Very early stages at the moment, but we are buying a house in a conservation area. The place needs a good bit of doing up inside and out, and one area for early attention will be the conservatory. It's getting on a bit and was hardly an epic of construction when it was put up. I would plan to replace the structure and widen it a bit. The windows could also use some attention and I might be tempted to shell out for some new double glazed sashes.
The area has an article 4(2) order, but the schedule to this only refers to the front of the house. Now, as far as I can see, general conservation area rules cover things like trees and demolition but (and I could easily be wrong here) still allow the normal range of permitted development, but with a lower volume limit for extensions (10% instead of 15% of the original house volume). So far as I can tell, my conservatory plan would come within the 10% and there are no other extensions to the house.
Can anyone confirm that I am reading this correctly? The main reason I ask is that many conservatory suppliers' web sites indicate that PP is needed in conservation areas. In the end I suppose I shall have to check it out properly but it would be good to know the 'real' situation and/or any else's experiences before thinking about tangling with officialdom.