List of conservation areas in Crawley

As of April 2013, there are 11 conservation areas in the borough of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Crawley has ancient origins as a market town, but following centuries of gradual growth it was transformed in the postwar era when it was selected as a New Town. The population is now over 100,000. Several areas retain their long-established character and buildings of historic interest, and some postwar parts of the town have been designated as conservation areas because of their architectural and social importance.

The definition of a conservation area is a principally urban area "of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Such areas are identified according to criteria defined by Sections 69 and 70 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. Crawley Borough Council is responsible for creating conservation areas within its boundaries. As well as following the statutory definition, it states that conservation area status is granted on the basis of "a number of factors and does not solely relate to the age of the buildings; for instance architectural interest and setting of an area are also important factors." Specific features of interest include historic street patterns, materials used in buildings, paths and boundaries, the character of the public realm, the relationship between buildings and surrounding open space, and "a strong sense of place". Conservation area status regulates but does not preclude new construction, demolition or redevelopment work.

Present-day Crawley, whose population was 106,597 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011, was formed by the merging of the small market town of Crawley (which lay astride the main London–Brighton road), the village of Ifield to the west, the railway settlement of Three Bridges to the east, and the ancient village of Worth to the southeast, whose Saxon church was at the heart of a vast parish. This gradual and haphazard development was greatly accelerated from 1947 when a detailed masterplan was drawn up by the Commission for New Towns, which aimed to rehouse large numbers of people from war-damaged London slums in a series of self-contained new towns around the city. Crawley was the second such town to be designated, and over the next few decades 13 residential neighbourhoods, a large industrial estate, a new town centre and many other facilities were built around the existing development. Local governance—split across several county, district and parish councils—was consolidated into a new entity which took its present form, Crawley Borough Council, in 1974.

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