Chacewater
Conservation Area
Appraisal
March 2010 This Conservation Area Appraisal was commissioned by Carrick District Council. At the Carrick Cabinet meeting on 17 March 2009 Members resolved to recommend to the Joint Implementation Executive that the Chacewater Conservation Area Appraisal be adopted. It was subsequently endorsed by Cornwall Council as a material consideration within the emerging Cornwall Council Local Development Framework on 24 April 2010. The recommended changes to the boundaries of Chacewater Conservation Area were authorised by Cornwall Council and came into effect on 24 April 2010.
Contents
1. Statement of the special interest of the conservation area 1
2. Introduction 3
2.1 Background 3 2.2 Planning policy context 3 2.3 Purpose of the appraisal 5 2.4 Community involvement 5
3. The Chacewater Conservation Area 7
3.1 Designation 7 3.2 Geographic location & setting 7 3.3 Activities 7
4. Evolution of the area 9
4.1 Archaeological significance and potential 9 4.2 Historical development 10
5. Landscape character 13
5.1 Landscape and settlement edges 13 5.2 Topography 14 5.3 Geology 14 5.4 Views and vistas 16 5.5 Trees 16 5.6 Planting and green spaces 17 5.7 Biodiversity 17
6. Spatial analysis 19
6.1 Layout and spaces 19 6.2 Relationship of buildings to spaces 20 6.3 Landmarks, focal points and connections 21
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 4 10/12/2008 10:17:56 7. Streetscape character 22 10. Issues 43
7.1 Public spaces 22 10.1 Definition of issues 43 7.2 Signage and Street furniture 22 10.2 Conservation area boundary review 43 7.3 Lighting 22 10.3 Education and information 43 7.4 Paving 24 10.4 Buildings-at-risk 43 7.5 Boundary treatments 25 10.5 Alterations to buildings 43 7.6 Traffic and parking 25 10.6 New development 44 7.7 Pedestrians and movement 25 10.7 Uses/vitality 44 10.8 Locally listed buildings 45 8. The buildings of the conservation area 27 10.9 Enforcement 45 10.10 Highways and traffic management 45 8.1 Building types 27 10.11 Archaeological potential 45 8.2 Building form 28 10.12 Enhancement potential 46 8.3 Building uses 28 10.13 Trees 46 8.4 Listed buildings 29 10.14 Sustainable development 46 8.5 Locally listed buildings 30 8.6 Positive buildings 30 8.7 Building materials 30 Appendices: 8.8 Local details 31 Appendix 1 Historical development of Chacewater 49 9. Character Areas 37 Appendix 2 Maps: 54 9.1 Summary of character areas 37 9.2 Character Area 1: High Street / Fore Street 37 Map 1 Character areas ecological designations 55 9.3 Character Area 2: South side 37 Map 2 Townscape appraisal map 56 9.4 Character Area 3: The east end 39 9.5 Character Area 4: Riverside 40 Appendix 3 References 57
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 5 10/12/2008 10:17:56 Chapter 1 STATEMENT OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST OF THE CONSERVATION AREA
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 8 10/12/2008 10:17:56 1 Chapter 1 STATEMENT OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST OF THE CONSERVATION AREA
1.1 Chacewater lies in mid-west Cornwall on 1.5 The late 19th century saw a severe the old turnpike road from Truro to Redruth about decline in copper mining and the development midway between the two and, equally, about of Chacewater effectively ceased even though a midway between the north and south coasts of the demand for arsenic led to a brief revival of mining county. The village occupies a narrow valley near from the early 20th century until the 1940s. the head of the River Carnon, which here runs from north to south, at its junction with another valley to 1.6 Today, although Chacewater has become the west. something of a dormitory for commuters to Truro, it retains a strong sense of community largely 1.2 The valleys serve to contain the settlement unaffected by the pursuit of tourism that has within an agricultural landscape that is little changed so much of Cornwall for ever. changed from post-mediaeval times. Small pastoral fields, defined by ancient Cornish hedges The principal features are: and punctuated by mature trees, imply a timeless setting. • A defining location in the cleft of two valleys • A context of industrial heritage 1.3 Immediately to the west, however, the • A planned High Street with continuous landscape becomes a disturbed scrubland dotted frontages with the remains of industry which, in the mid-to- • The contrast of less formal areas to north and late 19th century, was one of the most prosperous south places in the world. The winning of tin, then copper • The consistent use of local stone and latterly arsenic, gained the area an international • The landmark church of St Paul reputation for an industry that developed many • Survival of other significant buildings, such as Chacewater Primary School world ‘firsts’ in extractive technologies. the Methodist Chapel, the Passmore Edwards Literary Institute and the Primary School 1.4 Chacewater, once part of a hunting estate, became the property of the Boscawen family in 1335 and it descended through the family of Viscount Falmouth. The settlement did not develop until the 17th century when it evolved to serve the neighbouring agricultural and mining economies. Initially, it was divided between the parishes of Kenwyn and Kea until 1837 when it had grown sufficiently to become a parish in its own right. Anticipating this, a new church had been built to the south of the village in 1828. Planned layout of the High Street Stone walls and granite gate posts
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 1 10/12/2008 10:18:06 2
Chapter 2 INTRODUCTION
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 2 10/12/2008 10:18:06 3 Chapter 2 INTRODUCTION
2.1 Background 2.2 Planning policy context 2.2.3 Further, more detailed, information is provided in the Management Plan. 2.1.1 This Conservation Area Appraisal was 2.2.1 Conservation Areas are ‘areas of written by The Conservation Studio on behalf of architectural or historic interest the character or 2.2.4 As well as receiving statutory protection, Carrick District Council. It is the first Character appearance of which it is desirable to preserve conservation areas are protected by regional, Appraisal of the Chacewater Conservation Area. or enhance’ (Section 69 of the Act). They are county and local planning policies. Relevant It was prepared in June 2007 and revised in protected under the Planning (Listed Buildings policies include: August 2008 following a process of community and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (The Act). engagement organised in accordance with Local Planning Authorities are required by the • Regional Planning Guidance for the South the District Council’s Strategy of Community Act to identify the parts of their area that should West (RPG10) (published September 2001), Involvement. This Character Appraisal forms the be designated as conservation areas and to Policy EN3: The Historic Environment foundation for the accompanying Conservation formulate and publish proposals to preserve or Area Management Plan, which was endorsed enhance them. Local authorities must submit • The Draft South West Regional Spatial by Cornwall Council on the 24 April 2010. proposals for the protection and enhancement of Strategy, Policy ENV1 Protecting and conservation areas for consideration at a public Enhancing the Region’s Natural and Historic meeting within the relevant area. They must also Environment, and Policy ENV5 Historic have regard to any views expressed by people Environment attending the meeting. • The Cornwall Structure Plan (adopted September 2004), Policy 1. Principles for 2.2.2 Broadly, the effects of designation are: Sustainable Development, and Policy 2. • Conservation Area Consent must be obtained Character Areas, Design and Environmental from the local planning authority or Secretary Protection of State prior to the substantial or total • Carrick District-Wide Local Plan (adopted demolition of any building or structure within a April 1998), Retained Policy 4D, Policy 4F, conservation area, with some exceptions Policy 4Q, Policy 4R, Policy 4W and Policy • The local planning authority must consider the 4XA desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the conservation 2.2.5 In addition to the conservation area, area when considering applications for change Chacewater is within the Cornwall and West in conservation areas; Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, • Permitted development rights are slightly which is subject to other policy protection. It is different in conservation areas also adjacent to the area designated in Carrick’s • Permission is required from the planning Local Plan as an Area of Great Historical Value, authority to lop, top or fell a tree over a certain which is subject to further policy protection. size Passmore Edwards Literary Institute
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 3 10/12/2008 10:18:09 4 Chapter 2
7172
6
10
12
Track
Meadow 14
Springs
7 5 7361 20 FB 4 Chacewater Kenwith
6359 NORTH 1559
HILL 4
BM 65.20m 67.8m
Greenbank 11
Track kenwith 13
Trenessa 27
60.9m 16 Eckla Vue NORTH 22 Hether HillsideCornwall Council HILL 28 lee Glenh 8652 aven North Hill 9
1 Tre-Bron House 7753 Bremar 20 Brewery
Estrella Ct 2 FB 3
32 Chacewater Conservation Area 27
5 Pine 4 6751 Riverside 1
Chymeneth
35 View 17 5950 THE TERRACE 32 Kerley Chapel
View 33
2 House
vean
y 1
Melbur Rose 19 3 Tre FB sco Character Area Map 46
45 3
5 18 Carn Lea
Seasons 1 t Try-Golva 44 St Jay's (Not to scale) Lodge Hodges Cour Brock 42 Church 55.2m 7 6 enhurst
7 9
8 Cheverney 1 Cottage Amberle The Trewin 40 April Cottage Chybean
2 Yard Sundown 9 High y
Chapel 1 East Bridge Hall
THE TERRACE Torre Ct
SERGEANTS HILL 1 Chy-an 33 FORE STREET 12 Brookside 35
-Brec 34 The Thimble 1 Menheg 32 13
House 28
1 - High Street / Fore Streety 54.9m
27 Post
17 to 17 BM 55.76m 1 to 8 to 1 Inst
28
1 Truran
5
9 to 16 to 9 20 Ho ROSELAND CR
PH 3 PH 1 24 22
The 57.1m
PO
1
1 9 2 6
Willows THE SQUARE MS 13 12a 20 Vidill
2 - South side Cross BUCK 3 ys
La Caprice A 390 LOWER
wa 17 ING
Westering
14 59.4m 19 PH 1b
Astega 4 1
HAM NIP 13 MEADOW The
5 55.9m Doon Brae Bostrase 10 The
1a Barn
5 2 Cottage
4 Rose 1 1 1 3 - The east end 9 8 Cottages Baddon
Tremarner Cottage Robern 1 to 3 to 1 FALMOUTH ROAD Carn HIGH STREET Tagree 2 4 3
The Stables JAKE'S LANE 2 65.5m 64.2m 1 31 3 Inst
1 TCB 4 - Riverside Garden 7 Woodside BM 64.83m Car Park 1 Cedar Wood 25 Woodside
6 Bowling 28 The Great Walled 1 PC Cottages 67.1m Green KERLEY
Play
VALE Green 10 This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the Bowling Area 4 permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Health Centre
71.5m 26
Lantern
Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. 23 Cottage Toll KER
