Sunnica West Site Sunnica Ltd
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SUNNICA ENERGY FARM Appendix 7A: Sunnica West Site Sunnica Ltd AUGUST 2020 www.sunnica.co.uk Sunnica Energy Farm Heritage Desk Based Assessment Sunnica West Site Quality information Prepared by Checked by Verified by Approved by Sophie Carver Andrew Pearson Helen Maclean Clare Le Brecht (Graduate (Principal (Technical Director, (Associate Director) Archaeological Archaeologist) Archaeology) Consultant) Amy Jones (Associate Katerina Koukouthaki Director, Built Heritage) (Built Heritage Consultant) Revision History Revision Revision date Details Authorized Name Position 0 05/04/19 Issue CLB Clare Le Brecht Associate Director Prepared for: Sunnica Ltd. Prepared by: Sophie Carver and Katerina Koukouthaki AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited Unit 1 Wellbrook Court Girton Cambridge CB3 0NA United Kingdom T: +44 1223 488 000 aecom.com © 2020 AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited. All Rights Reserved. This document has been prepared by AECOM Infrastructure & Environment UK Limited (“AECOM”) for sole use of our client (the “Client”) in accordance with generally accepted consultancy principles, the budget for fees and the terms of reference agreed between AECOM and the Client. Any information provided by third parties and referred to herein has not been checked or verified by AECOM, unless otherwise expressly stated in the document. No third party may rely upon this document without the prior and express written agreement of AECOM. AECOM Sunnica Energy Farm Heritage Desk Based Assessment Sunnica West Site Table of Contents 1. Introduction .............................................................................................. 1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 1 Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. Sunnica West Site Description ................................................................ 3 3. Legislation and Planning Policy............................................................... 5 Legislation .................................................................................................................................. 5 National Planning Policy ............................................................................................................ 6 Policy Guidance ......................................................................................................................... 8 Historic England Good Practice Advice Notes ........................................................................... 8 Local Plan Policy ........................................................................................................................ 9 Research Framework ............................................................................................................... 13 Chartered Institute for Archaeologists ...................................................................................... 13 4. Methodology for determining the heritage baseline .............................. 14 Study Area ................................................................................................................................ 14 Asset identification ................................................................................................................... 14 Site visit .................................................................................................................................... 14 Data Sources ........................................................................................................................... 15 Assumptions and Data Gaps ................................................................................................... 15 Assessment Methodology ........................................................................................................ 16 Significance of Heritage Assets ............................................................................................... 16 Archaeological Potential........................................................................................................... 16 5. Heritage baseline .................................................................................. 17 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 17 Designated Assets ................................................................................................................... 17 Non-designated assets ............................................................................................................ 18 Geology and soils ..................................................................................................................... 19 Archaeological and historical narrative .................................................................................... 19 Previous archaeological investigations .................................................................................... 32 6. Assessment of the baseline .................................................................. 35 Archaeological potential ........................................................................................................... 35 Statement of significance ......................................................................................................... 37 7. Conclusions ........................................................................................... 42 8. References ............................................................................................ 43 Textual sources ........................................................................................................................ 43 Aerial photographs ................................................................................................................... 45 Appendix A Asset Gazetteer ............................................................................ 35 Appendix B Events Gazetteer ......................................................................... 40 Appendix C Sunnica West Site Addendum ..................................................... 43 AECOM Sunnica Energy Farm Heritage Desk Based Assessment Sunnica West Site Figures Figure 1. Site Location .......................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 2. Designated assets within the 5km study area: overview ....................................................... 45 Figure 2.1. Designated assets within the 5km study area: detail – north-west ..................................... 46 Figure 2.2. Designated assets within the 5km study area: detail – north-east ..................................... 47 Figure 2.3. Designated assets within the 5km study area: detail – south-west .................................... 48 Figure 2.4. Designated assets within the 5km study area: detail – south-east ..................................... 49 Figure 3. Archaeological assets within the 1km study area: overview .................................................. 50 Figure 3.1. Archaeological assets within the 1km study area: detail– north-west ................................ 51 Figure 3.2. Archaeological assets within the 1km study area: detail – north-east ................................ 52 Figure 3.3. Archaeological assets within the 1km study area: detail – south-west ............................... 53 Figure 3.4. Archaeological assets within the 1km study area: detail – south-east ............................... 54 Figure 4. Built heritage assets within the 1km study area .................................................................... 55 AECOM Sunnica Energy Farm Heritage Desk Based Assessment Sunnica West Site 1. Introduction 1.1.1 The Sunnica West Site Desk Based Assessment (DBA) was prepared in April 2019 and the DCO Site boundary reported within this report was correct at that time. A high level analysis has been carried out and the findings of this report are still considered valid for the PEI Report. However an update has been provided for Sunnica West Site in Addendum C. Background Sunnica Ltd (hereafter referred to as ‘the Applicant’) has commissioned AECOM to produce desk-based assessments to inform an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Sunnica Energy Farm (hereafter referred to as the ‘Scheme’). This comprises the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) generating panels and on-site energy storage facilities across two proposed sites: Sunnica East Site and Sunnica West Site, within Suffolk and Cambridgeshire respectively; and associated infrastructure for connection to the national grid. Objectives This desk-based assessment is a preliminary stage of the heritage aspect of the EIA. It is one of three parallel reports: it pertains to the Sunnica West Site, with the other two reports addressing the Sunnica East Site and the national grid connection respectively. The objectives of this document are: • to place the Scheme within its full historic and archaeological context through the collection of baseline information; • to identify, map and assess the significance of all designated and non- designated heritage assets present within the Sunnica West Site and the surrounding study area (as defined in Section 4.2 below); • in relation to the above, to assess components of