Heritage Strategy 2011-2016

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN HERITAGE STRATEGY 2011-2016 1 Heritage Strategy 2011-2016 Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. National and local strategic policy. 3 3. Brief History of the Borough 5 4. The Historic Environment Resource 7 5. Policy 9 6. Understanding 11 7. Managing Change 16 8. Advising and Enhancing 20 9. Communication 22 10. Summary of recommendations 24 11. Action Plan 26 2 1. Introduction 1.5 Overarching Objective 1.1 Our built heritage provides a valuable resource that can play an important role for the future of Blackburn. Heritage can be an To conserve and enhance the historic environment, important stimulus to regeneration, provide a sense of local pride recognising its contribution to economic vitality, and culture, and sense of place, and by preserving it we are contributing to a civic pride and the quality of life, and its importance as a more sustainable future. The historic environment is also a fragile resource for future generations. resource and one which is irreplaceable and a unique record of our past which when lost is gone forever. 1.6 The aims of the strategy are set out below; 1.2 Local Authorities are often seen as the managers of the historic Aim 1: environment and have a statutory duty to ensure that the best To carry out statutory duties with respect to the conservation and architectural and historic buildings are properly preserved and enhancement of the historic environment. enhanced. This duty is enshrined in the Town and Country Planning (listed building and Conservation Areas Act) 1990. Aim 2: Promote the opportunities presented by conservation and heritage 1.3 The responsibility for stewardship of our heritage however is in terms of improving the image, sustainability and economic shared by everyone and is not just a task taken undertaken by the development in the Borough. Council. To truly succeed it is acknowledged that there needs to be a broad level of public support and understanding of the issues Aim 3: relating to the preservation of the historic environment. Engage local people in discovering, presenting and conserving the Borough’s heritage. 1.4 The historic environment in the Borough faces significant challenges and opportunities over the next few years. The move to Aim 4: localism and cuts in public sector funding will require setting clear The strategy is to provide the basis for the future service priorities on managing the historic environment resource and planning of the historic environment by identifying priorities for working closer with local groups and civic societies. In order to do action. this it is important to have an understanding of all the elements that contribute to the historic environment, how change will be managed, as well as enhancing and raising awareness. The purpose of the strategy is to identify key priorities and actions for the next 5 years. 3 2. National and Local Strategic Policy. 2.1 Planning Policy Statement 5 ‘Planning for the Historic Environment’ sets out national policy relating to all aspects of the historic environment. The Governments overarching aim is that the historic environment and its Heritage assets should be conserved and enjoyed for the quality of life they bring to this and future generations. The Governments main objectives were: • To deliver sustainable development , and in particular ensure that policies and decisions recognise that heritage assets are a non-renewable resource, take account of wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits of heritage conservation, and ensure that heritage assets are managed intelligently in the long term. • To conserve England’s heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their significance. • To contribute to our knowledge and understanding of our past by ensuring that opportunities are taken to capture evidence from the historic environment and to make this publicly available. 2.2 The government thereby places a priority on the conservation of the historic environment, and has developed a holistic approach to the historic environment. The elements of the historic environment that are worthy of consideration in planning matters are called heritage assets. This term embraces all manner of features including buildings, parks and gardens, standing buried and Figure 1 Northgate conservation area submerged remains, areas, sites and landscapes, whether designated or not and whether or not capable of designation. 4 support the 4 main principles set out in the Vision and deliver the 2.3 English Heritage have set out their strategic aims in the cultural change that the vision sets out. National Heritage Protection Review ( December 2010). The relevant aims are: Aim 1: To identify and protect our most important Heritage. Aim 2: Champion England’s Heritage Aim 3: Support owners, Local Authorities and voluntary Organisations to look after England’s Heritage. Aim4: Help people appreciate and enjoy England’s Heritage. 