Greensleeves BM 60.86m Cottage 19
Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may Cornwall LEY 2 27
lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. (100023554) (2007). 8231 22
Recreation Regeana VALE 7 Hall
Stone GP
Ground 18
Recreation 14 69.4m 20 5928 Ground Umina 78.3m 59.0m
64.9m 16
Pavilion
74.6m Pavilion
Glenmo Path (um)
r
BM 88.81m 70.2m
Chacewater Junior
& Infant School
BM 72.23m
93.0m 8421
Track Track 54.3m
Anzac 9517
Cottages
7918
CHURCH
99.7m Trelawne
Trewlawne
Cottage HILL March 2010 5314 BM 52.98m CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL 80.4m
2412 Lower
BM 104.46m Chancewood
8311 9912
Lych Gate Path
Vicarage 2009
105.9m War Meml Chacewater DTP.indd 4 50.8m 10/12/2008 10:18:10 0307 St Paul's Church
9506 5406 BM 82.02m
86.5m
0104
Track
108.2m Creegbrawse Cottage
2700 Meadowmist Lower 91.3m Chacewood
9600 Cottage 5600 6100 6600 7100 5 Chapter 2
2.3 Purpose of the appraisal 2.4 Community involvement 2.4.4 The preparation of this Character Appraisal and the public consultation were undertaken in 2.3.1 This appraisal defines the special 2.4.1 The appraisal of the conservation collaboration with, and overseen by, a steering architectural and historic interest for which the area included a process of public consultation group comprising members of Carrick District conservation area merits designation. It identifies organised in accordance with the Council’s Council, Cornwall County Council Highways the positive features that should be protected and Strategy for Community Involvement (www. Department and Chacewater Parish Council. highlights the negative factors that detract from its cornwall.gov.uk). This consultation identified the character and appearance. following: The special characteristics of Chacewater 2.3.2 It will be used by Cornwall Council in • considering proposals for demolition or alteration • The key negative features and issues of buildings, as well as for new developments. It • A range of possible actions that would mitigate will also help property owners and developers or offset these detractors to take account of the importance of buildings, 2.4.2 The consultation began with the features, spaces and landscape within and distribution of a questionnaire to every property in adjacent to the conservation area. the village, which included an invitation to a public workshop held on 21 April 2007. Posters were The conservation area character appraisal 2.3.3 also displayed in public places. The workshop will lead to a Management Plan, setting out included a walk around session in two groups policies and actions to conserve and enhance and a general discussion. This was followed by the conservation area’s special architectural and circulation of a document setting out feedback Workshop at Chacewater Village Hall historic interest and to mitigate the effects of from the workshop and a further questionnaire. negative features. A second workshop was held on 12 May 2007 to confirm that the feedback had been correctly Preparation of the appraisal involved 2.3.4 interpreted and presented, and to discuss an extensive survey of the conservation area proposals for the future protection of Chacewater. undertaken between February and April 2007. It was also informed by a previous study of the 2.4.3 Although attendance at the workshops was area undertaken through the Cornwall and Scilly less than had been hoped, the contributors did Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) in 2002. include representatives of the wider community, The omission of any particular feature does not the Parish Council and the District Council. imply that it is of no significance. The document was also subject to a period of full public consultation in the autumn of 2007. The feedback received through these public consultations has been taken into account in the drafting of this document. One of three groups assessing views
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 5 10/12/2008 10:18:13 6
Chapter 3 THE CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 6 10/12/2008 10:18:14 7 Chapter 3 THE CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA
3.1 Designation 3.2.3 Immediately to the west, however, the landscape becomes a disturbed scrubland 3.1.1 The Chacewater Conservation Area was dotted with the remains of industry which, in the designated on 26 April 1991 by Carrick District mid-to-late 19th century, was one of the most Council. The conservation area’s boundary prosperous places in the world. The winning of contains the majority of the 18th and 19th century tin, then copper and latterly arsenic, gained the historic mining village, including residential and area an international reputation for an industry commercial areas within the village. Notably, that developed many world ‘firsts’ in extractive however, it does not currently include the Parish technologies. Church of St Paul. 3.3 Activities and uses Chacewater contained by its valley 3.2 Geographic location and setting 3.3.1 Chacewater is a residential settlement 3.2.1 Chacewater lies in mid-west Cornwall with a small commercial centre. The majority of on the old turnpike road from Truro to Redruth properties are houses with a number of purpose about midway between the two. It lies roughly built shops and public houses, which often include equidistant between the north and south Cornish a residential element. Several former commercial coasts but is more closely connected to the south premises and public buildings, including a chapel coast as a result of its position within the Carnon and the Edward Passmore Literary Institute, have Valley that runs into the Fal Estuary, approximately been converted to residential use. 12 kilometres to the south east. The modern A390 passes almost two kilometres to the north east of 3.3.2 The village also retains some public the village and the A30 lies a similar distance to buildings including a primary school, a Masonic River Carnon the north-west. Hall, the bowls club and Parish Rooms, as well as the Church of Saint Paul and the village hall 3.2.2 The village occupies a narrow valley near (both currently outside the conservation area). A the head of the River Carnon, which here runs public car park occupies a significant area in the from north to south, at its junction with another south east of the conservation area and the village valley leading to the west. The valleys serve recreation ground occupies an even larger area in to contain the settlement within an agricultural the south. landscape that is little changed from post- mediaeval times. Small pastoral fields, defined by ancient Cornish hedges and punctuated by mature trees, imply a timeless setting.
Industrial landscape of Wheal Busy area
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 7 10/12/2008 10:18:26 8
Chapter 4 EVOLUTION OF THE AREA
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 8 10/12/2008 10:18:26 9 Chapter 4 EVOLUTION OF THE AREA
4.1 Archaeological significance and potential
4.1.1 Evidence of prehistoric activity near to Chacewater is limited to a possible cropmark of an enclosure identified at Little Chacewood, approximately 100 metres south of the parish church. The Cornwall and Scilly Sites and Monuments Record also records that Pound Cottage, on the western limit of the village, may mark the site of a medieval stock enclosure.
4.1.2 The place name evidence suggests that the surrounding area was unenclosed land during the medieval period and was probably maintained as a hunting preserve: hence the ‘chase’ in Chacewater. Much of the agricultural area surrounding Chacewater has been recorded in the Cornwall Landscape Assessment as post- mediaeval farmland.
4.1.3 Chacewater became the property of the Boscawen family in 1335 and it descended through the family of Viscount Falmouth as part of the Tregothnan Estate. The presence of a single large landowner in the area has had an impact on controlling the spread of development and on the exploitation of mineral deposits.
4.1.4 While there may be little ancient history at Chacewater, there is clearly a very significant layer of industrial archaeology much of which is yet to be fully understood. In addition to the obvious mining landscape immediately to the west, there is the potential within the village to develop a better understanding of former industrial sites, such as those of the stamping mills and the Ordnance Survey 1880 First Edition
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 9 10/12/2008 10:18:28 10 Chapter 4
brewery, and the network of watercourses that a parish in its own right in 1837. The Tithe map linked them. It is thought, for instance, that much of 1841 shows the areas of more scattered of the space between High Street and the Terrace housing along the Terrace, North Hill, High Street was once colonised by industry, the demise of and Falmouth Road, as well as the planned which explains the relatively modern housing that development of terraces along Fore Street, the stands there now. Square and Station Road, the latter being housing for the adjacent brewery. 4.2 Historical development 4.2.5 As mining declined during the 19th century, 4.2.1 A more detailed account of the history of the character of the area changed through the Chacewater is provided in Appendix 1 – Historical increasing presence of market gardens and fruit development of Chacewater, and in the Cornwall growing. This process was stimulated by the Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) report of opening of the railway line in 1852 and improved 2002 (www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/cisi). access it gave to urban markets. River Carnon
4.2.2 The first possible record of the village 4.2.6 Demand for arsenic led to a brief revival th appears on Joel Gascoyne’s map of Cornwall of of mining in the early 20 century, but by then, 1699. A tin mine, named the Great Works, had Chacewater continued to function more as an also been recorded in the vicinity of Chacewater agricultural centre. After the closure of the mines in the 16th century. This later became known as and with the increasing use of motorcars from Wheal Busy and, by the early 18th century, it had 1946, the village began to function as a dormitory become one of Cornwall’s most significant mines settlement for Truro. The railway station was producing large amounts of copper. closed in 1964 ‘sealing Chacewater’s fate as an economic backwater’. (CISI report - 2002) 4.2.3 It appears that the original settlement comprised a loose grouping of smallholdings, reflecting the mixed economy practiced by the early tin miners. However, the first Ordnance Survey one inch map of 1809 records that a village centre had been established by that date following the east-west alignment of the main road.
