Outline Application Design and Access Statement July 2015
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14102 The Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath Outline Application Design and Access Statement July 2015 ARCHITECTURE PLANNING URBAN DESIGN CONSERVATION ECONOMIC REGENERATION Contact details: Nash Partnership LLP 23a Sydney Buildings Bath BA2 6BZ 01225 442424 [email protected] www.nashpartnership.com File Reference 14102_U01_001 Date of Issue July 2015 Revision G Status Final Prepared by Laura Mitchell Design by Amanda Taylor Authorised by Amanda Taylor File Path \\Nash02c\JobNumbers_SB\2014Jobs\14102 Royal High School Playing Fields, Bath\DTP\Reports\14102_U01_002_A4 Outline app DAS If you require a large print version of this document, please contact Nash Partnership 2 14102_Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Context 6 Physical Context 6 Social & Economic Context 8 Landscape Context 8 Heritage Context 12 3 Evaluation 14 Constraints 14 Opportunities 17 4 Proposals 22 Layout 22 Density & Scale 23 Use, Access and Movement 26 Visual Structure 27 Ecology & Landscape 29 Public Realm 31 Appearance 34 Materials 38 Sustainability 39 5 Consultation 41 Programme 41 School 43 Consultation Conclusions 44 6 Conclusions 45 Building for Life 45 Summary 46 Outline Application Design and Access Statement 3 1 Introduction 1.1 This Design and Access Statement has the location of the site and the convenient been prepared by Nash Partnership access the motorway from this location. on behalf of IM Group (Ensleigh) Ltd 1.4 In the following pages of this document and accompanies the outline planning we will have conveyed how these permission sought for the erection of up considerations have influenced the choice to 95 residential units (Use Class C3), a of our design principles and how the quality 210 place primary school (Use Class D1) and character of the Public Realm will be associated infrastructure and open space. created. Approval of access, with all other matters reserved. To the land to the rear of MOD 1.5 This Design and Access Statement should Ensleigh. be read in conjunction with a number of accompanying technical documents which To Lansd 1.2 The purpose of this document is to include: demonstrate that the principles around which this scheme has been designed Planning Application forms and plans; have drawn from our understanding of the Design and Access Statement; site, its location, its likely population and Environmental Statement covering lessons learnt from mature housing areas Heritage, Landscape and Ecology elsewhere in Bath. Planning Statement including 1.3 In designing the master plan, we have studied some of Bath’s established housing - Economic Statement; areas to understand what has contributed - Education Assessment; to their character and popularity. We have taken note of best practice urban Affordable Housing Statement: design, to consider how to deal with car Transport Assessment and Travel Plan; parking, refuse, recycling, and landscape. We have also taken note of the strength Flood Risk Assessment (drainage plan); of character that recent developments on Arboricultural Assessment; Granville Road have shown and sought to Lighting Strategy; understand the local character of Lansdown and Charlcombe. The sense of isolation Services Report; of the site justifies creating a distinctive Statement of Community Involvement; character that draws its inspiration from the openness and views of the countryside Archaeological Assessment; and around. The exposure of the site, situated Ground Investigation Report. on top of Lansdown plateau, restricts the scale and height of the development. In turn the landscaping plays a key role in providing containment and shelter on the edges of the development. In responding to the context parameters the layout limits the potential density. We believe that 30 dwellings per hectare is appropriate for this site. Car parking expectations will reflect 4 14102_Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath Beckford’s Tower sdown Road Outline Application Design and Access Statement 5 2 Context Physical Context 2.1 The site is located, in the Lansdown area of Bath that extends northwards from the city 06 centre, up Lansdown Hill to a plateau. The city centre is approximately 3km away. 01 2.2 The site is situated northwards; beyond the former MoD Ensleigh North site that Kingswood playing fields borders Lansdown Road and Granville Road. At present the site is used as a playing field by the Royal High School. Access to the site is currently provided Connecting along a track that branches off the Granville Road/Colliers Lane junction. 