Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan Evidence Base Summary August 2014 Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Local History 8 3. Homes for All 10 4. Built Environment and Local Character 20 5. Landscape Character and the Natural Environment 34 6. Renewable Energy and Planning Policy 43 7. Services and Facilities 44 8. Supporting the local economy 52 9. Transport and Communications 57 10. Conclusions 61 11. References 66 Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 1. Introduction The Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan is 1.1. Site Location an opportunity to plan the town's future. The Malpas and Overton are located in the south National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Cheshire countryside (See Figure 1.1). The requires that neighbourhood plans ensure that village of Malpas is 2 miles south-east of the A development is based on an understanding and 41 Chester to Whitchurch Road, to which it is evaluation of an area’s defining characteristics connected by the B5069 (see Figure 1.2) The and should establish a strong sense of place. county boundary between Cheshire and Understanding Malpas and Overton is the Shropshire is 5 miles to the south, and that starting point for producing a good between Cheshire and North Wales 3.6 miles to Neighbourhood Plan. What are the problems the west. that the Plan could address? What are the opportunities the Plan could make the most of? The Neighbourhood Plan boundary largely This document provides a comprehensive corresponds with the Parishes of Malpas and summary of all relevant issues and establishes Overton (see Figure 1.2). the 'baseline position’ at the start of the Neighbourhood Plan period. Figure 1.1: Malpas location in wider context Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 Figure 1.2: Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan Area Boundary (Source: Ordnance Survey 2013) Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 4 Many people in Malpas commute to surrounding Overton Parish has a population of less than 100 towns for jobs and local services. Table 2.1 residents or less than 40 households and so shows distances travelled from Malpas to key there are no 2011 Census results available for centres. this individual Parish. ONS have instead published results for the combined area of Chorlton and Overton as Chorlton Parish results. Key employment Distances from Malpas This evidence base draws on Parish, Ward and /service centre LSOA boundaries, depending on the availability Chester 16 miles north of data. Wrexham 14.9 miles west 2011 Census defines Lower Super Output Areas Nantwich 17.3 miles east (LSOA) as: small, relatively homogenous Whitchurch 5.8 miles south geographical units of roughly 1500 people created specifically to gather data for Table 2.1: Distances from Malpas to key employment communities across the country. Overton Parish, centres (Source: AA Route Planner) which includes 33 residential properties, is excluded from these figures. 1.2. Data Sources Figure 1.3 shows LSOA in red line and Ward level in black. There are two LSOA boundaries in Figures available do not correspond exactly with Malpas: Malpas, Farndon and Tilston L2 and the Neighbourhood Plan boundary. The Office Malpas, Farndon and Tilston L4. Because most of for National Statistics (ONS) has calculated the people who will be affected by Malpas Parish results from the 2011 Census by summing Neighbourhood Plan reside in L2 LSOA, and the results for output areas (OA). These are because L4 LSOA covers residents who don't live small geographical areas that ONS originally set within the Neighbourhood Plan vicinity, in this up for statistical purposes. In some cases, a data analysis L2 LSOA data will provide sufficient number of OAs will fit neatly into a Parish but in representation. some cases they do not. Where an OA crosses Parish boundaries ONS has assigned the results Guidance note on small numbers of that OA to the Parish in which its centre lies The Office for National Statistics (ONS) used a (in terms of population). In some cases this will process called “statistical disclosure control” to mean that the results quoted for a Parish are not ensure no individuals could be identified in any actually for the Parish stated but a larger or published 2011 Census tables. ONS swapped smaller area than this to varying extents. Also if some Census records between different areas to a Parish population is below 100 or it has less protect information supplied by individuals. In than 40 households ONS are not publishing practice, this means where a result is a small results for this Parish. Malpas Parish area is an number, there is an uncertainty as to whether exact match to a group of Output areas and so this is a true value. 2011 Census results for Malpas do reflect the actual results for that geographical area. Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 5 1.3 Overview A wide range of issues have been considered in producing the Neighbourhood Plan. These have This overview also includes evidence from been grouped under six themes: background reports along with the primary Homes for All research undertaken by the local community. Build Environment and Local Character The Malpas Ward is a considerably larger area Landscape Character and the Natural and includes the parishes of Agden, Bickley, Environment Services and Facilities Bradley, Chidlow, Chorlton, Cuddington, Edge, Supporting the Local Economy Hampton, Larkton, Macefen, Malpas, Newton by Transport and Communications Malpas, Oldcastle, Overton, Stockton, Threapwood, Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Wigland, and Wychough. (See Figure 1.5) Figure 1.3: Malpas Parish and LSOAs (Source: CWaC) Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 6 Figure 1.4 Malpas Parish Boundary (CWaC; Ordnance Survey 2009) Figure1.5. Malpas Ward Boundary (Source: CWaC; Ordnance Survey 2012) Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 7 2. Local History The Doomsday Book (1086) records five knights living at Malpas (which was then called The village of Malpas is a longstanding ‘Depenbech’). This would have likely settlement, reflecting its strategic location. Its represented the basis of a larger military position on the wider road network, on a garrison stationed here. It is assumed that sandstone ridge overlooking the surrounding Robert Fitzhugh, the son of Hugh Lupus, Earl of landscape, and close to the Welsh border, has Chester, was responsible for the erection of a informed the character and role of the castle at the top of the hill here, sometime settlement. At various times it has been a before 1100. From 1100, Malpas became military garrison, a commercial centre on a busy established as a defensive vantage point on the route, and a market town and service centre for southern end of the sandstone ridge. The castle a large rural catchment. no longer remains but its Motte can still be seen Malpas was the centre of a large parish and today, and is protected as a Scheduled Anglo-Saxon estate. Its establishment and Monument. Whilst the initial role of Malpas was administrative importance was probably linked to defend the realm from Welsh raiders, over to its position on Watling Street, the Roman time as aggressive raids diminished, farming on Road linking Chester and London. St Oswald’s the fertile soil deposits grew, initially as rural Church (a Grade I listed building) was first isolated pockets and later more concentrated th constructed in the second half of the 14 around the castle, as the settlement became an century, on the site of a much earlier (possibly important trading centre for the surrounding Anglo-Saxon) church. Indeed, the dedication to parishes and hamlets. St Oswald may indicate that Malpas was an Anglo-Saxon ‘burh’ (or fortified town) in the reign of Earl Aethelred and Ethelfleda of Mercia (879-918). Malpas High Street c.1900 (www.malpascheshire.co.uk) Malpas and Overton Neighbourhood Plan – Evidence Base Summary Final v1 31-08-2014 8 Malpas’ position on Watling Street later coincided with the main coach route linking Liverpool, Chester, Shrewsbury and London. In 1281 Malpas was granted a royal charter, formally enabling it to hold a weekly market and an annual fair. There are records of village fairs and markets taking place from this time, which established Malpas as a place of commerce. The medieval road layout still forms the street pattern of the Village Centre. The market square would have covered the whole area from the church to the Cross and as far as the Old Hall during the annual fairs. In places, around the Cholmondeley Terrace, bearing the Cholmondeley Cross, the cobbled market surface can still be family coat of arms seen. With its wealth of produce from the Agriculture has played a significant role in the surrounding farmland, Malpas grew as a prosperity of Malpas but more recently, as commercial centre. Adding to this role, it farming has evolved, employment opportunities became a centre for the linen trade in the 14th in this sector have declined. century, supporting specialised cloth merchants. A railway station was located at Hampton Heath The 17th and 18th centuries saw further until its inclusion in Dr Beeching’s station closure prosperity, evidenced by the fine buildings which programme in 1957. The railway line closed to were established at that time. Several buildings goods traffic in 1963. Today Malpas lies close to remain from this time, from black-and-white the A41 trunk road and experiences significant timber frame cottages to Georgian townhouses amounts of local through traffic, but its strategic (typically with commercial premises on the position in relation to the road network has ground floor).