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Proposed Development, Grange Road, Longford, Coventry

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Proposed Development, Grange Road, Longford, Coventry PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT, GRANGE ROAD, LONGFORD, COVENTRY HERITAGE STATEMENT Woodhall Planning & Conservation, Woodhall, Woodhall Lane, Calverley, Leeds. LS28 5NY Tel: 0113 255 4660 Email: [email protected] 2863/4B March 2016 CONTENTS Page No 1.00 Introduction 1 2.00 The Site and its context 3 3.00 Impact of the proposed development 10 4.00 Conclusions 14 APPENDICES A List entry descriptions B Photographs C Historic maps 1.00 INTRODUCTION 1.01 Woodhall Planning and Conservation has been commissioned by Westleigh Developments to prepare a Heritage Statement in connection with the proposed development of land at Grange Farm on the north-west side of Grange Road, Longford in Coventry. Grange Farmhouse is Grade II listed and the whole site is located within the Coventry Canal Conservation Area. In addition, the brick outbuildings that are located to the south-west of the farmhouse are included on the Local List held by Coventry City Council. Immediately to the south-east of the site, Nos. 175 and 177 Grange Road are also Grade II listed. Planning permission was granted in 2009 for the demolition of a section of the outbuildings and the erection of 5no. houses to the west of the farmhouse. 1.02 Woodhall Planning & Conservation is a professional architectural and planning consultancy operating in the specialised areas of historic building conservation, urban design and planning law. The consultancy has extensive experience of building evaluations, conservation area appraisals and management plans, historical and archaeological research, public inquiry and “expert witness” work, condition surveys, strategies for conservation and re-use, the design and management of repair and conversion projects and conservation legislation. 1.03 This Statement is necessary as Section 72(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 indicates that special attention shall be paid to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of conservation areas. Section 66(1) of the same Act indicates that special regard shall be given to the desirability of preserving a listed building or its setting. 1.04 The Coventry Development Plan was adopted in 2001 and in 2007 a number of policies were ‘saved’. Policies BE8, BE9 and BE10 relate to the protection of conservation areas, policies BE11 and BE13 relate to the protection of listed buildings and policy BE14 refers to the protection of locally listed buildings. 1.05 One of the twelve core planning principles set out in paragraph 17 of the National Planning Policy Framework (the ‘Framework’) is to, ‘Conserve heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their significance ….’ Section 12 of the Framework (paragraphs 126 to 141) sets out general policies relating to the historic environment and further guidance is provided in the online Planning Policy Guidance. Heritage assets are defined in Annex 2 of the Framework as: A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. Heritage asset includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing). In Annex 2 of the NPPF ‘Significance (for heritage policy)’ is defined 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. S:\2863 - RG+P Ltd\4 Grange Road, Coventry\Reports\Heritage Statement Final - 14.3.16.doc 1 This Annex also provides a definition of archaeological interest. 1.06 Paragraphs 133 and 134 of the Framework make a distinction between proposals that will lead to ‘… substantial harm to or total loss of significance ….’ of a designated heritage asset (paragraph 133) and proposals which will have ‘… less than substantial harm ….’ (paragraph 134). Paragraph 135 relates to the impact of proposed developments upon non-designated heritage assets. 1.07 Paragraph 137 of the Framework indicates that: Local planning authorities should look for opportunities for new development within Conservation Areas … to enhance or better reveal their significance. Proposals that preserve those elements of the setting that make a positive contribution to or better reveal the significance of the asset should be treated favourably. 1.08 Paragraph 138 of the Framework states that: Not all elements of a … Conservation Area will necessarily contribute to its significance. Loss of a building (or other element) which makes a positive contribution to the significance of the Conservation Area … should be treated either as substantial harm under paragraph 133 or less than substantial harm under paragraph 134, as appropriate, taking into account the relative significance of the element affected and its contribution to the significance of the Conservation Area … as a whole. 