BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Brooklands Heritage Partnership CONSULTATION COPY (June 2017) Radley House Partnership Brooklands Heritage Partnership, established in 2010, consists of representatives from Brooklands Museum, Historic England, Surrey County Council and Elmbridge Borough Council. BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN PREFACE This document has been commissioned by Brooklands Heritage Partnership with funding from Historic England (formerly English Heritage). Brooklands Heritage Partnership consists of representatives from Brooklands Museum, Historic England, Surrey County Council and Elmbridge Borough Council. This informal Partnership was established in 2010 as a result of growing concerns regarding deterioration and lack of management of some sections of the former Brooklands motor racing circuit. Brooklands has a unique motor racing and aviation history and the heritage significance of its surviving features has been recognised by their designation as a Scheduled Monument, statutory listings and through the site’s Conservation Area status. A Conservation Management Plan is a document which analyses the history and fabric of a site, identifies why it is significant and then puts forward recommendations for retaining this significance for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations. The aim of the Brooklands Conservation Management Plan is to provide information and guidance on best practice to landowners, residents and other stakeholders in order to inform future decision making on proposals affecting the area and to make recommendations for projects to ensure its future conservation. The study has built on work carried out for a previous draft document produced in 2003 on behalf of DaimlerChrysler UK. This document is the subject of wider public consultation, managed and overseen by Brooklands Museum and Elmbridge Borough Council, for a six week period. Comments received during this process have informed the final endorsed document. The final section of the Plan sets out recommendations to maintain and review the Conservation Management Plan and associated documents. The Brooklands Conservation Management Plan was formally endorsed by the Brooklands Museum Trust on [INSERT DATE], Elmbridge Borough Council on [INSERT DATE], Historic England on [INSERT DATE], and Surrey County Council on [INSERT DATE]. Brooklands Heritage Partnership CONSULTATION COPY Radley House Partnership Conservation Management Plan: June 2017 Page 1 of 114 BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS Preface 1 1.0 Executive Summary 4 2.0 Introduction 5 2.1 Background and Purpose of the Plan 5 2.2 Authorship and Copyright 6 2.3 Acknowledgements 6 2.4 The Site 6 2.5 Brooklands Heritage Partnership 7 2.6 The Consultant Team 7 2.7 Brief and Consultation 8 2.8 Structure of the Plan 8 2.9 Additional Documents and Plans 8 2.10 Statutory Instruments 9 3.0 Understanding and Heritage 10 3.1 Introduction 10 3.2 The Historical Development of Brooklands 11 3.3 Context of Brooklands 26 3.4 Designations and Heritage Assets 27 3.5 Brooklands Landscape Master Plan 29 4.0 Heritage Values and Significance 31 4.1 Introduction 31 4.2 Historical Values 31 4.3 Aesthetic Values 39 4.4 Communal Values 40 4.5 Statement of Significance 41 5.0 Risks and Opportunities 43 5.1 Introduction 43 5.2 The Dell 44 5.3 Brooklands Museum 46 5.4 Mercedes Benz World 61 5.5 JTI UK 68 5.6 The Heights 70 5.7 Residential 75 5.8 Brooklands Community Park 77 5.9 Light Industrial & Retail Units 86 5.10 Summary 97 6.0 Recommendations 99 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 General Recommendations 99 6.3 Conservation of Heritage Assets 100 6.4 Maintenance of Heritage Assets 102 6.5 Nature Conservation 103 6.6 Future Operation and Management 104 7.0 Monitoring and Review 105 7.1 Summary 105 7.2 Availability 105 Brooklands Heritage Partnership CONSULTATION COPY Radley House Partnership Conservation Management Plan: June 2017 Page 2 of 114 BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS 8.0 Bibliography and Sources 107 List of Figures 107 Bibliography 112 Appendices A1 Conservation Area Map A2 Statutory Designations A3 Plans Illustrating Chronological Development A4 Characterisation Maps Brooklands Heritage Partnership CONSULTATION COPY Radley House Partnership Conservation Management Plan: June 2017 Page 3 of 114 BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The idea and subsequent actions of Hugh Locke King in 1906 were to change forever a simple area of relatively flat marshy farmland straddling the River Wey, between Byfleet and Weybridge, and put it on the world map for both the development of the motor car and the aeroplane. Brooklands has become internationally renowned as the home of British motor sport during the ‘golden years’ of the early twentieth century, and as being influential upon the development of the motor car until the outbreak of WW2. In parallel with this, the aerodrome contained within the race track also became the home to many early aviation pioneers, before quickly developing as a thriving centre for both flying training before WW1 and then, during the inter-war period, for pioneering long distance flights. 