St Nicholas Church Gosport Road Chawton Alton Hampshire GU34 1SJ Data via plota.co.uk

SDNP/26/01416/TCA - Tree in a Conservation Area Refused

Proposal

Yew located next to the entrance of the church. Reduce in height by 2m and reducing lateral spread by up to 3m to create a natural canopy. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
14 Apr 2026
✓
Validated
5 May 2026
✗
Refused
10 Jul 2026
Appeal
Not lodged

Refused on 10 Jul 2026 · LA Delegated Decision · Last checked 18 Jul 2026

Site constraints 9

Grade II* listed: Church of St Nicholas
List entry 1093974 · The pin is inside its outline · 12 more listed buildings within 150 m (2 Grade II*, 10 Grade II)
Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show the other 12 with distances
Historic England ↗
South Downs National Park
The park authority decides applications here. Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Landscape, scenic beauty and wildlife carry great weight, and major development is only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
Registered park or garden: Chawton House
Nationally designated heritage. Its significance and setting carry great weight.
Registered parks and gardens, battlefields, world heritage sites and protected wrecks are designated heritage assets: harm needs clear and convincing justification.
Historic England ↗
In flood zones plus climate change
Inside the extent flood zones 2 and 3 could reach with climate change: the Central allowance for the 2080s on rivers, the Upper End allowance for sea level rise to 2125. From rivers. Defences are not counted.
The Environment Agency flood map for planning. Councils use it to decide when a flood risk assessment and the sequential test are needed. It is indicative and does not show whether a particular property will flood.
Flood map ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3a
Best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Wood pasture and parkland
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Radon affected area, class 5
An estimated 10 to 30% of homes reach the radon action level. Indicative for the 1 km square, which takes the highest class found in it; a radon test gives the answer for a building.
From the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency indicative atlas. Under building regulations, as the BRE guide BR 211 (2023) sets out, new buildings and extensions need basic radon protection from class 3 in England and Wales and from class 2 in Scotland, and full protection from class 5. The class at the site itself, from the detailed BGS map, decides which.
UKHSA radon ↗
National infrastructure project 771 m away: Southampton to London Pipeline Project
The site is 771 m from the project boundary. Pipeline, decided. The project page says whether consent was granted.
Nationally significant infrastructure projects (power stations, electricity lines, pipelines, major roads and railways, harbours, airports and reservoirs) are consented by a Secretary of State under the Planning Act 2008, after an examination by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than by the council. The boundary is the one the Inspectorate consults on and can change as the scheme does. Projects are shown within 2 km of the site.
Planning Inspectorate project page ↗
Also on the record
Flood defence 17 m away (natural high ground, designed for a 1 in 5 year flood).
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Planning Inspectorate, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Application type
Tree in a Conservation Area
Postcode
GU34 1SJ
Received
14 Apr 2026
Validated
5 May 2026
Ward
Four Marks & Medstead Ward
Parish
Chawton Parish Council
Case officer
Show
Target decision
16 Jun 2026
Decision
Objection
Decision date
10 Jul 2026
Decision level
LA Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 66 days from validation, 23 days slower than South Downs's median of 43 for tree and landscaping works. Refused, as 3% of tree and landscaping works here are.

76%decided within 8 weeks
97%approved
445decided in the last year

Plota live figures for tree and landscaping works decided by South Downs in the last twelve months, from validation. South Downs decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
PP-14850870
Planning Portal ref
PP-14850870
Statutory expiry
16 Jun 2026
Env. assessment
No

Freehold boundary: © Crown copyright and database rights 2026, HM Land Registry. Polygons © Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey 100026316. Conditions of use