Built up Areas Character Appraisal Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham
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Supplementary Planning Document Built Up Areas Character Appraisal Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham Adopted 23 February 2010 Mole Valley Local Development Framework 2 Built up Areas Character Appraisal – Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham Contents 1.0 Background ................................................................................................3 2.0 Methodology ...............................................................................................4 3.0 Policy Context .............................................................................................4 4.0 Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham Overview ........................................5 5.0 Landscape Setting ......................................................................................6 6.0 Town Centre and Environs ..........................................................................7 6.4 High Street, South Street and West Street ..................................................... 8 6.5 Dene Street ................................................................................................. 10 6.6 Church Street Area ....................................................................................... 11 6.7 South Street to Vincent Lane ........................................................................ 12 6.8 Rose Hill ....................................................................................................... 12 6.9 Cotmandene................................................................................................. 13 6.10 Marlborough Hill ........................................................................................... 14 6.11 Ansell Road to London Road........................................................................ 14 7.0 Northern Zone ...........................................................................................15 7.1 Ashcombe Road North ................................................................................. 15 7.2 Station Area .................................................................................................. 15 7.3 North Dorking .............................................................................................. 16 7.4 Curtis Road Area .......................................................................................... 17 7.5 Pixham ......................................................................................................... 18 8.0 Central Zone .............................................................................................19 8.1 Hampstead Lane Area .................................................................................. 19 8.2 Westcott Road ............................................................................................. 19 8.3 Vincent Lane Industrial Area ......................................................................... 20 8.4 Pippbrook Area ............................................................................................ 21 8.5 Deepdene ..................................................................................................... 21 9.0 Southern Zone ..........................................................................................22 9.4 St Paul’s Road to Cliftonville ......................................................................... 23 9.5 Tower Hill ..................................................................................................... 23 9.6 Falkland Road Area ...................................................................................... 24 9.7 Ridgeway Road Area .................................................................................... 25 10.0 North Holmwood and Southern Estates ....................................................26 10.2 North Holmwood Village ............................................................................... 26 10.3 St Johns ....................................................................................................... 27 10.4 Holmwood Park ............................................................................................ 28 10.5 Chart Downs area ........................................................................................ 29 10.6 Goodwyns to Rough Rew ............................................................................ 29 Dorking Area Maps ................................................................................................31 Mole Valley Local Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document Adopted February 2010 3 Built up Areas Character Appraisal – Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham 6.0 Dorking Church Street Buildings, South Street Dorking Kings Arms West Street 1.0 BACKGROUND distinctive. Character is influenced by particular 1.1 This is one of four Supplementary Planning combinations of visual, ecological, historical, built Documents which together provide a Character components and other intangible aspects. The Appraisal of the five main built up areas in Mole character of an area and its surroundings plays Valley: Dorking, Leatherhead, Ashtead, Bookham an important role in quality of life. and Fetcham. Bookham and Fetcham are 1.6 The five built up areas covered by the Character contained in a single document. Appraisal are the locations to which the majority 1.2 The environmental quality of Mole Valley is highly of development will be directed during the life of valued by both local people and visitors. There is the Core Strategy. It is important to ensure that wide diversity in built character across the such development contributes to the established District, from historic rural villages to tight knit, character of these locations and is integrated into historic town centres and leafy suburban areas. its setting, rather than appearing as an isolated There are several Conservation Areas, but also infill plot or an after thought. many other areas where the built up area has its 1.7 This need to relate new development to its context own, distinctive character. There are also areas and setting is clearly recognised in National where improvements could be made. Planning Guidance, for example PPS1, paragraph 1.3 Protection of the distinctive character of the 34: “Design which is inappropriate in its context, District has been a recurring theme during or which fails to take the opportunities available for preparation of the Core Strategy at the heart of improving the character and quality of an area and the Mole Valley Local Development Framework. the way it functions, should not be accepted.”. The purpose of these Character Appraisals is to 1.8 The Built Up Areas Character Appraisal covers set out the key characteristics of Dorking, the whole of each built up area, recognising that Leatherhead, Ashtead, Bookham and Fetcham. every area has its own distinctive character. Some They identify features that should be respected locations have obvious townscape qualities, and preserved, the landscape setting of each perhaps as a result of their historic origins or settlement, opportunities for enhancement and particularly high standards of urban design. vulnerability to change. Others may be less distinctive. Nevertheless, 1.4 The Council is also producing a Landscape every area has its own character, which forms Character Assessment, which acts as a part of the mosaic that creates a distinctive built companion document, focussing on the wider environment within each settlement. landscape, outside the built up areas. A Character 1.9 The analysis in this document will inform the Appraisal of the six Larger Rural Villages identified preparation of Local Development Documents, in the Core Strategy is also being prepared Taken including the Land Allocations Development Plan together, these Assessments will provide an Document (DPD), and the determination of overview of the character of the District’s planning applications. By those means, it will environment - both built-up and rural. help to ensure that the local distinctiveness of the 1.5 ‘Character’ can be defined as a distinct, various parts of the District’s built up areas is recognisable and consistent pattern of elements recognised and reflected in development that make each landscape or townscape proposals or land management. Mole Valley Local Development Framework Supplementary Planning Document Adopted February 2010 4 Built up Areas Character Appraisal – Dorking, North Holmwood and Pixham 2.0 Methodology up areas, taking into account the views of local 2.1 The Built Up Areas Character Appraisal has been residents and other interested bodies. The SPD prepared by the Council in partnership with local will, in turn, form a basis for policies on design organisations. Each area was visited and and access, and act as a tool for assessing extensive use made of aerial photography and development proposals. published material relating to local history and Local Policy Context townscape character. Early drafts were made 3.5 The need to balance new development against its available to the main Residents’ Association for impact on the character of the built environment is each settlement in the north of the District, as well at the heart of Mole Valley’s Core Strategy. The as the Dorking and District Preservation Society, Council’s spatial vision for Mole Valley, as set out in order to incorporate their local perspective. in the Core Strategy 2006-2026, is as follows: 2.2 The Character Appraisals were published for Mole Valley will make provision for its share of the