In Loose Valley the first question is whether a house is listed or covered by a direction. In this rural area there are 49 listed buildings, three of them Grade II*, and Maidstone's Article 4 directions sit on sites such as “Land at Cave Hill” and “Land adjacent Loose Stream” and cover about 39% of the area. What they take away is set out in the text of each direction and on the council's map.
What you can do without permission
An ordinary house outside the directions follows the general rules for conservation areas: solar panels on the roof slope, an air source heat pump at the back, internal wall insulation and loft insulation, all without an application. One example: on a Grade II building, solar panels are no longer covered by permitted development, so planning permission and listed building consent are needed.
On the EPC register as of November 2026, 44% of the 175 houses have uninsulated solid walls (43.3% across Maidstone's conservation areas), 87% have a gas boiler, there are no heat pumps, and solar panels appear on 2.3% of certificates. The rules are national as of 21 October 2026; anything disputed is decided by Maidstone council.