Land at Woodhead Road, Glossop, Derbyshire Landscape & Visual
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Land at Woodhead Road, Glossop, Derbyshire Landscape & Visual Appraisal June 2015 Cookson & Tickner Ltd, 5 South Terrace, Bristol BS6 6TG www.cooksonandtickner.co.uk Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 2. Assessment of Landscape Effects ..................................................................... 2 Baseline Conditions ............................................................................................................. 2 Appraisal by Sub Site .......................................................................................................... 14 G8 ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 G9 ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 G10 ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 G11 ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 3. Assessment of Visual Effects ........................................................................... 16 Visual Receptors ................................................................................................................. 16 Visual Baseline (receptors likely to be affected by development) ..................................... 16 Viewpoints .......................................................................................................................... 18 Appraisal by Sub Site .......................................................................................................... 22 G8 ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 G9 ........................................................................................................................................................ 22 G10 ...................................................................................................................................................... 22 G11 ...................................................................................................................................................... 23 4. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 24 1. Introduction 1.1 Cookson and Tickner has been commissioned by Mel Morris Conservation to prepare a Landscape & Visual Appraisal for four housing allocation sites at Woodhead Road, Glossop. The total site covers an area of 7.8ha with a proposed capacity of 121 houses although details of any layout or design parameters are unknown. 1.2 Deborah Evans visited the site and conducted a site survey on Friday 22nd May 2015, when the weather was overcast with intermittent light rain. PURPOSE AND FORMAT OF THIS REPORT 1.3 The purpose of this report is a Landscape and Visual Appraisal of a housing allocation site at Woodhead Road, Glossop, which has been completed in accordance with the Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment Third Edition (Landscape Institute and Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment, 2013). 1.4 The report is set out under the following headings: Chapter 2: Assessment of Landscape Effects Chapter 3: Assessment of Visual Effects, including viewpoints Chapter 4: Conclusions 2. Assessment of Landscape Effects 2.1 This chapter provides an assessment of landscape effects by describing the baseline conditions, which includes analysis of landscape character, historic significance and a detailed description of the current landscape, before describing the likely landscape effects arising from the development. THE ALLOCATION SITE 2.2 The allocation site lies directly northwest of Old Glossop, bound on the west by the Woodhead Road (B6105), on the south by Church Street, the east by the stream, Beeley Clough and Thorpe Street and to the north by woodland and a lane associated with Laneside Farm. The site is split into four sub- sites: G8 (north), G9 and G10 (west and centre) and G11 (east). A public footpath, Backsitch, doglegs across the centre of the site from west to east following the northern edge of G9 and G11. Detached properties set in large gardens occur along the western side of G10, while a remodelled historic terrace and recent new build, Beeley House, stand to the south and north of the footpath respectively at its eastern end. Plan of the allocation sites BASELINE CONDITIONS Landscape context National Landscape Context 2.3 The allocation site falls within National Landscape Character Area 54, Manchester Pennine Fringe, which is described as the transitional zone between the open moorlands of the Dark Peak and South Pennines and the densely populated urban conurbation of Manchester. The area wraps around Manchester from Bolton in the north-west to the edge of Hazel Grove in the east, and includes the industrial towns of Bury, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham, Dukinfield and Glossop. 2.4 The most relevant key characteristics identified within the NCA profile include: • Transitional zone between elevated, open moorlands and densely populated urban areas on lower ground. • Landform is a transition from upland to lowland, with smooth shoulders of land divided by steep- sided valleys with fast-flowing rivers. • Elevated vantage points provide extensive views across the adjacent Manchester Conurbation NCA. • Fringe area underlain by the Carboniferous Coal Measures rising to the north and east, into the Carboniferous Millstone Grit uplands. • Woodland cover is characterised by a range of woodland types concentrated along river valleys, as well as some newer community woodlands in the urban areas. • Field boundaries include dry ‘gritstone’ walls at higher elevations and hedgerows at lower elevations. • Limited semi-natural habitats include broadleaved mixed and yew woodland, lowland dry acid grassland, lowland meadows, lowland heathland, and purple moor-grass and rush pasture, which are often fragmented. • Extensive evidence of 18th- and 19th-century stone and brick-built industrial buildings, including mill lodges and reservoirs originating from the woollen and cotton industries. • Much of the countryside is influenced by recreational use from adjacent urban areas and the diversification of farmland, giving the area a distinct urban fringe character. The National Park 2.5 The Peak District National Park arcs around Glossop, its boundary lying within 300m of the allocation site at its closest point at Cat Wood, northeast of G8. This proximity is accentuated by the rise in ground level from c. 200m AOD to c. 240m AOD. 2.6 The Peak District National Park forms the majority of the adjacent NCA area 51 Dark Peak, a landscape of large-scale sweeping moorlands, in-bye pastures enclosed by dry stone walls, and gritstone settlements, within the Pennine chain, which forms the wider setting of Glossop and the allocation site. County Landscape Assessment 2.7 The allocation site lies within the area of Settled Valley Pastures identified in High Peak Borough Council’s adopted Landscape Character, Supplementary Planning Document SPD5, 2006. Key landscape characteristics associated with this landscape type include: • Moderate to steep lower valley slopes dissected by stream valleys. • Poorly draining soils over carboniferous shale and sandstone. • Wooded character associated with tree belts along streams and cloughs, scattered hedgerow trees and tree groups around settlement and farmsteads. • Small, irregular fields enclosed by mixed species hedgerows and occasional dry stone walls. • Network of winding lanes with irregular verges, sometimes sunken on steeper slopes. • Enclosed landscape with views filtered by trees. 2.8 The assessment describes Settled Valley Pastures as containing scattered farmsteads outside the compact settlements. This is a pastoral landscape with permanent improved pasture which gives way higher up the slopes to poorer grazing where the ecological value is greater. The landscape has a strong network of winding lanes and roads and railways along the lower slopes above the floodplain. This is a well-wooded landscape with wooded cloughs around tributary valleys and hedgerows with some hedgerow trees which define irregular fields. Amenity tree groups are associated with settlements and there is woodland along the roads and railway lines. As with the field boundaries, the woodland often has irregular outlines. Historic landscape context 2.9 The majority of the allocation area is not covered by designations; however, sub site G11 falls within the Old Glossop Conservation Area. 2.10 Two grade II listed buildings stand adjacent to the allocation site, the Roman Catholic church of All Saints to the south and Laneside Farm, a model farm, to the north. Significance of the landscape 2.11 It is suggested1 that the origins of the allocation site lies in an oval, open field associated with the Anglo Saxon settlement of Glossop, which stood near the site of present day Castle Hill. The land stood between two main routes, which connected Glossop to the northwest and north, the northwest route and early representation of Church Street being recorded on a county map of 1791.