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WARRINGTON, cheshire
HERITAGE ASSESSMENT
GGARRY MMILLER Historic building consultancy
PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT AT WINWICK road/bluecoat street: HERITAGE ASSESSMENT Page 2
PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT AT WINWICK road/bluecoat street
WARRINGTON, CHESHIRE
Heritage assessment
JUNE 2016
GARRY MILLER Historic Building Consultancy
Crosby House, 412 Prescot Road, Eccleston Hill, St Helens, Lancashire WA10 3BT Telephone: 01744 739675 [email protected] © Garry Miller 2016
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Contents
1: Executive Summary 4
2: The Site 5
3: Planning Context/Report Objective 7
4: Historical Context 9
5: The Listed Building and its Setting 11
6: Assessment of Significance 15
7: Policy Context 16
8: Impact of the Proposal 18
Appendix 1: Principal Sources 20 Appendix 2: Garry Miller Historic Building Consultancy 20
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1: executive summary
This report supports proposed redevelopment of a brownfield site at the junction of Winwick Road and Bluecoat Street, north of the town centre of Warrington, Cheshire. The site is currently occupied by a disused public toilet block. It stands opposite the former church of St Ann, which is listed at Grade II*.
An application is being made to Warrington Borough Council for demolition of the toilet block and erection of a new eight-apartment building. The heritage issue arising from the proposal is its impact upon the setting of the listed building. The scope and purpose of this report is to identify the significance of the former church of St Ann and to assess the proposal’s impact upon this significance.
St Ann’s dates from 1866-1868 and is considered one of the greatest ecclesiastical works of Chester architect John Douglas (1829-1911). It is a prominent dark brick building, described by Pevsner in 1969 as ‘an impressively forceful High Victorian piece, blunt and uncompromising’. Following closure as a place of worship in 1995, the building was converted the following year to a climbing centre. The setting of the church is vastly altered from the original 19th century townscape of industry and workers’ terraced housing. A Rugby League stadium and supermarket are now its immediate neighbours amid a regeneration-led, retail-dominated streetscene. The toilet block stands directly opposite the church in an overgrown plot extending back along Bluecoat Street.
The Grade II* designation of the former church of St Ann denotes this is a particularly important building in the national context, one of more than special architectural and historic interest. Its significance derives from its intrinsic merits as a prominent and forceful High Victorian church that represents one of the finest works by Douglas, an architect of national importance. The church no longer stands within its original surroundings, and therefore the contribution its present setting makes to this significance is low. Within this setting, the application building is of no heritage significance and its visual contribution is negative.
The proposal involves the removal of an unsightly building of no heritage value that detracts from the setting of the listed St Ann’s. The design of the proposed new apartment building is sympathetic to the listed building in that it draws inspiration from the area’s traditional Victorian buildings, and its materials palette also reflects this tradition. Its scale is also appropriate in that it does not challenge the visual predominance of the listed building along Winwick Road and its environs. The proposal will therefore enhance the setting of St Ann’s and hence is in accordance with relevant national and local policy. It is considered therefore that planning consent should be granted.
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2: THE SITE
The application building is located north of Warrington town centre on the east side of the A49 Winwick Road at its junction with Bluecoat Street. It is an urban brownfield site currently occupied by a disused late 20th century public toilet block, which stands within a plot which extends around 20 metres along Bluecoat Street and has an overgrown and unsightly appearance. South of the site are large modern car retail premises while directly opposite stands the Grade II* listed former church of St Ann. North of the church is a supermarket of 2003-2004 and to the south the Warrington Wolves Rugby League stadium of similar date. The wider setting is the busy corridor of the A49, and whose character is dominated by retail premises resulting from the late 20th/early 21st century regeneration of a district formerly occupied by industry and terraced workers’ housing. .
Map 1. Location of the application site
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1. The application building, looking south along Winwick Road
2. View of the building looking west along Bluecoat Street
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3: BACKGROUND TO THIS REPORT
3.1 Proposed development
An application is being submitted to Warrington Borough Council for demolition of the existing disused public convenience block at the Winwick Road/Bluecoat Street junction and replacement by a new building containing eight apartments.
