Extensions and alterations
If your home needs more room, we can design an extension that respects the house and looks right from the lanes and hillsides around it.
Hope Valley · Peak District
Planning consultants in the Hope Valley
If you live or farm in the Hope Valley, in Castleton, Hope, Bradwell or the countryside around them, your plans sit deep inside the Peak District National Park. Planning decisions here rest with the Peak District National Park Authority, and it looks first at how a proposal fits the landscape and the character of the valley.
We can often tell you at the first conversation whether your idea is likely to be supported and what it would take to get there, whether it is an extension, a barn conversion or a new venture for your farm.
Key contact
Richard Pigott
Managing Director – Chartered Town Planner
How we can help
Homes, farms and rural buildings in the Hope Valley
Life in the valley brings its own kinds of project, from a growing family’s extension to a farm looking for a new source of income. Whichever yours is, you can bring it to us, and the landscape around your site is always where we start.
Barn and building conversions
If there is a barn or outbuilding on your land, we can help you give it a new life, handling the openings, roof and materials with care so it keeps its character.
Farm and rural enterprise
If you farm in the valley, you may need a new agricultural building or a way to diversify, such as holiday accommodation. We can help with both, including the case your proposal will need to make to the Authority.
Heritage and listed buildings
If your building is listed or stands in one of the historic villages, we can guide your changes so they respect its past, and prepare the heritage information the Authority will ask for.
Local context
Planning in the Hope Valley
If you have a home, a farm or a business in the Hope Valley, you are part of a working landscape that a great many people also come to visit. That mix of homes, farming, tourism and heritage shapes what you can build here, and it is worth understanding before you settle on a plan.
Projects in the valley tend to be of three kinds, and we can help you with each. They are the sensitive extension to a stone house, the conversion of a barn or other traditional building, and the carefully argued rural scheme. That last kind might be a new agricultural building, or a way of diversifying your farm, perhaps with holiday accommodation.
The Authority’s first question for each of them is whether it conserves and enhances the National Park, and tourism proposals are also weighed against the landscape and the amenity of people nearby. We look at your building, your land and the wider view before any design work begins, and we will give you our honest view of what is likely to be supported.
Our planners bring experience of rural development as well as homes, and they work alongside our architects and heritage specialists. That means you can bring your whole idea to us in one conversation, however many strands it has.
Landscape across the National Park
Wherever your site is in the valley, the Authority's first concern will be the effect of your proposal on the National Park's landscape. We start with where your site sits and design outwards from there, so the scheme answers that concern from the outset.
Heritage and visitor pressure
Historic villages and strong visitor demand both influence what the Authority will support, particularly for holiday lets and new rural businesses. We weigh those questions early and help you present a proposal that works for the valley as well as for you.
Farm buildings and diversification
New farm buildings and diversification schemes can be supported in the right place, but they need to be justified and designed to sit well in the landscape. We prepare the case alongside the design, so your proposal explains both what you need and why you need it.
RIBA
RTPI
IHBC
ARB
Common questions
Planning questions in the Hope Valley
Who decides planning applications in the Hope Valley?
The Peak District National Park Authority is the planning authority for the Hope Valley villages, including Castleton, Hope and Bradwell. Its landscape-led approach means your design, your materials and the setting of your building will all be looked at closely, and we prepare your proposal with that in mind.
Can I convert a barn in the valley?
A barn conversion can be supported where the building is suited to it and the design keeps the barn’s character. The Authority will look closely at openings, roof and materials, so we design yours around those details and explain the thinking behind them.
Could I run holiday accommodation or a rural business here?
Tourism and rural enterprise are part of life in the valley, and proposals for holiday lets or new rural businesses can be supported with the right approach. They are weighed against the landscape and the amenity of people nearby, so we will tell you early what the Authority is likely to accept and how to shape your proposal.
Can I put up a new building for my farm?
A new agricultural building can be possible where your farm needs it and it is sited and designed to sit well in the landscape. We can tell you which consent route applies to your building and put together the information that route requires.
Do I need a planner or an architect for a rural project?
Many rural projects need both, because the case for the proposal and its design have to work together. Because we offer planning and architecture in one practice, you can talk your whole idea through with us from the start.
Find us
Our nearest office
Planning & Design Practice — Matlock
Cromford Mills, Mill Road, Cromford, Matlock, DE4 3RQ (confirm exact unit and postcode)
Matlock, the Peak District and Derbyshire Dales
Planning authorities
Get started
Would you like to talk through an idea for the Hope Valley?
Do you have an old barn you would like to save, a farm you would like to diversify, or a home that no longer quite fits? Send over a few details and you will hear from us, usually the same day, with a first view of how the Authority is likely to see it. The first conversation will not cost you anything.