More than a quarter of Kent is National Landscape — the Kent Downs across the north and the High Weald across the south west. Add the Metropolitan Green Belt around Sevenoaks and Dartford, and most Kent projects are assessed on landscape or Green Belt tests before design.
Twelve district and borough councils cover the shire county — Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling, and Tunbridge Wells — alongside Medway Council, a unitary authority administratively separate from Kent County Council. Thirteen planning authorities in total.
Statutory fees are national and identical across all of them: £548 for a householder application, £274 for a Lawful Development Certificate, £610 for a new dwellinghouse, and no fee for listed building consent.
The Kent Downs National Landscape runs along the chalk escarpment from the Surrey border through Sevenoaks, Maidstone and Ashford to the Dover cliffs. The High Weald National Landscape covers much of Tunbridge Wells and the southern parts of Tonbridge and Malling. Both were formerly designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the change of name did not change the statutory weight.
Inside a National Landscape, and within its setting, schemes are assessed on landscape and visual impact: prominence in long views, roof form, materials and the extent to which a building reads as part of the settlement or as an intrusion into open countryside. Some permitted development rights are narrower, and the larger home extension prior approval route is unavailable in designated land.
The Metropolitan Green Belt covers most of Sevenoaks district and parts of Dartford, Gravesham and Tonbridge and Malling. Where Green Belt and National Landscape overlap — which they do across much of Sevenoaks — a scheme has to satisfy both the disproportionate-addition test and the landscape test, and the more restrictive of the two governs.
| Package | Fixed fee | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials — measured survey, existing and proposed plans | 14–20 working days | |
| Loft conversion package — survey, plans, sections, elevations | 14–20 working days | |
| Mansard / roof rebuild package | 18–24 working days | |
| Complete — planning plus building regulations drawings | 20–28 working days |
One of thirteen authorities: twelve districts and boroughs across the shire county — Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells — plus the unitary Medway Council.
The current name for what was designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Kent has two: the Kent Downs along the chalk escarpment and the High Weald across the south west. The statutory weight is unchanged — schemes inside them and in their setting face a landscape and visual assessment.
Not on designated land. The larger home extension prior approval route is unavailable inside a National Landscape, a conservation area or a site of special scientific interest, which rules it out across a substantial share of the county.
Often yes, under Class Q or through a full planning application, but the structural condition of the existing building is usually decisive: permitted development rights for agricultural conversion require the building to be capable of conversion without substantial rebuilding, and they do not apply in a National Landscape.
Send the postcode. We confirm the district, the National Landscape and Green Belt position and the application route before quoting.
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