3.2 Heritage impact
The site lies directly opposite the Grade II* listed former church of St Ann, which stands on the west side of Winwick Road. The heritage issue arising from the proposal is therefore the impact upon the setting of the listed building.
3.3 Planning policy context
The application will be determined in the context of national and local planning policies governing the historic environment. The national context is established by Section 12 of the National Planning Policy Framework (Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment), which was published in March 2012 and sets out the Government’s planning polices for England and how they are expected to be applied. The relevant local policies are those of the Warrington Local Plan Core Strategy, adopted July 21, 2014. The policy context is examined further in Section 7 of this report.
3.4 Scope and purpose of this report
Paragraph 128 of the NPPF states local planning authorities should require an applicant to describe the significance (i.e. the heritage interest and value) of the heritage assets affected, including the contribution made by their setting. The scope and purpose of this report is therefore to describe the significance of the listed building and its setting and to evaluate the proposal’s impact upon this significance. It is to be read in conjunction with other documentation supporting the application.
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3.5 Report structure
This is as follows:
1. A rapid summary of the historical background concerning the former church of St Ann (Section 4)
2. A brief analysis of its architectural interest along with its setting, and the contribution made to the latter by the application building (Section 5)
3. An assessment of the heritage significance of the listed building including its setting (Section 6)
4. A summary of the relevant planning policies (Section 7)
5. Assessment within this policy context of the impact of the proposal upon the significance of the listed building (Section 8).
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4: historical context
St Ann’s was built in 1868-1869 and is considered one of the great ecclesiastical works of the Chester-based architect John Douglas (1829-1911). It is a powerful, distinctive and original building which represents a striking departure from the more conservative church designs that Douglas had so far produced. Its design is highly original and conveys the massiveness and solidity which characterised the High Victorian period. When first built, its setting was the northern fringe of the town centre amid a district dominated by workers’ terraced housing and industry, which included a brewery to the southwest that is said to have supplied steam to heat the interior of the church. The scale and massing of the church made it a prominent landmark amid the terraced houses which lined Winwick Road, as the mapping of 1893 shows (below). St Ann’s closed as a place of worship in 1995 and became a climbing centre the following year.
Map 2. 1893 OS Warrington Town Plan shows the original setting of the building amid an area of industry and terraced housing
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3. St Ann’s in its original setting, from Building News, 1869
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5: THE LISTED BUILDING and its setting
5.1 Overview
A prominent and forceful High Victorian church distinctive for its dark brick and powerful massing. Shorn of its original industrial and terraced surroundings, it now stands conspicuously amid a late 20th century regeneration-led landscape dominated by retail premises and the town’s rugby stadium. The application site contributes negatively to this setting.
4. The former church of St Ann, looking northwest along Winwick Road
5.2 List description
The National Heritage List for England description of the building, dating from the 1980s, reads:
Church. 1868-9, by John Douglas of Chester. Red brick in Flemish bond with some blue brick dressings, slate roof. High Victorian style with C13 Rhenish accent. Aisleless nave with north end and south porches, south-east tower, north vestry and apsidal
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chancel. The 6-bay nave, with stout buttresses, a plinth, a string-course of blue brick and a brick cornice with a nail-head band, has a gabled porch to the second bay of each side, both with broad battered clasping buttresses, a 2-centred arch chamfered in 3 orders containing a segmental-headed doorway, and a pair of small lancets in each side wall; and in most of the other bays a pair of lancet windows with roll-moulded surrounds. The south-east tower, which is the most striking feature of the design, is broad and square, clasped in the angle of the nave and chancel, and of 3 stages, with straight angle-buttresses to the south-east corner terminating with blue brick offsets at the belfry stage, and a south-west stair-turret treated as a broad clasping buttress terminating at the same level but finished with a tall conical-roofed turret rising above the parapet; a corbel table to the parapet, and a tall steeply-pitched saddle-back roof with a tiered break at its base. It has a small lancet to the 1st stage, an arcade of 3 similar windows to the 2nd stage, and coupled 2-centred arched belfry windows with chamfered surrounds and large wooden louvres. The tall semicircular apse, with buttresses to almost full height, has high 2-centred arched windows with 2 lancet lights and a circle in the head. Gabled vestry on north side, opposed to tower. INTERIOR: wide lofty nave with unusual internal buttresses between the windows spanned by 2-centred arches and carrying wall-posts to an arch-braced wagon roof with arcaded ashlaring and wind-braced purlins; blind arcading between these buttresses; chancel with slender shafts to elegantly rib-vaulted roof. Said to be heated by steam from adjoining brewery. "An impressively forceful High Victorian piece, blunt and uncompromising" [Pevsner, BoE], effectively concentrating its principal features at the south-east corner from which it is first seen.