1.2 Brooklands also provided a key function in both world wars for aviation-related manufacturing activities of national importance. The site became Britain’s largest aircraft manufacturing centre by 1918 and following the cessation of motor racing in 1939, it continued to be pivotal in the development of aviation technologies in this country. The site continued as a centre of innovation and engineering excellence, being responsible for the design and manufacture of many military and civil aircraft, including Concorde, until the final closure of the last factory in 1989. Producing over 18,500 aircraft of some 260 different types, Brooklands was Britain’s and possibly Europe’s most prolific aircraft manufacturing site. 1.3 Today significant features of the former aerodrome and race track survive, although somewhat disjointed by later phases of development, along with a number of important buildings associated with the motor car and aeroplane. 1.4 In 2013, Brooklands Heritage Partnership commissioned the preparation of a Conservation Management Plan to be carried out alongside a Gazetteer of Heritage Assets and a Guidance Document. A principal driver for the new Plan was to update and complete the existing draft Conservation Plan for the site, in line with current planning policies and conservation guidance. 1.5 This new Plan first analyses the history, vulnerability and significance of the heritage assets, before identifying opportunities and recommendations that will provide a sound basis for informing future management and development strategies across the extensive and complex series of heritage assets included within the Brooklands Conservation Area. This has been designated as being at risk due to the poor and deteriorating condition of the Brooklands racing track which is designated as a Scheduled Monument (SM). Brooklands Heritage Partnership CONSULTATION COPY Radley House Partnership Conservation Management Plan: June 2017 Page 4 of 114 BROOKLANDS AERODROME & MOTOR RACING CIRCUIT CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Background and Purpose of the Plan 2.1.1 The Conservation Management Plan [‘the Plan’] has been prepared by Radley House Partnership Ltd [RHP], following their appointment by the Brooklands Museum Trust Ltd [BMT] on behalf of Brooklands Heritage Partnership [BHP] in May 2013, to provide an up-to-date framework for addressing the conservation needs of the Brooklands site and any future plans for the conservation and management of the Scheduled Monument and Brooklands Conservation Area. The appointment of RHP followed the award of a grant by Historic England to help achieve these aims. 2.1.2 The BHP brief for the Plan was to update and complete the existing draft Conservation Plan for the site, produced in September 2003 on behalf of DaimlerChrysler UK so that this new document is in line with current planning policies and conservation guidance. Produced by Terence O’Rourke Ltd as a requirement of planning conditions relating to the construction of the Brooklands Heritage and Technology Centre (Mercedes-Benz World), this Plan was not developed beyond initial draft form. So that the new enhanced Plan would give a sound basis for informing future management and conservation strategies across the extensive and complex series of heritage assets included within the Brooklands Conservation Area, the brief identified the following specific issues as being required to be addressed: a more comprehensive approach to be adopted which addresses the wider Brooklands Conservation Area – not just the areas of the Scheduled Monument; more rigorous and detailed expositions of the significance, both of the site as a whole and of its constituent elements – employing the more developed concepts identified in Historic England’s “Conservation Principles”; the need to reflect the changes to national and local authority planning policy frameworks (post-2003); a more detailed understanding of risk and vulnerability; the need for a wider assessment of the significance of the setting and of the ways in which the setting contributes to significance across the Brooklands site; the need for an assessment of the effects on