4.2.4 During the 19th century Chacewater developed as an economic and civic centre for the farming and industrial communities, becoming Milestone in Fore Street Leat to west of High Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 10 10/12/2008 10:18:44 11 Chapter 4
Bow fronted shopfronts in Fore Street Housing on The Terrace
The King’s Head, The Square Chacewater Methodist Church
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 11 10/12/2008 10:19:02 12
Chapter 5 LANDSCAPE CHARACTER
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 12 10/12/2008 10:19:02 13 Chapter 5 LANDSCAPE CHARACTER
5.1 Landscape and settlement edges some 20th century farmland. Medieval farmland is 5.1.4 Immediately to the north and west of located to the south west of the village and on the the conservation area, post-war housing mostly 5.1.1 The Countryside Agency’s Landscape hillsides to the east and north east, whilst further comprising bungalows, covers the floor and Characterisation defines the area surrounding post-medieval farmland lies to the south-east and lower slope of the valley, while late 19th century Chacewater as Cornish Killas with the following within the valley to the south. housing, in-filled with modern housing, lies along key characteristics: the north side of The Terrace. Further to the west, 5.1.3 Chacewater is very much contained by a former walled garden has been developed with • Undulating slate plateau with little woodland its surrounding landscape. The steeply sloping bungalows, although much of the garden wall and few hedgerow trees hillsides foreshorten views out of the village, whilst has been retained. Beyond this, the landscape is • Numerous broadleaved wooded valleys, the east-west alignment of the main street and its formed of small fields mostly in permanent pasture varying greatly in size. Northern valleys compact development prevent views to the north as well as some small areas of woodland. generally narrow and densely wooded. In the or south along the Carnon Valley. The south, west south there are drowned valleys (rias) with and north settlement edges are well treed, further wide estuaries reducing views but providing them with a rural • Rugged coastal scenery. Exposed and feel. The hillside to the east, beyond the post-war windswept cliffs in the north with limited housing development, is more open drawing the access to the sea, more sheltered and eye out of the village over the gentle slope to the wooded in the south farmstead at Killiewheries Barton. • Outstanding historic parks, mainly in the sheltered valleys in the south • Generally a dispersed settlement pattern of hamlets, farmsteads and small fishing villages • Variable field pattern dominated by stone-built Cornish hedges • Important archaeological and industrial- archaeological sites
5.1.2 The landscape surrounding Chacewater has been studied through the Cornwall Historic Landscape Characterisation, which defined smaller areas of landscape character, based on their historic development, their current appearance and use. This identifies the village as a 20th century settlement (perhaps in error), while the hillsides and valley to the north and north North Hill - one of many routes radiating from west are classed as post-medieval farmland with Jakes Lane and countryside beyond Chacewater
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 13 10/12/2008 10:19:09 14 Chapter 5
5.1.7 To the south, access to the landscape of interesting roofscapes in views across the valleys small fields and the Carnon Valley, which widens from the higher ground. The Church of St Paul slightly at this point, is provided by Church Hill and stands out in particular as a result of its isolated Falmouth Road. The settlement pattern gradually position on the hillside overlooking the village. loses cohesion and disperses into the countryside without a hard edge. Indeed it is difficult to define 5.2.2 The old toll road between Truro and where the village ends along Falmouth Road or Falmouth runs from east to west through the Church Hill. Elsewhere, the boundary between centre of the village and along the valley towards development and open fields is more distinct, St Day. A distinctive feature is the number of although this happens to the west and southeast lanes that radiate from the village confirming its only after the intervention of modern development. historical relationship with its hinterland. Some follow the valley floors whilst others climb to the 5.1.8 The Cornwall and West Devon Mining former hilltop industrial sites, such as Wheal Busy, Landscape World Heritage Site covers all of Creegbrawse and Killifreth. View across Chacewater from St Paul’s Churchyard the village and the land adjacent to it. The 5.1.5 The former industrial landscape of the characterisation undertaken in support of the 5.2.3 The Carnon River runs down the valley Wheal Busy and Creegbrawse Mines further to nomination of the World Heritage Site identified from the north, joining a smaller leat from the west the west and south west are hidden from view, much of the post-medieval farmland surrounding near the village centre, and then continues to the although they are accessible via the narrow lanes Chacewater as former miners’ smallholdings, south. The Truro-Redruth road crosses the River and bridle paths that lead from the village into whilst the village itself was classified as a 19th Carnon in the village centre. the countryside. The importance of this industrial century mining settlement. landscape is reflected in its designation in the 5.2.4 The abundance of trees creates a sense of Local Plan as an Area of Great Historic Value. 5.2 Topography enclosure within the village, with panoramic views restricted to locations on higher ground in the 5.1.6 To the north, Station Road leads out of the 5.2.1 The village occupies the floor and sides outskirts of the village. village along the narrow, steep sided valley which of two valleys. One from the west joins the is heavily treed. The slopes of the hillside to the north-south Carnon Valley in the village centre. 5.3 Geology east of the village are covered by larger fields, The valley sides are fairly steep, rising from more suited to arable cultivation than those to the approximately 45 metres above sea level in the 5.3.1 Chacewater lies within an area of upper west, although an interesting row of small fields, village centre to over 100 metres on all sides. The Devonian sedimentary rocks, characterised bounded by a narrow track, flank the road out of valleys enclose the village preventing long vistas as “predominantly sandstone and slates, with the village up Chacewater Hill. The post-war and other than those along them as they curve gently subordinate breccias” (Stapelton and Pethick modern housing developments to the east and out of view. Longer views are available where in Ratcliffe, 1997), which are divided by glacial south east of the conservation area break the the streets follow the contours of the hills or run interfluves. These contain periglacial gravels, connection between the historic village and the along the valley floor, whilst the development including ore bearing deposits. The presence countryside. of buildings up the sides of the valleys creates of these minerals as alluvial deposits had an
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 14 10/12/2008 10:19:13 15 Chapter 5
Church Chacewood School Wheal Daniell
v O The Terrace
Falmouth Road Ov
v O
Recreation ground
Watercourse (leat) High Street
Approximate cross section through Chacewater - vertical scale is emphasised to show changes in level
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 15 10/12/2008 10:19:13 16 Chapter 5
important influence on the development of tin are largely blocked by the bends in the street and extraction through the streaming process and later the surrounding buildings and trees. mining activity. 5.4.3 The views across the conservation area, 5.3.2 The local building stone is the Middle for instance from The Terrace, reveal the jumbled Devonian Killas shale and slate, which is a semi- roofscape of the buildings below, in particular the Metamorphic rubble stone with a light silvery grey banded slate on the roof of the Methodist Chapel. colouring. It is not suited to fine work, so it is A similar impression is gained northwards from often covered with a lime render. Dressings for Falmouth Road. However, the numerous tall door and window openings tend to use granite or television aerials and satellite dishes on these roofs elvan stone, which are found as igneous intrusions detract considerably from the value of this view. among the Middle Devonian sedimentary rocks. Boundary wall of Killas stone Elvan was quarried nearby at Creegbrawse. 5.5 Trees
5.3.3 The killas is also poorly suited to making 5.5.1 The abundance of tall tree growth around roofing slates. Slates were therefore traditionally the village is readily apparent and it makes an imported from the Delabole quarry in north- important contribution to framing views into the west Cornwall where the younger carboniferous village. sedimentary rocks provide distinctively silvery grey slates. 5.5.2 Some self seeded trees along the banks of the stream in the east of the conservation area 5.4 Views and vistas provide a background to buildings along High Street/Fore Street, although they may also detract 5.4.1 Viewed from outside, Chacewater is Roofscapes from The Terrace from views across the conservation area. contained with the bowl of the Carnon Valley and the valley to the west, although this impression is 5.5.3 Perhaps the most significant trees are the slightly diminished by the sprawl of 20th century Monterey Pines surrounding the village recreation development up the hillside to the east. The view ground, which are echoed in the grounds of North of the St. Paul’s Church across the conservation Hill House across the valley. Trees also make an area from Chacewater Hill is particularly fine. important contribution along the riverside to the north of the village centre and along the western 5.4.2 Views from within the village centre tend to side of Station Road where tall trees create drama be channelled along Fore Street and High Street, on this route into and out of the village. There is taking in the terraces of shops and houses on also a line of conifers that provide a backdrop to the either side. Views out of the village centre along village car park. the streets leading off The Square and High Street Monterey Pines on Church Hill
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 16 10/12/2008 10:19:25 17 Chapter 5
5.6 Planting and green spaces increasingly rich in wildlife in the outer areas of the village where there is also a greater abundance of 5.6.1 While the core of Chacewater is entirely mature trees. built up, the buildings quickly give way to gardens and then the green landscape beyond. Indeed, a 5.7.2 Farmland in the immediate vicinity of the tall evergreen hedge runs along the south side of village is largely permanent pasture, with areas of High Street at the western end of the village where arable farming on the higher ground. The fields are it helps to continue the sense of enclosure. There divided by characteristic Cornish hedges, which are also green ‘fingers’ reaching into the village support an abundance of wild plants and attendant along the riverside or following the leat that leads in wildlife. from the west. 5.7.3 Some invasive non-native plants including 5.6.2 In common with most settlements with a self seeding sycamores and, more worryingly, functional industrial history, there is no formal green Japanese Knot Weed, are notable within the space at the heart of Chacewater, in the sense of conservation area. a village green. This makes the recreation ground on the south side of Falmouth Road, all the more important. The recreation ground was given to the people of Chacewater in 1925 by Lord Falmouth. More recently, Chacewater Parish Council has laid out the Millennium Green between Paul’s Church and the village hall. Extensive tree planting means that the field will play an important part in the succession of tree cover as it matures in future years.