5.3 Setting
a. Overview. The present-day setting of the former church is vastly different from that which originally existed, and which, as Map 2 has shown, was an area dominated by industry and terraced housing. Its present surroundings are that of a late 20th century regeneration-led, retail-dominated landscape along the busy A49 corridor. The Buildings of England’s comment upon this setting in 2006 was as follows:
The setting, once industrial, was in 2003-4 crassly transformed by the construction of a Rugby League stadium and supermarket. This bounds the church tightly on three sides: the supermarket itself against the N side, with the car park behind the W end, and a petrol station flanking the S side. Scarcely believable.
b. Contribution of the public toilet block. The structure is of no heritage interest and in its present disused and boarded-up state, amid overgrown surroundings, harms the immediate setting of the listed building.
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5. Looking south from St Ann along Winwick Road towards the Rugby League stadium and town centre beyond
6. The view north along the A49
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7. Looking west along Bluecoat Street to St Ann and the application site
8. The application building, looking north from the Bluecoat Street junction
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6: ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
6.1 Rationale
Paragraph 129 of the National Planning Policy Framework states local planning authorities should identify and assess the particular significance of a heritage asset, including its setting, and take this into account when considering the impact of a proposal in order to avoid or minimize conflict between the asset’s conservation and any aspect of the proposal. Significance is defined in the NPPF Glossary as:
‘The value of a heritage asset to this and future generations because of its heritage interest. That interest may be archaeological, architectural, artistic or historic. Significance derives not only from a heritage asset's physical presence, but also from its setting.’
The NPPF Glossary defines setting as:
The surroundings in which a heritage asset is experienced. Its extent is not fixed and may change as the asset and its surroundings evolve. Elements of a setting may make a positive or negative contribution to the significance of an asset, may affect the ability to appreciate that significance or may be neutral.
The policy context therefore requires the significance of St Ann’s and its setting to be understood first in order to evaluate the proposal’s impact.
6.2 Significance of the listed building
The Grade II* designation of the former church of St Ann denotes this is a particularly important building in the national context, one of more than special architectural and historic interest. Its significance derives from its intrinsic merits and historic character as an impressive and prominent High Victorian church by John Douglas, one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings by this architect of national importance. Its character was summarized by Pevsner as ‘forceful … blunt and uncompromising’. The church no longer stands within its original setting of industry and terraced housing, and beyond Winwick Road itself only fragments of the original street pattern now remain. The contribution made by its present setting – the product of modern regeneration – to the significance of the listed building is therefore low.
6.3 Contribution of the application building
The application building is a late 20th century structure of no heritage interest and which makes a negative visual contribution to the setting of the listed building.
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7: POLICY CONTEXT
Sections 16 and 66 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 require local planning authorities to give special regard to the desirability of preserving a listed building or its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant national planning policy context is established by Section 12 of the National Planning Policy Framework (Conserving and Enhancing the Historic Environment, March 2012). Paragraph 131 states that in determining applications, local planning authorities should take account of:
• The desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets, and putting them to viable uses consistent with their conservation • The positive contribution that the conservation of heritage assets can make to sustainable communities including their economic vitality, and • The desirability of new development making a positive contribution to local character and distinctiveness
Paragraph 132 states that ‘great weight’ should be given to the conservation of a designated heritage asset, and the more important the asset, the greater that weight should be; that significance can be lost through development within its setting; and that as heritage assets are irreplaceable, any harm or loss should require clear and convincing justification. Substantial harm to, or loss of, a Grade II listed building should be exceptional; substantial harm to or loss of designated heritage assets of the highest significance, including Grade II* buildings, wholly exceptional. Paragraph 133 states that where a proposal will lead to substantial harm to, or total loss of, the significance of a designated heritage asset, consent should be refused unless it can be demonstrated that the substantial harm is necessary to achieve substantial public benefits that outweigh that harm or loss, or all of the following apply:
• The nature of the heritage asset prevents all reasonable uses of the site; and • No viable use of the heritage asset itself can be found in the medium term through appropriate marketing that will enable its conservation; and • Conservation by grant-funding or some form of charitable or public ownership is demonstrably not possible; and • The harm or loss is outweighed by the benefits of bringing the site back into use.
