Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017
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Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 DESIGN IN PRESTON A Parish Design Statement prepared by the Residents of the Parish of Preston Nr. Cirencester 1 Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 Introduction document was then submitted to the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council Successful Parish/Village Design demands for their comments following which it was a harmony between traditional and new then submitted to the District Council for buildings. This enhances both the them to put it on their web-site as appearance of the environment and informal guidance to interested parties. community life. Future design should, therefore, consider patterns and details Preston which give Preston its special character. The Village of Preston lies approximately 2 This statement is intended to encourage miles to the South East of Cirencester good design by analyzing the Town Centre with the Roman Roads of characteristic style of Preston and Fosse Way (now Kingshill Lane) to the suggesting ways in which it might be West, Ermin Way (now A419) to the South applied to all future landscape and and the new A417 dual carriageway building activity in the Parish. Cirencester By-pass to the North East. A majority of the housing development lies This Statement provides guidance to all alongside the main and only road that interested parties; including Cotswold runs in a north easterly direction through District Council, the Parish Council when the village. considering any planning applications (e.g. developers of new housing in the Parish) The Parish of Preston extends North along and homeowners contemplating work to the Fosse Way (A429 Stow Road) to their property. Ragged Hedge Covert, East along London Road (A417) to near the entrance of How the Statement was prepared Ampney Park, South to the A419 road junction opposite the South Cerney Further to a decision by the Parish Council Airfield and West towards Cirencester. a Steering Group was set up to prepare Part of the new Kingshill Meadow the Design Statement. This Steering Group development on the outskirts of met on a regular basis during 2015/2016 Cirencester used to be in the Parish but, to discuss the content of the Statement as part of boundary reorganization, the and the most suitable way forward. This boundary was moved in 2015 to enable resulted in the distribution of a the whole of this development to be part questionnaire in October 2015 to all the of Cirencester Town. residents of the Parish. The number of questionnaires returned represented 43% This Design Statement is intended to of the properties. Approximately 50% of provide guidance for development the Village responded. Analysis of the throughout the Parish. responses to the questionnaire has enabled the Steering Group to prepare this document which, following completion was presented to the Parish Council for approval. The approved 2 Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 Preston Parish showing Listed Buildings Date Created: 27-10-2016 | Map Centre (Easting/Northing): 404832 / 201804 | Scale: 1:20000 | © Crown copyright and database right. All rights reserved (100056378) 2016 © Contains Ordnance Survey Data : Crown copyright and database right 2016 © English Heritage 3 Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 Landscape and Natural rural feel of the parish. Within the village Environment of Preston, the farmland “gap” in the middle also helps add to that rurality. The parish area consists mainly of undulating arable fields, typical of the Cotswold landscape, that are surrounded by hedges and dry stone walls. The area is crossed by numerous drainage ditches and is prone to limited localized field flooding. To the north of Preston village the fields are dotted with a number of old dew ponds and an underground reservoir is located to the south of the A417, along A brief history of the Village Witpit Lane. Archaeological finds in the local area show There are no areas of designated SSSI evidence of occupation back to Neolithic within the parish, but the area north of times, through Roman, Saxon and Akeman Street is within the Cotswold medieval times to the present day. ANOB. The agricultural hamlet of Preston has The parish is crisscrossed by the routes of stood in the Cotswold countryside for old Roman Roads (the Fosse Way, Ermin more than a thousand years. Documented Way and Akeman Street) and also includes in the Domesday Book as being held by the route of a dismantled railway, now Regenbald, (debatably) the chancellor of the main access road to the Organic Farm Edward the Confessor, it formed a part of shop at Abbey Home Farm. the endowment to the Abbey of Cirencester by Henry 1st in the mid part of Most of the farmland is arable, though the the 12th century along with the majority of Abbey Estate does have some livestock. Regenbald’s estates. The parish is also dotted with a number of copses, which help to break up the So it remained over the course of the next four hundred years, until the Dissolution skyline. The copses and drainage ditches of the monasteries in the 1540s. The also provide excellent wildlife corridors. Church of Preston, like other possessions Buzzards and Green woodpeckers are of the Abbey, stayed in royal hands until resident and Red Kites, Heron, Otters and it, along with other estates in the area was roe and fallow deer are often seen. purchased from Queen Elizabeth by her Despite its proximity to Cirencester, the physician, Dr. Richard Master, in 1564. fact that most of the land is arable That purchase began a relationship farmland and subject to rotational between the Master (subsequently Chester Master) family and Preston that cropping helps to maintain the distinctly continues to this day. 4 Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 fundamentally rural nature of the outline of Preston has been maintained, despite a change in the demography of the village from the historical, purely agricultural, to the more varied background of today. Movement Routes The Village and Parish is served by major roads that link quickly to the National Road network. The nearby A417/A419 Early maps, including those prepared at dual carriageway links the Parish with the the time of the Inclosure of the parish in M5 to the North (less than 30 mins) and 1772, and aerial photographs taken both the M4 to the South (about 20 mins), before and after the Second World War whilst the local roads connect with show a community much unchanged Fairford to the East, Stroud to the West, clustered around the church at its centre, Malmesbury to the South West and Stow with an imposing new rectory erected in on the Wold to the North. Cirencester is 1820. approx. 10 minutes drive away or a 40 Two or three more substantial minute walk along quiet footpaths or farmhouses near the centre were streets. In addition there are well used interspersed with smaller cottages, Rights of Way around the village and to forming a ribbon-like settlement along the the villages of Ampney Crucis and central part of the village road. Research Siddington as well as alongside the at Historic England reveals that there are uncategorized road through the village 17 Listed Buildings in the Parish with 11 in where there is a mixture of unlit footpaths the Village; these range from the 13th/14th and grass verges. century Anglican Church with some A short walk along unlit routes will take monuments in the Churchyard to Village Residents to well stocked individual houses, mainly farmhouses, supermarkets and an hotel and restaurant built in the 17th (c25%), 18th (c20%) and whilst, slightly further afield in 19th (c45%) centuries. Cirencester, Siddington, South Cerney and Between 1950 and 1980 that basic Ampney Crucis there are many Public structure was expanded with new Houses and restaurants. There are many dwellings being built on intermittent sites local and national shops in Cirencester. along the roadside from the crossroads at In addition an occasional bus service that the western end to the junction at the connects the Village to nearby villages, eastern end to the Ampneys one way and Cirencester and the Hospital. Harnhill and Driffield to the other. That development was continued into the 1980’s and 1990’s with the conversion of farm buildings into both residential and From the responses to the questionnaire small commercial property. However the Villagers expressed their concern about 5 Preston Parish Design Statement April 26, 2017 the safety of crossing the A419 dual small number of detached family homes carriageway at its junction with Kingshill following the line of the single village Lane (Preston Toll Bar) on foot and the street in Preston. situation has worsened with the recent The village has also seen in-filling of changes to the road layout. houses, these being built in the gardens of In addition the recent Cirencester existing properties and the more recent developments along London Road have conversions of farmyard buildings into increased the flow of traffic along Kingshill residential developments in the late Lane resulting in the strong request from 1980s. Remaining farm buildings in Village Villagers for a cycle/pedestrian path farm that are unsuitable for residential alongside to provide access to the Primary development have been converted into and Secondary Schools and Sports light industrial units. These are not facilities on Kingshill Lane. generally visible from the village street. The Village Settlement The detached houses built from the 1900s onwards are 2 storeys high but the older Preston Parish is made up of a range of detached and terraced cottages are housing characterized by the age, size and generally 1½ storeys high. design of the property. How the Village has changed in the last 75 years is shown The original and oldest cottages and on the maps on the following pages.