The character and appearance of the buildings is be maintained in the same form as the existing. Improvements to external cladding and roof profile are proposed so that sheeted exteriors can be reclad using timber board and new slate and tile coverings to roofs. The key alterations between the approved scheme and the proposed scheme herein for each barn are listed below: • Barn A o The lean too was proposed to be removed as part of the original approval. This proposal retains that built footprint within the scheme which will better facilitate the living room and sleeping areas. o This proposal offers a kitchen/dining room, living room with bi-fold doors to the rear garden, master bedroom, two further bedrooms and a family bathroom. o This proposal does not alter the ridge height of the building, but does fractionally alter roof pitch, see plans numbered D1749 D01 Rev 1 Barn A Proposed Plans and Elevations. o Care has been taken to ensure no overlooking occurs between the proposed dwellings. o Externally the proposal provides a modest amenity garden, parking for two vehicles, refuse storage, bike storage and electric vehicle charging point to provide high quality and policy complaint dwellings. o The boundary treatments are to be timber 5 bar gates with post and rail fencing and stock netting. A proposed indigenous hedgerow along the west and east boundaries 6 | P a g e Judge House Farm, Woodcock Lane, Grafty Green, Boughton Malherbe, Kent. will provide habitat and biodiversity enhancements and to provide natural screening. See plan ref D1749 D05 proposed Block Plan and Site Plan. • Barn B o The proposal alters the roof pitch slightly. o The new layout for the barn provides open plan part vaulted kitchen/lounge/dining room, with a utility room, entrance hall, family bathroom and three bedrooms at ground floor (as approved), and two en-suite bedrooms at first floor under the pitch of the roof. See plans ref D1749 D02 Rev 1 Barn B Proposed Plans and Elevations. o An electric vehicle charging point, refuse storage area, garden and bike storage shed, two vehicle parking bays and front and rear amenity garden area surrounded by post and rail fencing with stock netting and indigenous hedgerows to boundaries are proposed. o Window configuration to protect from overlooking but maintain optimum lighting internally are also included. See plans ref D1749 D05 Rev 1Proposed Block Plan and Site Plan • Barn C o The internal configuration offers double height/vaulted kitchen/lounge/dining room, with a utility room, entrance hall, family bathroom, two bedrooms, and stairs to the first floor offering master bedroom with en-suite within the plain of the roof. The roof pitch is altered slightly from the existing. o Externally, the barn will have new post and rail fencing with stock netting and indigenous hedgerows, refuse storage, bike and garden store, and electric vehicle charging point. 5.1.2 The proposed configuration allows the individual dwellings to have privacy, and secure amenity areas and parking, whilst being part of a hamlet of dwellings in the countryside. The new configurations allow for better internal provision which maintain the same footprints as per the previous approved application. The scheme ensures that the intrinsic character of these twentieth century buildings is maintained in terms of bulk and form but provides appealing detailing that will enhance the landscape through better material choice and form and provide high quality dwellings for occupants. 5.2 Materials 5.2.1 Barn A • Roof - Interlocking clay tile (Sandtoft or similar) over 25-degree roof pitch into a catslide roof with 15 degrees pitch. • Walls - Lower brick with a mix of vertical and horizontal timber hit and miss boarding and weatherboarding in black/dark stain colour.