5.7 Biodiversity
5.7.1 While there are no formal designations, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, in the vicinity of Chacewater, the village and its immediate surroundings provide a number of significant habitats. Two streams run through the village, which converge to form the upper reaches of the Carnon River, whilst numerous hedgerows delimit properties throughout the village. These are The Millennium Green behind the Village Hall Wild flowers in dry stone wall
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 17 10/12/2008 10:19:37 18
Chapter 6 SPATIAL ANALYSIS
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 18 10/12/2008 10:19:37 19 Chapter 6 SPATIAL ANALYSIS
6.1 Layout and spaces to join Fore Street at the bridge over the River Carnon. 6.1.1 Chacewater’s layout has been influenced by a range of factors, including the line of the 6.1.4 Outside the conservation area, former toll road and other routes radiating from the miners’ smallholdings are scattered along The settlement, the shapes of the valleys, courses of Terrace, which provided a route to the mining area rivers and streams and the location and nature beyond the village, following the contour of the of industrial activities both within and outside hillside with a long, straight road. Later, genteel the settlement. The layout of streets, property housing on The Terrace perhaps reflects a desire boundaries and buildings has developed in to achieve a distance from the commercial area response to these various influences resulting in and public houses of the village centre. a plan that includes several apparently unrelated elements. 6.1.5 To the south, Church Street, which runs uphill south-westwards from The Square, links 6.1.2 Chacewater’s busy main street – The the village centre to the Creegbrawse mining The straight line of Fore Street Square, Fore Street and High Street – retains area just over a kilometre to the south west. It is the long linear form that is the result of the rapid linked back to the High Street by Falmouth Road 19th century development on the pre-existing 18th exposing the backs of the High Street properties. century turnpike road from Truro to Redruth. After Falmouth Road continues as a minor route the gently curving descent from Chacewater Hill, following the river downstream to Wheal Prosper it follows a very straight course across the Carnon and the mines at Twelveheads. valley and to the west along the subsidiary valley towards Salem. Roads leading off this course provide access to areas to the north and south, which are of very different character.
6.1.3 To the north of the village centre the scramble of new development on the former Brewery site has been developed around a number of small culs-de-sac but retains the brewery’s former association with the course of the River Carnon. Station Road, connected the village with the former railway station to the north, whilst the late 19th century terrace to the west of it fills the space between the courses of the road and the riverside path which leads southward One of the many radial routes The Terrace following the upper contour
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 19 10/12/2008 10:19:47 20 Chapter 6
6.2 Relationship of buildings to spaces 6.2.4 The buildings surrounding the Square are but subdivided in the 20th century). They are also built directly behind the pavement giving scattered among large gardens and have a rural 6.2.1 In the centre of the village the buildings definition to this small area of open space with character, very unlike the village centre. are either built at the back of the pavement their broad frontages. They include some of the or, occasionally, with very narrow intervening village’s grander buildings including Nos.2 and 3 gardens. The buildings along High Street are The Square, The King’s Head public house with clearly planned as terraces, while Fore Street Nos.6 and 7 The Square, and also the former is more piecemeal. Their long, low blocks and Market (now sunny corner Nurseries). Together the uniformity of their construction give the area they provide a sense of the centre of the village. a definite urban feel with a strong sense of enclosure. 6.2.5 Outside the village centre, at the western end of High Street, the buildings become more 6.2.2 There are, however, some significant gaps: dispersed. The Rambling Miner Inn forms part of a short terrace built up against the pavement, but • To the right of the Rambling Miner PH the buildings to the west of this are either set back • Between Nos.20&22 High Street where No.21 or have sufficient foliage around them to provide is set back an element of increased privacy. To the east, as No.21 High Street set back from the frontage • Between Nos.40&42 Fore Street where the the road climbs Chacewater Hill, gaps in the street former smithy is set back frontage are created by lanes leading away from • The forecourt of the Kings Head PH the road, yards and some larger gardens. • Either side of Nos.17/18 High Street 6.2.6 Along Station Road and around the bend 6.2.3 Few of the buildings on Fore Street have to Riverside, both the modern and older buildings, significant plots to the rear although those on the including the Methodist Chapel, are built around north side of High Street have longer narrow plots yards or culs-de-sac, which create open areas on extending down to the leat. The houses within both sides of the street. The terraced cottages at the planned terraces have narrow frontages, while Riverside appear to relate to Station Road but in many of the buildings along Fore Street, which fact are constructed well below the road with their may be earlier, have relatively broad frontages primary frontages facing east. A narrow pavement better suited to their current or former use as shop runs along the front of several of them, with premises. The planned, straight and uniform long narrow gardens extending eastwards. The frontages channel views along the street to the northern part of the terrace is more private with land beyond or towards the slight opening out of access through each garden from the riverside the The Square. path. To the north of the row is a group of three larger detached houses and a semi-detached pair of cottages (previously a single dwelling Jakes Lane
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 20 10/12/2008 10:19:51 21 Chapter 6
6.2.7 Several small side streets, including East the former shop at No.20, which appears to jut out Bridge, Jake’s Lane and the southern part of because No.21 is set back. Riverside, lead away from the main street into narrow, well enclosed spaces. Chacewater 6.3.4 The streets and spaces within the Primary School, further to the south, is hidden conservation area are closely connected by away by the tall trees growing on the west side of a system of narrow lanes and alleys which Church Street and is set back from the street with supplement the main routes. Jake’s Lane a stone wall defining the play ground to the front. is typical of this. Ironically, however, the interconnection is less prevalent in the centre of 6.3 Landmarks, focal points and connections the village where the planned terraces prevent access from the main frontage to spaces to the 6.3.1 Within the conservation area, the rear. Passmore Edwards Literary Institute in Fore Street and the recently repainted Methodist Chapel in The Square is the focus of the Village Station Road are the main landmarks. The red and white frontage of the chapel and its great expanse of roof make it identifiable from a great distance and it stands out in views from Falmouth Road to the south and The Terrace to the north. On the hillside to the south of the conservation area, the Church of St Paul is a more widely perceived landmark, which was clearly sited to make the most of its landscape setting.
6.3.2 The Square and a portion of Fore Street either side of it act as the main focal point of the village. The village’s remaining shops are grouped within this area and all of the main routes into the village converge at this point.
6.3.3 Other focal points include junction of Fore Street and Kerley Hill Road, where the recently rebuilt garden wall defines the street corner and views to this point from the west are stopped by the elevated siting of Roseland House. Views westwards along Fore Street are punctuated by St Paul’s Church Tower
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 21 10/12/2008 10:19:57 22
Chapter 7 STREETSCAPE CHARACTER
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 22 10/12/2008 10:19:57 23 Chapter 7 STREETSCAPE CHARACTER
7.1 Public space
7.1.1 Urban spaces occur more by good fortune than design. They include The Square and the forecourts of the King’s Head, the Methodist church and the former smithy (now the launderette).
7.1.2 The more formal public open spaces within the village are located to the south of the main spine. They include the car park, which was formerly a recreation ground, the current large recreation ground and bowling green to the south west of Falmouth Road, the Millennium Green, to the east of Church Street and the extensive churchyard beyond it. The latter two are currently outside the conservation area boundary.
The car park 7.2 Signage and street furniture 7.3 Lighting
7.2.1 Street signs are generally modern with the 7.3.1 The village was not lit in the past, so there exception of the listed milestone in Fore Street is no historical precedent for street lighting. Light that reads ‘Truro 5 miles’. Street furniture, in the fittings were introduced as attachments to the form of telephone kiosks, bus shelters and grit wooden poles that distribute electricity. Some of bins, is equally modern but sparingly used. In the these survive, but recently the centre of the village car park, the lack of co-ordination of signage is has been lit using plain swan-necked lanterns on evident. In some parts, such as Chacewater Hill, independent modern columns with cast bases. In the poles and wirescape of electricity distribution the peripheral areas, lighting is provided by more Space beside the King’s Head Public House are positively intrusive. utilitarian downlighters on steel columns.
