1 Statement of significance.
The Surrey Hills has a rich and diverse built heritage featuring many small farmsteads, pleasant hamlets with village greens and grand houses set in parkland. Local materials like stone, flint, tile, brick and timber are featured throughout the Surrey Hills, defining the sense of place. Many villages are picturesque and many feature ‘Surrey Style’ architecture inspired by Lutyens and the Arts and Crafts Movement whose designs sought to reflect local vernacular traditions. Many villages evolved around village greens creating picturesque scenes and are often designated as Conservation Areas. Old buildings often have significant nature conservation value, for example old agricultural buildings as roosting sites for barn owls and bats.
Settlement pattern in the Surrey Hills is surprisingly varied with some villages still having an isolated remote feel. Woodland cover and topography in the Surrey Hills combine to conceal even expansive development and create a perception of quietness and seclusion. Many villages, such as Hambledon, integrate well into the fabric of the landscape and some larger properties in elevated locations enjoy views without being intrusive.
2 Management issues.
The standardisation of design of new development leads to a general loss of local distinctiveness. The interface between the built up areas of towns and villages and the AONB countryside sometimes exhibits special problems, especially where land is held for speculative development rather than managed positively to reflect its landscape importance. There is often a lack of local materials for maintaining the built character for example Leith Hill and Bargate stone. Problems can also include urban fringe pressures such as vandalism and fly tipping.