Strategic Overview and Management Strategy

Durham City strategic overview

We have created a Strategic Context Document to support the creation of all seven Conservation Areas that make up the special architectural and historic interest of Durham City.

The document explains the city's historic, landscape and townscape importance, the Conservation Area Management Plan (CAMP) aims, objectives and aspirations, and the challenges and opportunities within the city.

The Strategic Context Document provides an understanding of the city as a whole, the challenges it faces and the potential opportunities for its regeneration and improvement. The document explains:

• how the CAMP process works and why it has been used for Durham City
• how it fits into local and national planning policy
• why we are proposing seven smaller conservation areas
• the 10 overall themes behind the management aims and actions

The Management Strategy

This supporting document makes a series of recommendations, aims and actions around the 10 themes in the Strategic Context Document. It:

• addresses key challenges
• provides general planning guidance, design advice for specific disused historic buildings, detracting gap sites, extensions and shop fronts, lighting, and road/pavement improvement
• supports the planning framework
• can support funding opportunities

The aim of these recommendations is to set out a realistic and deliverable framework for the positive and proactive management of future change in the conservation areas, in line with national and local planning policies and other relevant documents.

The Management Strategy also looks at the existing Article 4 properties. An Article 4 direction affects a person's automatic rights to do some types of development work to their property and means they may have to apply for planning permission first.