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 23 10/12/2008 10:20:04 24 Chapter 7
7.4 Paving
7.4.1 The public realm in Chacewater reflects its rural setting and simplicity. Historically, street surfaces were no more than rammed earth and stone until the mid-20th century when tarmac was introduced. Now, tarmac and concrete kerbs are almost universal, but there is some surviving evidence for the use of stone. Indeed, the CISI report suggests that an example of an original metalled surface still survives on North Hill just outside the conservation area.
7.4.2 Where pavements existed, they had stone kerbs and a surface of rammed stone, cobbles or Doorstep at 27 Fore Street Doorstep at The Bakery, Fore Street granite slabs. Until responsibility was assumed by local government in the mid-19th century, paving was maintained by the frontagers and standards varied. For instance, the semi-circular granite slab outside the shop doorway on the return side of No.27 Fore Street was evidently set into the street, which was later formalised with a narrow pavement and granite kerb. In contrast, the rectangular slab outside the Baker’s shop at No.4 Fore Street is likely to have been part of a wider scheme of paving such as those that still exist outside the Britannia Hotel on Fore Street and the King’s Head in The Square.
7.4.3 Cobbles tend to be irregular river cobbles, although it is possible that beach cobbles were imported as a return cargo for the copper ore transporters. Setting out lines can still be seen in the cobbled surface at No.2 The Square. Cobbles also survive on the east side of The Square and on Wheal Busy Lane. Further examples may survive beneath later tarmac. Cobbles in The Square Granite paving, Fore Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 24 10/12/2008 10:20:17 25 Chapter 7
7.5 Boundary treatments
7.5.1 Boundaries tend to be defined by low walls of local killas rubble or Cornish hedges enclosing domestic gardens or former fields.
7.5.2 Granite was used for post and rail fencing on Station Road at Riverside Terrace and beside the village car park. It was also suited for elegant gate piers, as at Woodside or Roseland House. The corner of Station Road at No.28 Fore Street is also protected by a granite rubbing stone. Granite post and rail Hollow Lane fence, Church Hill 7.6 Traffic and parking 7.6.4 On-street parking is in demand along 7.6.1 Traffic is very heavy through the centre Station Road, for Riverside Terrace. There is also of the village along High Street, Fore Street some problem with movement of heavy vehicles and the Square. This is particularly the case at along Station Road despite the weight restriction. peak commuting times as Chacewater is used as a short cut alternative to the A30/A390 route 7.7 Pedestrians and movement between Redruth and Truro. The road also serves as a busy bus route to and from Truro. The village 7.7.1 A network of footpaths supplements the does not have a controlled crossing and the traffic main routes through the village. Notable among creates difficulties especially for older people these is Riverside, which follows the Carnon from crossing the road. Fore Street to the north of the conservation area Riverside path and footbridge crossing the river on a distinctive bridge formed 7.6.2 There is a demand for on-street parking on 7.6.3 Traffic speeds are also problematic through of two massive granite beams with simple iron Fore Street/High Street to maintain the vitality of the main street, with drivers accelerating to climb handrails. the shops. This has the useful side-effect of traffic Chacewater Hill or failing to slow down at the entry calming, but it also increases congestion as parts points to the village. Outside the village centre, 7.7.2 Other paths link High Street with The of the street are effectively reduced to a single traffic is a less significant problem. The village Terrace and East Bridge with the village car park. track. Yellow line markings in areas of restricted centre car park provides an amenity for residents Notable too are the radial paths that lead out into parking are not well maintained and this said and visitors and is also an important resource the countryside often as ‘hollow lanes’ between to have hampered the ability to control problem for local businesses. The car park surface is in Cornish hedges. These connections are important parking. need of renewal, although this is awaiting planned reminders of Chacewater’s historical relationship excavations for cable laying. with its hinterland.
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 25 10/12/2008 10:20:28 26
Chapter 8 THE BUILDINGS OF THE CONSERVATION AREA
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 26 10/12/2008 10:20:28 27 Chapter 8 THE BUILDINGS OF THE CONSERVATION AREA
8.1 Building types 8.1.2 As a result, Chacewater retains a splendid, though late, church; a fine former rectory and 8.1.1 The historic buildings in the conservation village school; a former market hall; a Masonic area are typical of a small settlement with a variety Lodge; the Edward J. Passmore Literary Institute of uses, resulting in a range of architectural styles, (recently converted for housing); two chapels; and building form, details and materials. Surprisingly, a variety of mainly terraced houses and shops, the surviving buildings provide few obvious links some arranged in well ordered and matching to the mines and metal processing works which terraces, some more individual. It appears that once took place both in the village and on its only two squatter’s cottages still remain, one in outskirts. The early 19th century maps show Kerley Hill and one on The Terrace. A new village squatters’ cottages, smallholdings and industrial hall on Church Hill is a popular and well used local buildings which surrounded the tin streaming sites facility. that focussed on the river and bridge. However, from the 1820s the principal landowners, the 8.1.3 The late 19th century parish church Tregothnan Estate, began adding more houses (St Paul’s) is the largest and most prestigious along the main road, as well as the church, built building, although it is currently outside the on the outskirts of the settlement perhaps because conservation area. Close by, and also outside of the industrial activity in the village centre. This the boundary, is Chacewater House, the former created the densely packed houses along High rectory and the highest status house in the village. Street and Fore Street which we see today and Within the conservation area boundary, but not which provide a strong urban character. far away from the church, Chacewater Primary School provides educational facilities for the local The Rambling Miner children. Otherwise, the remaining buildings are 8.1.4 Many of the buildings are in residential mainly in residential uses, with several along uses but pleasingly the settlement retains the Fore Street and High Street (the commercial more varied character of a commercially and ‘core’ of the village) retaining ground floor shops. socially active village with mixed uses that In addition, there are three public houses – the provide a range of different buildings. In the King’s Head, the Britannia, and the Rambling 1960s John Betjeman described Chacewater Miner – all in Fore Street or High Street. A former as…”well built colour-washed cottages….bow- chapel in Fore Street has now been converted windowed Georgian shops… and up the valley into residential accommodation, but another 19th slopes the tidy villas built in the last century by century chapel remains in Station Road and is tin mine captains”. These remain the defining still in use. The early 19th century former market building types in the village, although some have building in The Square was rebuilt in the 1970s regrettably been spoilt by modern alterations and and is now a nursery and garden centre. extensions. Houses in High Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 27 10/12/2008 10:20:34 28 Chapter 8
8.2 Building form 8.2.3 The principal features of the built form of 8.3 Building uses the High Street/Fore Street area are: 8.2.1 The historic buildings of Chacewater are 8.3.1 Historically, Chacewater has supported the mainly grouped in terraces in the commercial core • Urban character with some examples of range of uses that define a commercial centre. of the village, particularly along Fore Street, High planned development However, this variety has been reduced in modern Street and The Square, where most of the buildings • Cohesive qualities with mainly listed two times by the demolition of industrial buildings, th are listed and a more urban character is prevalent. storey terraced houses, dating to the 18 and such as the stamping mills and the brewery, th Some of these terraces, such as Nos.1-5 and 19 centuries and by the conversion of others, such as the Nos.14-19, were built as single developments • Buildings mainly arranged in terraces, with literary institute, into domestic use. The former confirming that they form part of the more planned a common building line on the back of the smithy, near the bridge in Fore Street, is now the streetscape. Other buildings have individual pavement launderette. details, although they might share a common • Shallow pitched roofs covered in slate, building line and a similar eaves or ridge height. corrugated asbestos or artificial slate, facing 8.3.2 While most property is now residential, These buildings tend to sit tight on the back of the the road the houses are still served by a range of shops, a pavement with few front gardens or yards. • Roofs have similar ridge and eaves height, but church, a chapel, a school, three public houses, a there is variety, with some buildings having nursery garden and, most recently, by the parish hipped ends 8.2.2 Further out, the buildings tend to be council’s Millennium Hall. detached or arranged in pairs, with more spacious • Short brick axial stacks, simply detailed Plain ridges and eaves details gardens. Another long terrace of cottages runs • Few rooflights or dormers, leaving roofs up Station Road, and shorter terraces can also • uninterrupted be seen at the eastern end of Fore Street towards Use of elvan stone, granite, and killas rubble the edges of the conservation area where a more • stone, which is sometimes rendered or painted informal rural character predominates. • Some stucco/render on concealed timber studwork • Simple rectangular shapes, usually flat fronted but with some historic shopfronts, either flat or bow fronted; • Mainly sash windows, some retaining their original glazing pattern and divided into small panes; • Nos. 33 and 34, and 39 and 40, Fore Street are taller, more prestigious properties, which were designed as stand-alone houses with hipped roofs • The use of local stone, and the variety of sash Nos.39 and 40 Fore Street windows and shopfronts, all add interest Chapel converted to housing
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 28 10/12/2008 10:20:40 29 Chapter 8
which provide a finely detailed frontage to the street. The school, church and former rectory form a group, which will be more obvious once the conservation area boundary is extended as discussed in the Management Plan.
