Air conditioning in Watford

Ten conservation areas, a Hertfordshire council rather than a London one, and postcodes that cross four authority boundaries.

Air conditioning installation across London. Based in Harrow and Stanmore.

Yes, we cover Watford. Two things are worth settling before anything is ordered. Watford Borough Council is a Hertfordshire district, not a London borough, so the London Plan does not apply and guidance written for Harrow or Barnet is the wrong guidance. And the postcode is a poor guide to who decides: WD25 spans four councils, WD19 three and WD18 two, so a Watford postal address is not always a Watford Borough Council application. Watford itself has ten conservation areas, which is more than anywhere else we work outside Pinner, and a handful of properties carry Article 4 directions that remove permitted development rights on street facing elevations. Outside those, the town is mostly semis, terraces and purpose built flats, and the practical questions are rear access and freeholder consent rather than planning.

Wall mounted systems start from £1,995 fully installed, and the price does not change with the postcode.

Planning authority

Watford Borough Council, usually

Postcode districts

WD17, WD18, WD19, WD24, WD25

Conservation areas

Ten

Purpose built flats

About 29 percent

A Watford postcode does not mean Watford Borough Council

This is the one that costs people time, and Watford is the worst case on our whole patch. WD17 and WD24 sit wholly within Watford Borough. WD18 crosses into Three Rivers. WD19 spans Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere. WD25 spans four separate authorities: Watford, Three Rivers, Hertsmere and St Albans. Each is a different council with its own local plan and its own application. We establish which one your address actually falls in before quoting, because an application to the wrong authority is weeks lost.

The ten conservation areas

From the table in Watford's adopted Conservation Areas Management Plan. Note the first one: Grove Mill Lane is only partly in Watford, which is the same boundary problem in miniature.

Conservation area	Designated	Note
Grove Mill Lane	1973	Partly within Three Rivers District
St Mary's	1975
Watford Heath	2001	Extended in 2008
Civic Core	2001
Nascot	2001	Extended in 2001
Estcourt	2001	Extended in 2010
The Square	2001
High Street and King Street	2006
Macdonnell Gardens	2011
Oxhey	2013

Published by Watford Borough Council in the Conservation Areas Management Plan, adopted July 2013.

Where the Article 4 directions actually bite

Most of Watford's conservation areas rely on ordinary conservation area control, which already means a street facing condenser is the wrong answer. A small number of properties carry more than that.

Macdonnell Gardens has been subject to an Article 4 direction since it was confirmed in January 2012. A second direction was made on 4 April 2013 for Brook Cottage and Grove Mill Cottages on Grove Mill Lane, and the council sets out exactly what it removes: Part 1 Class A, the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse; Class C, any other alteration to the section of the roof that faces the street; Class D, the erection or construction of a porch; and Part 2 Class C, the painting of the exterior.

Class A is the one to notice. Unlike the rear extension direction we deal with over in Hillingdon, an alteration to a dwellinghouse is broad enough that an externally mounted unit on a covered elevation is a question worth asking rather than assuming. If you are at one of those addresses we check with the council before we quote, not after.

Hertfordshire, not London

Watford Borough Council is a district council in Hertfordshire. The London Plan does not apply, the local plan is its own, and none of the Harrow or Barnet material on the rest of this site transfers.

It also means the neighbouring authorities are different ones. Three Rivers is immediately west and north, Hertsmere to the east, St Albans to the north east. We work across all of them, but they are four separate planning regimes and the boundary between them does not follow the postcode.

What this means street by street

In a purpose built flat

Close to 29 percent of Watford homes, which is high. The freeholder or management company is the first hurdle and usually the slowest, so start there. Above the first floor a condensate pump is likely and is priced on the quote.

In a terrace

About a quarter of the town. The question is how we get to the rear: a side return, a shared alley, or through the house. It changes the pipe run and it is much better settled at survey.

In one of the ten conservation areas

The unit goes to the rear, out of sight of the street, which is what the council's own management plan asks for. If your address is in Macdonnell Gardens or on Grove Mill Lane, check whether an Article 4 direction names it, because those go further.

In a detached house

Only about 10 percent of Watford, mostly toward Nascot and the northern edges. More room to place the outdoor unit well, and often a longer pipe run past the three metres included, quoted per metre upfront.

One thing people get wrong about Watford

Watford gets treated as a London suburb because of the Metropolitan line and the postcode looking like a London one. It is not. It is a Hertfordshire town with its own council, and the practical consequence is that a lot of the air conditioning advice online, which is written for London boroughs, simply does not apply to it.

The second thing is the assumption that a WD postcode means Watford. Across WD18, WD19 and WD25 that is often untrue, and the further out you are the more likely it is that a different council decides. It takes us a minute to check, and it is the first thing we do.

Your planning authority is Watford Borough Council

They decide any application for your address, and they publish the conservation area maps you would need to check it. We do not submit applications on your behalf, but we will tell you at the survey if one is likely and give you the unit dimensions and position to put on the form.

Watford Borough Council conservation areas