Paragraph 134 states that where a development proposal will lead to less than substantial harm to the significance of a designated heritage asset, this harm should be weighed against the public benefits of the proposal, including securing its optimum viable use.
The local context is established by the Warrington Local Plan Core Strategy, adopted July 21, 2014. Policy QE8 relates to the Historic Environment and states:
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The Council will ensure that the fabric and setting of heritage assets … are appropriately protected and enhanced in accordance with the principles set out in National Planning Policy.
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8: Impact of the proposal
8.1 Summary of the scheme
The proposal seeks demolition of the existing toilet block and erection of a new building containing eight apartments. The design of the proposed building draws upon the Victorian characteristics of the surrounding area, with a strong vertical emphasis, consistent window rhythm, pitched roof and dormers. The materials palette, with facing brick and slate roof, also reflects the local building tradition. The scheme also involves landscaping, which will help to soften the generally hard-edged townscape of the A49 corridor.
9. Front elevation of the proposed building to Winwick Road (Willacy Horsewood Architects)
8.2 Impact upon the setting of St Ann’s
The proposal involves the removal of an unsightly building of no heritage value that detracts from the setting of the listed former church of St Ann. The proposed new apartment building has been designed in a style that is sympathetic to the listed building by taking its design lead from the area’s traditional Victorian houses. The materials palette also reflects the local tradition, and the scale of the building is appropriate in that it does not challenge the visual predominance of the listed building standing opposite, which will remain an unchallenged key landmark on Winwick Road.
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10. Visual showing the proposed building in the context of the setting of St Ann’s, looking south (Willacy Horsewood Architects)
8.3 Conclusion
For the reasons described above, it is considered the proposed development will enhance the setting of the listed church of St Ann. The proposal is therefore in accordance with national policy as expressed by NPPF 131 and 132 and with Policy Q8 of the Core Strategy. It is thus considered that planning consent should be granted.
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APPENDIX 1: PRINCIPAL SOURCES
OS 25-inch mapping, 1893
Richard Pollard and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, 2006
Edward Hubbard, The Work of John Douglas, 1991
APPENDIX 2: Garry Miller HISTORIC BUILDING CONSULTANCY
Garry Miller is an architectural historian who has spent more than 35 years studying buildings of town and countryside, in particular those of North West England. His career as a consultant began in the mid-1980s with the Preston-based Nigel Morgan Historic Building Consultancy, of which he became a partner in 1992 upon its rebranding as Datestone. In 1997 he was commissioned by the Heritage Trust for the North West, a buildings preservation trust based at Barrowford, Lancashire, to produce an in-depth regional study of vernacular houses in southwest Lancashire: the result, Historic Houses in Lancashire: The Douglas Valley, 1300-1770 was published in 2002. The book was described as ‘scholarship as its best’ by Country Life (June 2003), and ‘well analysed and presented’ in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society (Vol 48, 2004); and was widely cited in the 2006 Buildings of England volume on Liverpool and Southwest Lancashire. Extensive research on the houses of Georgian and Regency Liverpool has also been undertaken, with a view to future publication. Following the success of his Douglas Valley book, Garry Miller established his own consultancy, producing analytical and interpretive reports on historic buildings. His specialism are the heritage assessments required to support planning applications affecting the historic environment, and his area of operation encompasses the North West, Midlands and North Wales. Several local authorities have cited his assessments as examples of best practice, and on average reports on more than 100 buildings or sites are produced annually.
GARRY MILLER historic building consultancy