8.4.3 Otherwise, the listed buildings are all located in High Street and Fore Street, where they form an almost continuous group on both sides of the street. The highest status building is Woodside, the only truly detached listed house which is located on the south side of High Street in a large garden. This dates from the 18th century Chacewater Village Hall but has been altered and extended in the late 19th 8.4 Listed buildings century. Its very fine elvan stone front elevation, arranged symmetrically with five windows to the 8.4.1 There are 47 listed buildings or structures first floor, surprisingly has an off-centre front door, within the Chacewater Conservation Area, all of possibly because it was originally two properties. them listed grade II. These include Chacewater This must be one of the houses of the ‘tin mine Primary School, and the public houses as well captains’ referred to by John Betjeman. as a number of houses and shops. In addition to buildings, the early 19th century bridge that carries 8.4.4 The listed buildings are shown on the Fore Street over the Carnon is also listed grade Townscape Appraisal Map at Appendix 2. II, as are the village watering place in East Bridge and the milestone in Fore Street.
8.4.2 The parish church of St Paul, its lychgate, and its adjoining former rectory, are also listed (grade II) but currently lie outside the conservation area. Because of this, the largest and most dominant of the listed buildings in the conservation area is Chacewater Primary School, built as a National School in 1846 and enlarged in 1878 and again in 1897. This building is notable for its use of local materials including the elvan ashlar blocks to the principal elevation, with granite dressings, East Bridge: The watering place Lychgate at St Paul’s Church
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 29 10/12/2008 10:20:50 30 Chapter 8
8.5 Locally listed buildings 8.5.3 The Management Plan for the Chacewater 8.6.3 The positive buildings are shown on the Conservation Area therefore contains draft criteria Townscape Appraisal Map at Appendix 2. 8.5.1 Cornwall Council does not currently for inclusion and a list of potential locally listed maintain a list of locally significant buildings buildings that will be developed in consultation 8.6.4 All of the unlisted family houses in the (usually called the ‘Local List’) anywhere in the with the local community. All of them are also conservation area can also be made subject to County, although government advice is that the considered to be ‘positive’, as defined below. additional planning control (called an Article 4 preparation of such a list is a useful planning Direction) which is discussed in greater detail in tool. “Locally listed’ buildings are valued for their 8.6 Positive buildings Chapter 10 – Issues (Section 10.5 below) and in contribution to the local scene, or for their local the Management Plan. historic associations, but are not considered to be 8.6.1 In addition to the Locally Listed buildings, of sufficient national importance to be eligible for a further number of unlisted buildings have 8.7 Building materials statutory listing. been identified as being buildings of townscape merit. Buildings identified as having ‘townscape 8.7.1 The historic buildings of Chacewater, 8.5.2 Although locally listed buildings have no merit’ will vary, but commonly they will be good including those currently outside the conservation statutory significance, they can be a material examples of relatively unaltered historic buildings area, provide varied examples of the use of local consideration when determining planning where their style, detailing and building materials stone (elvan, granite and killas rubblestone) applications. Policies to protect them from provide the streetscape with interest and variety. and slate (mostly from Delabole). Elvan can be inappropriate change can be included in the Most importantly, they make a positive contribution cut into ashlar blocks and was therefore used development plan or in supplementary planning to the special interest of the conservation area. for higher status buildings, such as the church, guidance. Where a building has been heavily altered, school and Woodside. Elsewhere, it was used and restoration would be impractical, they are more sparingly for quoins and dressings. It was excluded. Examples for consideration include: quarried at nearby Creegbrawse. • Nos. 14-27 (consec.) Station Road Killas rubble, sometimes covered with lime • Nos. 1-5 East Bridge 8.7.2 render and painted, is common for the smaller • Nos. 4-9 Chacewater Hill cottages and houses. It is a brownish colour • Chacewater Methodist Church and is usually laid as random rubble although it 8.6.2 Government guidance in PPG15 ‘Planning can be squared and coursed, typically with brick and the historic environment’ advises that a dressings for lintels, arched door heads and general presumption exists in favour of retaining chimney stacks. Much of the killas has been those buildings which make a positive contribution covered with stucco, render and or paint, but there to the character or appearance of a conservation are examples of over-enthusiastic ‘restoration’, area (paragraph 4.27). The guidance note states where stonework has been exposed erroneously. that proposals to demolish such buildings should Granite tended to be used from the middle of the be assessed against the same broad criteria as 19th century onwards for lintels, quoins and other 1 - 5 East Bridge proposals to demolish listed buildings. edges. Brick hardly appears at all as the main
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 30 10/12/2008 10:20:53 31 Chapter 8
building material, a notable exception being a Rectory, stands to the south-west of the prominent semi-detached pair of houses between churchyard at the southern limit of the proposed The Square and the village car park. southern extension to the conservation area. It was built in c.1832 and was extended in 8.7.3 Slate from Delabole was generally used the 1840s. Two storeys high, it is built from for roof covering, usually wet-laid in decreasing rubblestone which has been faced in stucco, with courses (a scantled roof). However, many of a pitched dry Delabole slate roof. The 1840s the original slate roofs in Chacewater had been single room extension is in the Gothic style with replaced with corrugated asbestos at the time of rusticated stucco quoins. listing in the 1980s, and these have incrementally been replaced, though not always in natural slate. Chacewater Primary School was built in There are a few examples of slate hanging to Elvan stone at St Paul’s Church 1848 as a National School, in the Tudor style walls, but this is not a common feature. then popular. The principal elevation is built using elvan ashlar blocks with granite window 8.7.4 Of note is the high quality joinery including surrounds and mullions. The other elevations the many historic shopfronts, some retaining their are killas rubblestone with freestone and original small panes, and the early to mid-19th granite dressings. The steeply pitched roof is century sash windows. covered with the original Delabole slate. It has a projecting central coped gable topped by a 8.8 Local details bellcote. Although it was originally built with a symmetrical plan, the school was extended in The Church of Saint Paul was built in 1828 1863 and a separate school house added in but substantially rebuilt in 1892 along with a 1878. A large new addition was built onto the separately listed lychgate. It has a restrained Brickwork at Nos.4/5 The Square rear in 2005 perpendicular design of elvan ashlar with killas and some stone dressings. The pitched roof is of Delabole slate with a gable end to the east and adjoining the tower to the west. The four stage embattled tower has a prominent octagonal stair turret attached and forms the entrance. The lychgate is also built of elvan ashlar and killas rubble with a pitched Delabole slate roof and slate hung gable end, which is surmounted by a Latin cross on an octagonal finial.
Chacewater House, which was formerly the Entrance to Chacewater House Chacewater Primary School
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 31 10/12/2008 10:21:05 32 Chapter 8
Woodside lies just outside the village centre at the western end of the High Street and is set back from the road, with a stable block, now converted into a house, adjoining the road to the north-west. Originally built as two houses in the mid-18th century it was remodelled in the late 18th century to form an imposing residence with a two storey elvan stone facade of five bays, with a rendered parapet above a moulded cornice. The remaining elevations are of killas rubble. At the time of listing it was noted that principal elevation to the north retained nine 16-pane hornless sash windows, including a high proportion of crown glass. The pitched dry Delabole slate roof has exposed gables, with a hipped roof to the extension at the rear, which also bears some slate hanging. The building is effectively hidden from the road to the north by a line of evergreen trees.
The majority of the listed buildings within the town centre are invariably of two storeys, using most commonly killas rubble stone construction with elvan or granite dressings, including cambered arched window heads with projecting key stones. Occasionally, render or higher status stucco is applied over timber framing, often with rusticated quoins. Most of the listed buildings have hipped roofs where they are not otherwise joined to adjacent properties. Where roofs of asbestos slate have been replaced with slates, these have included the use of ceramic imbrex tiles to cover the angles of the hipped roofs. This provides an interesting contrast of colours when viewed as a roofscape, particularly from The Terrace.
Modern windows in Falmouth Road
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 32 10/12/2008 10:21:07 33 Chapter 8
Many of these buildings retain original timber sash windows, or have had them sympathetically restored. However, nos.1-5 High Street (south side) provide an unfortunate example where nearly all the traditional timber windows have been replaced with modern uPVC units, despite their listing. Nos.14-19 High Street (north side) are a better example, where the majority of the original 16-pane hornless sash windows have been retained. These rows of planned housing still incorporate shop units emphasising the mixed commercial and residential function of the planned settlement.
Some larger houses are located at The Square and, with the shop buildings on Fore Street, they provide an increased sense of scale appropriate to the village centre. These include Nos.39 and 40 Fore Street, a large mid 19th century building forming two semi-detached houses, faced in stucco with rusticated quoins and a hipped slate roof. The architectural significance of this building is confirmed by the preservation of its large12- pane sashes and the moulded cornice, supported on narrow pilasters and the carved consoles located above the two doorways onto Fore Street. This building has a higher status appearance that is unusual within the village.