1.09 The assessment is based on a site visit on the 13th August 2015. Coventry City Council prepared The Coventry Canal Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan in 2012 and this report makes use of that document. S:\2863 - RG+P Ltd\4 Grange Road, Coventry\Reports\Heritage Statement Final - 14.3.16.doc 2 2.00 THE SITE AND ITS CONTEXT 2.01 This section of the assessment considers the nature of the site of the proposed development (the Site) and the contribution that it makes to its context, particularly its contribution to the significance of the Conservation Area, the Grade II listed Grange Farmhouse and the setting of the other designated and non-designated heritage assets within the immediate surrounding area. The Site 2.02 The Site lies to the south and west of Grange Farmhouse, which is situated on the north-west side of Grange Road in Longford. The farmhouse dates from the eighteenth century and has an L-shaped footprint. It is two-storeys in height with brick walls (now colourwashed) and has a pitched roof covered with red tiles (see Photo. 1 in Appendix B). To the south-west of the farmhouse, beyond its garden there is an L-shaped range of single storey brick outbuildings around a predominantly tarmaced yard. These buildings have been substantially altered over the years and now have a mono-pitched corrugated concrete sheet roof. The brick outbuildings were originally U-shaped in plan, but a section of the north-western range collapsed and was subsequently demolished (see Photo. 2 in Appendix B). The farmhouse has an L- shaped garden area that extends around the north and west sides of the house, with a smaller garden to the south-east. To the west, the garden is defined by two timber sheds, with a variety of timber fencing to the remainder with a group of trees in the south-east corner. To the west of the farmhouse, there are two large timber clad sheds with a small field enclosed by hedgerows (see Photo. 3 in Appendix B). 2.03 The farmhouse is surrounded by fields and these form a triangular area of land subdivided by hedgerows. This land is surrounded by the M6 Motorway to the south-west, predominantly terraced housing to the south-east and the northern boundary is defined by line of the former Oxford Canal which is currently in use as agricultural land. As noted above the agricultural fields are sub-divided by a number of hedgerows (see Photo. 4 in Appendix B) and two of the resulting field enclosures, Dry Close and Long Meadow, are noted in the Coventry Historic Environment Record (HER). However, these fields are now substantially fragmented as a result of the construction of the canals and M6 Motorway. The surroundings 2.04 Further to the south-west of Grange Farmhouse is the Grade II listed Nos. 175 and 177 Grange Road. This pair of cottages are two-storeys in height, are constructed with red brick and have a pitched slate roof (see Photo. 5 in Appendix B). The listed building description (see Appendix A) notes that No. 177 was the birthplace of Tom Mann (1856-1941), a founder and the 1st General Secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering Union. 2.05 To the south-west and south-east of the Site are a variety of two-storey terraced housing located on both sides of Grange Road. The houses are constructed with red brick (although those on the south-east side of the road are pebble-dashed on the upper floor) and have pitched roofs covered with slates or concrete tiles (see Photo. 6 in Appendix B). S:\2863 - RG+P Ltd\4 Grange Road, Coventry\Reports\Heritage Statement Final - 14.3.16.doc 3 2.06 The embankment to the elevated M6 Motorway adjoins the south-west boundary of the Site is the elevated M6 Motorway. The motorway is approximately 20 metres above ground level and sits at the top of a wooded embankment (see Photo. 4 in Appendix B). Immediately adjacent to northern boundary of the Site is a narrow field, created along line of the former Oxford Canal. The Oxford Canal was filled in during the 1980’s and the present field is defined by hedgerows and timber fencing (see Photo. 7 in Appendix B). The Coventry Canal lies immediately to the north of this field and further to the north beyond the Coventry Canal is a housing estate constructed in the early twenty-first century. 2.07 Immediately to the north of Grange Farmhouse is a large electricity pylon that carries cables away from the Site in a north-west direction across the Coventry Canal (see Photo. in Appendix B). To the north-east of the farmhouse is a brick road bridge that carries Grange Road across the canal. This bridge is noted within the conservation area appraisal as a positive feature within the designated area (see Photo.
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