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Parish of Amberley Design Statement Contents Introduction page 3 Map of the Parish of Amberley page 4 The Makings of the Parish page 5 The Parish in its Setting Planning Guidelines 1 to 6 page 6 How the Parish Developed Planning Guidelines 7 to 12 page 8 Individual Buildings Planning Guidelines 13 to 19 page 11 Views of the Parish page 14 Materials and Architectural Detail Planning Guidelines 20 to 23 page 16 The Street Scene Planning Guidelines 24 to 35 page 21 The Parish Today Planning Guidelines 36 to 40 page 24 Where to go for further information page 26 How PADS was prepared This design statement was developed in consultation with the entire parish through a series of exhibitions and questionnaires to ensure that all views, local knowledge and ideas have been brought together for the benefit of the parish as a whole. A draft copy and a questionnaire were delivered to each household in the parish; the results were independently analysed, and a few adjustments made. The whole consultation process has shown strong support by the community for the principles and the details of PADS. Acknowledgements The PADS Steering Group are indebted to both Horsham District Council and Amberley Parish Council for their advice and financial support. We are grateful to the many contributors and active supporters (nearly 40 in all) without whom it would not have been possible to produce this Design Statement, and to the many residents of the parish who have attended PADS events, expressed their views, and generally encouraged us. Our thanks are also due to Michael Cook Associates for some illustrations. The Parish of Amberley Design Statement was formally adopted by Amberley Parish Council on 11th May 2005 and endorsed by Horsham District Council on 30th March 2006. The Planning Guidelines in this design statement have been widely endorsed by the local community. They will be taken into account by Amberley Parish Council and Horsham District Council when local planning applications are assessed. 2 PARISH OF AMBERLEY DESIGN STATEMENT Introduction The Parish of Amberley Design Statement (PADS) describes the civil parish in 2005 and emphasises the qualities valued by those who live here. It has been produced by Amberley residents so that local knowledge, ideas and views can contribute in a positive way to the future of the parish. It is intended to be a practical tool capable of influencing the design of developments in the area. It should help both new developers and householders wishing to make changes to draw up more appropriate plans and so get them accepted more easily. It is used as a guide by Amberley Parish Council when they comment on planning applications, and by Horsham District Council in considering and deciding on these. Everyone can benefit from good design; there is no intention to preserve Amberley in a time capsule. PADS acknowledges that change is inevitable and its concern is with good design. It does not wish to stifle true originality - though careful thought should always be given to the relationship between tradition and innovation. It strives for a sustainable future for Amberley. If we all understand the character of the parish then we can all play our part in helping to preserve, protect and develop it in the most effective way. At the end of most sections you will find a list of Planning Guidelines. These are based on residents’ verbal and written comments, including responses to the survey for the Amberley Long Term Plan. Those that feature here have been accepted and approved by Horsham District Council as suitable for inclusion in a Design Statement intended as a planning tool; some other suggestions, especially those relating to the community rather than the built environment, have had to be omitted as inappropriate in this context. PADS applies to the whole Civil Parish of Amberley, the area for which Horsham District Council consults on planning applications with Amberley Parish Council. This includes North Stoke, Houghton Bridge, and Amberley village right up to the far end of Crossgates. Where this booklet refers to ‘the parish’ it means all these places. 3 The Parish of Amberley 4 The Makings of the Parish The Parish of Amberley is dominated by the Houghton Bridge lies at the crossing of the river South Downs, which rise here to over 190 Arun. The bridge itself, built of stone in the metres (630 feet). They may have been the site medieval tradition, was completed in 1875, and of the area’s earliest settlements, for traces of replaced an earlier one constructed in 1440. The Bronze Age huts have been found on Amberley local quarrying of chalk for lime-burning and Mount. The other major influence has been the cement began commercially in the 1840s, and fast-flowing River Arun, still tidal at this point. the nearby railway was laid in 1863. Before this Much of the parish lies very near to sea level, chalk was loaded onto barges at Houghton and the Amberley Wildbrooks on the river’s Bridge for transport to the sea, or via the Wey floodplain have helped to shape its identity. and Arun Canal into the Thames. Thanks to chalk from the Downs and peat from the The most isolated community in the parish is Wildbrooks, the early prosperity of the parish North Stoke, which has remained agricultural in continued. its activity. The tiny settlement with its thirteenth century church lies in an idyllic With the advent of rail transport from London, setting in a loop of the River Arun. The village the area began to be ‘discovered’. The 1920s of Amberley, ‘the Pearl of Sussex’, developed were the heyday of artists in Amberley. Four of eastwards because of natural barriers: the their ten studios sat beside Church Street along Downs to the south, the River Arun to the west with humble dwellings, sheds, and farmyards. and the Wildbrooks to the north. It sits on a low These incomers helped to ensure the survival of ridge of Upper Greensand rock, often referred to some of the older cottages, partly by buying as Amberley blue stone. In 681 the lands of them up and renting them to local people. Amberley and Houghton were given to St Wilfrid when the local king converted to The Amberley Wildbrooks were saved from Christianity, and the manor appears in the drainage in the 1970s by an energetic local Domesday Book under the name of campaign, and are now a Site of Special ‘Aumberlie’. Both St. Michael’s church and Scientific Interest and an internationally Amberley Castle, a fortified manor house built important Ramsar site. North Stoke and the old for the Bishop of Chichester, were erected in the centre of Amberley village are both protected by early 1100s. Gradually the population grew, conservation area status. Today the parish lies and the many houses that survive from the in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural sixteenth and seventeenth centuries attest to the Beauty, and is within the boundaries of the growing affluence of this farming community. proposed South Downs National Park - in all, a microcosm of England able to thrive well into the twenty-first century, and worthy of our care for future generations to appreciate. 5 The Parish in its Setting Throughout the parish there are open views to the Downs, the River Arun or the Wildbrooks. The landscape is rural, with arable crops near Amberley village, and water meadows between the communities of Houghton Bridge and North Stoke. The fields on the alluvial plain regularly flood in winter and are used as seasonal grazing for cattle. providing a short cut to Houghton Bridge and the station. Another long distance footpath, the Wey-South Path, enters Amberley village from Mill Lane and proceeds northwards across the Wildbrooks to the hamlet of Greatham, offering on the way views back up to the houses of Amberley and Crossgates perched along the edge of the escarpment. These are especially visible when the trees are leafless, and have Most of the parish can be seen from the South grown considerably more prominent in recent Downs Way National Trail from Eastbourne to years as a result of tree felling, decking, painted Winchester, which runs along the top of the rendering and heavily glassed extensions that scarp slope south of Amberley, descending at reflect the light. High Titten to meet the River Arun. There is a footpath leading westwards out of Amberley The linear alignment of Amberley can also be behind the castle and along the riverbank to seen clearly from the Downs, with building Houghton Bridge, where it joins the South clusters in the old part of the village, and at Downs Way, and a range of other tracks run up Hurst Cottages, Hurst Close and Crossgates. onto the Downs or link different parts of the The roofs of thatch, tile and slate harmonise parish. Two in particular are important to the with the natural colours of the local local community: the unadopted footpath environment including the surrounding running from the Millennium Green across countryside. This harmony is greatly enhanced fields to School Road, and the Croft, that links by the softening effect of the hedgerows and the old centre of Amberley to the B2139, trees scattered throughout the area. 6 Planning Guidelines 1. Views into and out of areas of the parish make a significant contribution to its overall character, and should be both preserved and respected in the design of new development. 2. Buildings along the southern edge of Amberley village and along the escarpment edge to the north should not be obtrusive in size, style or brightness and colour of materials.

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