No.2 The Square also contributes to the sense of place in the village centre, largely as a result of its skewed orientation to the street and its decorative, centrally placed doorway, which adds scale and drama to the street frontage. The exposed killas and elvan rubble frontage provides No.2 The Square a dark, brooding colour in contrast to the stucco
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 33 10/12/2008 10:21:15 34 Chapter 8
covered facades of the surrounding buildings and elliptical headed arched lights, which reflect their building has a long frontage to the street with a this helps to increase the sense of enclosure of former role as shop windows. carriage entrance under the rightmost window. It this space. The use of unpainted elvan ashlar retains all of its six-paned horned sash windows and freestone on the pilasters, moulded impost, Nos.33 and 34 Fore Street (now occupied by with moulded wooden architraves. The listing round-headed arch, architrave and cornice of the Happy Shopper Supermarket) retains two more description includes the stone flagged pavement doorway, are all important. The adjacent area mid-19th century shopfronts, each of which to the front. The Rambling Miner has a more of cobbled surfacing also makes an important include a double shopfront of two bowed two- robust appearance as a result of its use of killas contribution to the space. light windows with elliptically arched lights and rubble and elvan stone detailing, which is used curved glass flanking overlights. Narrow wooden on many other buildings on the High Street. It Listed shops, as well as former shops converted pilasters frame the windows and support the has a simple Doric porch with wooden columns to housing, are focussed in Fore Street and The original wooden fascia and carved consoles, set just slightly off centre in the three window Square, with a smaller number further to the which, in-turn, support a cornice. The first floor frontage. The flanking ground floor windows are west in High Street. They are all of two storeys has three four-pane sash windows with similar tripartite bowed sashes, recessed with cement with accommodation over and date to the early- arched lights, pilasters, consoles and cornices surrounds. The original timber lintels to these to-mid-19th century. Many of the buildings on to the ground floor. Unfortunately, the glass of have been replaced with concrete. Fore Street are of poor quality stone covered all but one of the ground floor shop windows has with render or stucco, and the shop fronts are been replaced with wooden boarding and parts of made from painted timber with small panes the building, including the majority of the joinery, predominating. Particularly good examples guttering and eaves box, have been painted an include Portreath Bakery (No.5) and the Post unattractive green. Restoring the frontage of Office (No.7). These both have early 19th century this building would have a significantly positive double-fronted shops with 20-pane bow windows impact on the appearance of the conservation flanked by narrow pilasters. At Portreath Bakery, area. Several other listed shops in the an earlier door to the house has been replaced conservation area require some maintenance with an additional 12-pane window. Both to improve their contribution to its appearance. buildings had only corrugated asbestos roofs The continuing trend of converting commercial when listed in the 1980s, which have since been properties to housing within the village is adding replaced with slate. to the erosion of the character of these buildings.
Nos.9, 10 and 11 Fore Street provide an The Rambling Miner, High Street and the interesting terrace of small shop premises now Britannia Hotel on Fore Street are both listed converted to residential use. The shop fronts are public houses. Like many other buildings on of varying proportions but use a very consistent Fore Street, The Britannia Hotel is a mid-19th style with moulded cornice hoods on console century building of stucco over stonework brackets to all of the ground floor openings. The with rusticated quoins. The pitched roof is of ground floor windows of Nos.9 and 10 have scantled slate with wide eaves at the front. The Nos.33/34 Fore Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 34 10/12/2008 10:21:18 35 Chapter 8
Some roofs in Delabole slate, Contrasting red otherwise Welsh blue slate clay ridges
Chimney stacks generally low in brick or rendered with clay chimney pots Simple eaves with cast-iron gutters and down pipes
Traditional six-over-six timber sash windows set into the wall Brick arch lintel with keystone. Some lintels of Elvan stone
Shop front framed with pillasters and a cornice Walls built from killas stone carried on console brackets
Granite doorstep
Granite kerb Simple panelled timber door Elvan stone for quoins at to pavement corners and openings
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 35 10/12/2008 10:21:22 36
Chapter 9 CHARACTER AREAS
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 36 10/12/2008 10:21:22 37 Chapter 9 CHARACTER AREAS
9.1 Summary of character areas smithy, the Literary Institute and the Freemasons’ Negative features/issues: Hall – were accommodated on High Street/Fore The Chacewater Conservation Area can be Street. The architecture includes most of the divided into four Character Areas according to village’s listed buildings and several particularly • Traffic volume and congestion, especially at landscape, topography, historical development, fine shopfronts. peak times layout, building type, and uses. These are: • Vehicle speeds at off-peak times There are only three modern buildings on the • Poor enforcement of parking controls • Character Area 1: High Street / Fore Street main road. Those at East Bridge and opposite • Lack of pedestrian crossing • Character Area 2: South side Woodside have been designed to have a • Unsympathetic alterations, particularly doors • Character Area 3: The east end consciously historical appearance. Only No.1a and windows • Character Area 4: Riverside High Street with its jettied upper floor and split- • Loss of shops pitched roofs could be considered in any sense • Poor maintenance of buildings 9.2 Character area 1: High Street / Fore intrusively modern. • Building-at-risk: No.27 Fore Street/No.1 Street Station Road • Also evidence of Japanese Knot Weed This is the line of the 18th century turnpike road, which follows the bottom of the valley that 9.3 Character area 2: South side branches westwards from that of the Carnon River. While it is suggested that Chacewater has Falmouth Road services the backs of property its origins slightly to the north of the turnpike, it is on High Street and Fore Street before continuing not surprising that the commercial core gravitated down the river valley. Opportunities have been to the main road. taken for infill housing particularly on Jake’s Lane, which links back from Falmouth Road to The The principal frontages were laid out almost Square. rhythmically to provide continuous frontages, although densities decrease at either end. To The Square itself maintains an urban feel as it the west, Woodside is a large 18th century house narrows to a road between No.3 and the historic set back in its own grounds and, to the east, the market building. East Bridge is also an urban King’s Head has its own forecourt as does the terrace that leads south from Fore Street past the former smithy opposite. Sluice, an open water source that once served the No.1A High Street whole village. It was, perhaps, a sign of competition for space on The street has a strong sense of enclosure due the main road in 1832 that caused the Methodist to the largely consistent building line at the back No.5 East Bridge has a large garden fronting the Chapel to be built on Station Road behind the edge of the pavements. Accordingly, the hills to path that loops back round further open space primary frontages. Apart from this, most of the either side are not readily apparent and the main and across the river to the village car park. The non-residential uses – shops, public houses, the views are along the street. Square also opens out into the car park before
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 37 10/12/2008 10:21:24 38 Chapter 9
New building at The Yard, Fore Street 42/44 Fore Street Bow fronted Post Office, Fore Street
38 Fore Street Plastic windows at 13 Fore Street 2/3 High Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 38 10/12/2008 10:21:41 39 Chapter 9
continuing south as Church Hill giving views of the village to the countryside. modern Village Hall. The car park is an informal space, screened to the east by mature trees. It For many, this is also the point of arrival with provides access to the modern health centre on its glimpses of the church tower on the opposite south side and accommodates Women’s Institute hillside and of the roofscape below. It is also Nissen hut, public toilets and a telephone kiosk . evident in these views how well treed the village has become. South of Falmouth Road are the open spaces of the bowling green and recreation ground donated All the buildings in this area are considered to to the village in 1925 by Lord Falmouth. The site make a positive contribution to the character of the is bounded on the east by Church Hill and a fine conservation area. Most significant are the former row of Monterey Pine trees. Beyond this is the Disused stone building Primitive Methodist Chapel, now residential, and National School built mid-way between the church Roseland House, which commands the view along and the village in 1847. The school has recently Fore Street. been enhanced by a scheme of planting. The land rises up School Hill giving widespread views Negative features/issues: across the village to the landscape beyond. • Lack of any ‘welcome’ to Chacewater; Negative features/issues: • Speed of vehicles on Chacewater Hill.
• Poor condition of stone building on the north side of the car park; • Car park capable of improvement; Approach from the south • Too many signs in the car park; • The Sluice often obscured by parked cars; • Intrusiveness of recent development at Estrella, The Terrace; • Potential to extend the area to include the Village Hall and St Paul’s Church.
9.4 Character area 3: The east end
This is the continuation of Fore Street up Chacewater Hill. Although most of the houses are in two terraces, there is a much lower density and Entrance to Primary Commerative plaque grass verges give a feeling of transition from the School 3 The Square
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 39 10/12/2008 10:21:55 40 Chapter 9
9.5 Character area 4: Riverside To the west is the 14-house riverside terrace built in the early 19th century to house brewery This area has three main parts: a jumble of workers. With long gardens and some forward properties behind the Fore Street frontage, extensions, the fronts can be mistaken for backs. open space to the east, and the terrace along The real backs of the terrace face Station Road, Station Road to the west. The unifying factor is which passes at a higher level. Higher still are the youthful River Carnon and the footpath that Greenbank and North Hill House, two large accompanies it. detached houses in grounds that accommodate specimen trees. To the south, there are informal yards and garages and a few 19th century houses fronting Riverside Entrance to village from the east Negative features/issues: and Station Road. These are interspersed with recent houses built on the site of the brewery • Need for a tree management strategy; that closed in the mid-20th century. The lack of • Front extensions on Riverside Terrace; cohesion is made up for by the lush planting of the • Potential issue of colour – one house in the Riverside. terrace is bright blue; • Unkempt condition of land to the east of the Riverside crosses the river on a solid granite river. bridge and continues up the west side of the water. The landscape opens out with two pairs of bungalows set back on the east side and a large unmaintained site beyond.
