We have a statutory duty under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conversation Areas) Act 1990 to determine which parts of the borough are 'areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance' and to designate them as conservation areas.

There are currently 13 conservation areas in the borough, each very different in character and appearance, protecting new town areas and much older parts of Crawley.

In order for conservation areas to be preserved and enhanced, planning controls within these areas are tightened. We also produce conservation area statements for these areas in order to help understand what makes them distinctive, guide development, and identify opportunities to enhance their character.

You can find out more about each conservation area on their individual pages.

Within a conservation area certain permitted development rights are removed. This means that planning permission may be required to undertake particular works or alterations, even where permission would not normally be needed outside of a conservation area.

Where planning permission is required, development will be expected to respect and contribute positively to the special character and appearance of the conservation area.

It is strongly advised that you check with our Development Management team prior to undertaking any works in a conservation area to ensure that any proposed development is acceptable in planning terms. Visit our 'Do I need planning permission?' webpage for further information.

Our conservation areas dataset has been prepared as a .csv file in accordance with standards provided by the Government’s Planning Data Platform. This dataset provides information and links related to documents we publish regarding each of our conservation area. You can view our conservation areas dataset as a downloadable .csv file.

You can find planning and housing data the GOV.UK Planning Data website. This data is provided under the Open Government Licence. Find out more about the Open Government Licence on the National Archives website.