2.3 In terms of designations the site is located Key View line outside the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Green Belt, however both border the site on its northern periphery. Connecting road Lansdown Road 01 6 14102_Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath 05 04 02 03 03 Connecting road ng road and view 04 Granville Road 05 02 06 Outline Application Design and Access Statement 7 Social & Economic Landscape Context Context 2.6 The landscape surrounding the city of Bath 2.4 The application site is allocated under is defined as the plateaux of Lansdown, policy B3C (Extension to MoD Ensleigh) Bathampton Down, Claverton Down, Odd of the adopted B&NES Core Strategy. Down, and Combe Down. This site is The site is identified as a strategic site, located on the high ground of Lansdown pertinently to delivering the Council’s plateau, which is defined by its topography required five year supply of housing land. and tree covered edges. Development is This policy seeks the delivery of around not typically visible from locations with the 120 dwellings, in addition to consideration valley or hill slopes. of green infrastructure, ecology, landscape 2.7 The prominent woodland and vegetation as character and heritage impact as part of well as development along Granville Road a comprehensive site solution with MoD on the brow of Lansdown Hill, provide a Ensleigh. There is a policy requirement, clear marker in locating an approximate shared between Core Strategy policy B3C locality of the site when viewed from and the MoD Ensleigh Concept Statement locations in the east and/or south. to provide a primary school, within the 2.8 Elevated above the city, the site is located master planned site. Financial contributions on the Lansdown plateau. Land surrounding and land for the school have been provided the site falls away in three directions. It through neighbouring developments slopes down to the north by Soper’s Wood including Ensleigh South, Ensleigh North and Charlcombe Wood; to the east beyond and Hope House. the residential development along Granville 2.5 A detailed assessment of planning policy is Road; and to the south beyond the walls of provided within the accompanying planning Lansdown cemetery. The Land to the west statement. of the site is gently undulating. 2.9 The landscaping on the higher slopes of the plateau is defined by a transition from the residential urban edge, with tree lined streets that continue onto the top, to a wider natural, recreation and agricultural landscape. 2.10 The fields in the immediate setting of the site are now predominately in recreational use, divided by historic lines of trees, stone walls and hedgerows with grazing land set beyond. Although the definition of the historic land use has been altered by the development of recreational facilities. Historic maps show that the alignment of the boundaries has largely remained the same since the late 1900s. 8 14102_Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath 2.11 Within the Site existing tree lined boundaries are protected by a Tree Preservation Order. These have extensive root protection areas and provide existing flight and foraging corridors for Bats, where dark conditions need to be maintained (albeit outside the boundary of the Bradford-upon-Avon SAC). A strip of trees and grassland on the western boundary of the application site is located within a local Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). Outline Application Design and Access Statement 9 9 8 7 6 5 10 1 3a 11 2 20 City Wide Viusal Constraints PROJECT NO: NPA1063 N ICHOLAS P EARSON A SSOCIATES DATE: APRIL 20 ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNERS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS ECOLOGISTS ISSUE STATUS: PRELIM 10 14102_Chill Site, Ensleigh, Bath 12 5 4 13 3b a 14 15 16 Key viewlines 19 17 18 30 EXT CLIENT: IM PROPERTIES FIGURE NO: 01 015 PROJECT: ENSLEIGH NORTH EXTENSION TITLE: CITY WIDE VISUAL CONSTRAINTS MINARY Outline Application Design and Access Statement 11 Heritage Context 2.12 The Chill lies within the designated World Heritage Site of the City of Bath. One of the three key criteria of the city’s inscription as a World Heritage Site is the recognition of Bath as an ‘architectural and landscape ensemble, representing significant stages in human history’. 2.13 Contextually the site occupies a prominent position on the Lansdown plateau, with a historical landscape setting and distinct road patterns and green lanes. Dating back to 1547 the nearby Soper’s Wood and Charlcombe Wood, limits views to Figure 2.1: Thomas Thorpe 1742 the site from across the valley. The site’s own mature tree boundary is a margin to an earlier travel route that continued on from Charlcombe Lane, as seen in Thomas Thorpe’s 1742 map. 2.14 Within the immediate context of Lansdown plateau there are several listed buildings; including Beckford’s Tower and Mortuary Chapel, Lansdown Cemetery, Ensleigh House and the Church of All Saints, Woolley. The majority of listed buildings are naturally obscured from the site by the surrounding topography, landscaping and built form. Figure 2.2: Ordnance Survey Maps 1880s 2.15 Grade I Beckford’s Tower is of high heritage value, in relation to the site not least because of its proximity but its height and susceptibility of visual impact to and from the tower within its surrounding context, as well as further afield. It was designed as a study retreat that allowed William Beckford to have uninterrupted views from the tower to the countryside.