2.4 Engagement with the public and other organisations is a shared aim for the Borough and English Heritage. Blackburn Council will collaborate with English Heritage and other partners to engage with volunteers, neighbourhoods and the public in the conservation of the historic environment. 2.5. Blackburn with Darwen Strategic Partnership sets out in their Vision 2030 the long term vision for the Borough and has 4 main aims: • To develop prosperous towns • To see safe and connected neighbourhoods and cultures. • To see clean and green neighbourhoods • To see healthy places and safe communities. The vision in particular recognises the importance of culture in driving change and increasing cultural activity by the regeneration of both Blackburn with Darwen town centres, the celebration of the built environment through conservation areas, and the refurbishment of many fine historic buildings. This strategy aims to Figure 2 Darwen Tower 5 3. Brief History of the Borough Improvements schemes in the second half of the nineteenth century resulted in much of the removal of the earlier housing stock. 3.1 There is very little evidence of prehistoric activity in the Borough, and there has been one Roman find, an inscribed stone 3.5 The Borough imposed planning regulations that led to the commemorating the dedication of a temple. Blackburn became a construction of long terraces of two up two downs. The gridiron major territorial division in early medieval north west England and pattern of streets formed a ring around the urban area as it had the town of Blackburn subsequently became a notable market town existed in 1850. The First World War marked the beginning of a and administrative centre. By 1800 about 20,000 weavers lived decline in cotton manufacturing in Blackburn and many of the towns within a three mile radius of Blackburn Town centre. mills have since been demolished . (Source: Lancashire Historic Town Survey Programme Blackburn Historic Town Assessment April 2005) 3.2 In the eighteenth century, the wealth of the middle class merchants began to be expressed in the construction of fashionable 3.6 Darwen’s main period of growth occurred during the late new houses. Further expansion in this period saw settlements eighteenth century from two clearly defined clusters. The larger developing around churches and chapels and to some extent settlement (Over Darwen) was centred at the crossroads where the factories. main Blackburn to Bolton Road crossed the road from the second cluster, and centred on Darwen Chapel. By the early nineteenth 3.3 Blackburn’s fame as a textile town began to spread in the century Darwen was one of the largest town ships in the parish of seventeenth century and by the early nineteenth century Blackburn Blackburn boosted by growth in the textiles and paper industries. was a renowned centre for cotton cloth production and distribution. Over Darwen became a Borough in 1878 and the settlement grew The town began to acquire aspects of gentility, as the growth of along the main highway and railway corridor as population growth working class housing and industrial development began to fuelled extensive areas of terraced housing. Darwen town centre encroach the wealthier neighbourhoods new middle class suburbs has remained largely intact and retains a strong traditional shifted north of the town. The town received a charter of character. incorporation in 1851. 3.7 The historic built environment is the most visible expression of 3.4The arrival of the canal in 1810 and subsequently the the historic development of the Borough. However this does not construction of railways from 1846 provided a stimulus to urban always mean that the protected assets are those that represent the expansion. Engineering works supplied the cotton factories and most significant elements of the Borough’s historical development. other nineteenth century industries included brewing and corn There are a significant number of undesignated assets from the milling, foundries were also established. By the late nineteenth period of prolific historical growth in the nineteenth century that are century Blackburn had become a centre for power loom weaving. not protected and could be under threat from loss. The purpose of this strategy is to ensure that heritage assets of significance to the historical development of the Borough are conserved for the benefit 6 and enjoyment of future generations. ( Source: Lancashire Historic Town Survey Programme, Darwen assessment 2005) Summary Statement of Historic Significance . 3.8 The statement below seeks to give an overall statement of historic significance for the Borough: Blackburn developed from a number of foci of hand loom weavers and later mill workers settlements, and their associated residential terraces, with the most rapid expansion in the nineteenth century. This has given the Borough a distinctive historic character predominantly of stone and red brick buildings set against the significant backdrop of the West Pennine Moors. Figure 3 Corporation Park Gatehouse 7 4. The Historic Environment Resource A Public Realm Strategy has been published for the Town Centre as well as a Town Centre Strategy for Blackburn Town Centre.

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