Terrace at 2-9 Chacewater Hill
Roseland House provides an end stop to views Estrella, The Terrace 17 Chacewater Hill along Fore Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 40 10/12/2008 10:22:09 41 Chapter 9
1 Riverside 14-27 Station Road Leat next to the Methodist Church
5 Riverside Stone footbridge Riverside Walk
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 41 10/12/2008 10:22:29 42
Chapter 10 ISSUES
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 42 10/12/2008 10:22:29 43 Chapter 10 ISSUES
10.1 Definition of Issues There is a general feeling amongst residents that the District Council sometimes fails to meet The following ‘Issues’ have been identified by the its statutory duties in terms of the control of new local community as part of the public consultation development, particularly relating to applications exercise, including the two workshops, and by affecting the Chacewater Conservation Area from the consultants who prepared this document outside the boundary. Tight resources for staffing following extensive survey work. They provide mean that planning applications are not dealt the basis for the Site Specific Actions in the always with by specialist conservation officers, Management Proposals. These issues will be and an impression is given of planning staff and subject to regular review by the Council and new conservation staff not communicating effectively. ones may be added in the future. There is also a sense that the Parish Council is not listened to and that the reasons for decisions 10.2 Conservation area boundary review taken contrary to parish advice are not explained.
It was suggested that the boundary to the St Paul’s Churchyard Active measures for promoting better conservation area should be amended in several understanding of Chacewater and its place locations, such as St Paul’s Church and the in history would underpin the regeneration of churchyard. These changes have already been the village by drawing in external interest and suggested in the CISI report of 2002 and have resources. recently (March 2007) been re-assessed and the area resurveyed. These extensions have been 10.4 Buildings-at-risk agreed by Cornwall Council and are detailed in the Chacewater Conservation Area Management There are several buildings in the conservation Plan. area that would benefit from repairs or redecoration and at least one in urgent need of 10.3 Education and information refurbishment. More generally, however, the buildings are in reasonable condition and the Despite the District Council’s leaflet on the greatest threat is from well intentioned property subject, people who live and work in Chacewater ‘improvement’. have voiced concerns that there is little information about the planning system as it 10.5 Alterations to buildings affects conservation areas. Guidance on best practice and traditional repair techniques would It is clear that a considerable amount of property also be helpful, as would the provision of a alteration takes place in Chacewater whether Village Guide and more information about local the local authority needs to know about it or facilities. 7 The Terrace not. Indeed, the local feeling was that owners
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 43 10/12/2008 10:22:35 44 Chapter 10
should not be over-constrained and there was some resistance to the suggestion of an Article 4 Direction. However, it is also evident that well- intentioned changes, especially to doors, windows and roofs, have begun to have a cumulative effect that is damaging to the character of the conservation area.
10.6 New development
Recent buildings in High Street and Fore Street have been particularly self-effacing, but this has not always been the case. The redevelopment of the brewery site, for instance is seen as a lost opportunity that owes little to the character of the conservation area. The strongest local criticism, however, is reserved for the four town houses Potential for local listing Evidence of disrepair built on the Estrella site at the end of The Terrace. Un-characteristic colours can be a sensitive issue Although the site is outside the conservation area, the development dominates many views across the area in what many consider a damaging manner.
10.7 Uses/vitality
Chacewater is well-served by its shops and pubs, for a village of its size, but the number of former shops indicates a decline in the past that could continue. Measures to support continuing business and promote the vitality of the village would contribute also to maintaining the character of the conservation area.
Estrella, The Terrace Plastic windows at 1 High Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 44 10/12/2008 10:22:51 45 Chapter 10
10.8 Locally listed buildings
There is no Local List for Chacewater (nor, indeed, for Cornwall Council generally) and the identification of buildings or structures for a Local List is considered to be an urgent priority, once the criteria have been agreed. Any Local List should be drawn up with the full consultation of the local community.
10.9 Enforcement
During the survey work for the Character Appraisal, a number of sites or buildings were identified where works have taken place that may not have been authorised and where enforcement action may be relevant. These are typically visible satellite dishes and modern windows or doors and Former shop in High Street Remains of former building east of the river they include alterations to listed buildings.
10.10 Highways and traffic management
Traffic management is the single largest concern to be expressed in the consultation responses. The volume of traffic on High Street/Fore Street, the congestion it causes and difficulty in crossing the road are the primary worries, but there is also the speed of vehicles when congestion eases and the effects of on street parking.
10.11 Archaeological potential
It is known that industrial finishing processes were undertaken in Chacewater during the 19th century, but there is little visible evidence of this history. However, there is likely to be evidence below Need for building repairs in High Street
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 45 10/12/2008 10:23:00 46 Chapter 10
ground and investigation of this archaeological 10.13 Trees potential would add to the understanding of Chacewater’s past. There are remains of old Trees make an important contribution to the stone walls beside the footpath, and reputedly character of Chacewater. Many are reaching an old well, on the land to the east of the Carnon advanced stages of maturity while others are River between Eckla Vue & Meadow Side, considered to be obstacles. A tree strategy that possibly associated with the former brewery in this considered issues of amenity, practicality and, area. importantly, succession planning would reduce the need to take ad hoc decisions on a case-by-case Other areas that would reward further study are basis. the system of leats running through the village and the economic and physical pattern of small- 10.14 Sustainable development holdings that supported a working population. The use of wind turbines, solar heating panels, 10.12 Enhancement potential and double glazing were all considered to be important by residents, some of whom thought There is a strong case for a comprehensive that planning controls should be relaxed to allow scheme of building repairs and public realm greater flexibility. improvements along the High Street/Fore Street corridor and including The Square in order to address both building condition and traffic management.
The village car park would also benefit from enhancements beyond the planned resurfacing. As the significance of the World Heritage Site becomes more widely appreciated, the car park is likely to become a more important place of arrival. It is the logical place to provide interpretation facilities.
Elsewhere, all surviving examples of historic paving are vulnerable unless they are cherished and enhanced. Less obvious too are the historic boundary walls and leats that should be better understood and preserved. Nissan hut at the centre of the car parkt Earlier metalled surface at Wheal Busy Lane
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 46 10/12/2008 10:23:08 47 Chapter 10
Trees in St Paul’s Churchyard
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 47 10/12/2008 10:23:13 48
APPENDICES
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 48 10/12/2008 10:23:13 49 APPENDIX 1
Historical development of Chacewater main Truro-Redruth road. The settlement recorded The settlement would have formed a loose in 1699 appears to be set-back from the road with grouping of ‘tinners’ smallholdings, with some Evidence of prehistoric activity near to Chacewater small enclosures in the intervening space. larger farmsteads, reflecting the mixed economy is limited to a possible cropmark of an enclosure practiced by the early tin miners. However, the first identified at Little Chacewood, approximately 100 A tin mine, named the Great Works, was recorded edition of the Ordnance Survey in 1809 records metres south of the parish church. The Cornwall in the vicinity of Chacewater in the 16th century that a village centre had been established by that and Scilly Sites and Monuments Record also and this later became known as Wheal Busy. date following the east-west alignment of the main records that Pound Cottage, on the western limit of By 1718, if not earlier, this had become one of road. the village, may mark the site of a medieval stock Cornwall’s most significant mines. Copper was enclosure. first produced there around 1724 and, in 1725, Early 19th century - development of a commercial/ Joseph Hornblower installed some of the earliest public centre The place name evidence suggests that the Newcomen engines to be used in the mines. In During the 19th century Chacewater developed as surrounding area was unenclosed land during the 1768 the Great County Adit was driven into the an economic and civic centre for the farming and medieval period and was probably maintained as a Wheal Bury mine, which increased the efficiency industrial communities. It was divided between hunting preserve: hence the ‘chase’ in Chacewater. of the mining process. In 1778 the first Boulton the parishes of Kenwyn and Kea until 1837 when Much of the agricultural area surrounding and Watt engine to be used in a Cornish mine was it had grown sufficiently to become a parish in Chacewater has been recorded in the Cornwall installed at Wheal Busy. its own right. A new church had been built to the Landscape Assessment as post-mediaeval south of the village in 1828. A Primitive Methodist farmland. Although the Cornish mining industry suffered Chapel was also opened in 1830 and a Wesleyan a temporary decline in the later 18th century, its Methodist chapel was opened in 1832. The Bethel Chacewater became the property of the Boscawen fortunes recovered at the beginning of the 19th Methodist Chapel was added in 1842. family in 1335 and it descended through the family century due to increased demand resulting from of Viscount Falmouth as part of the Tregothnan the Napoleonic Wars and the depletion of copper Industrial development within the village included Estate. The presence of a single large landowner deposits elsewhere. the establishment of a brewery to the north of Fore in the area has had an impact on controlling the Street in the area now named Brewery Court. The spread of development and on the exploitation of Pre-19th century - early tinners’ smallholdings long terrace of cottages on Station Road may have mineral deposits. The Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) been built to provide brewery workers’ homes. The report regarding Chacewater suggests that the tithe award for Kenwyn parish, produced in 1841, Post-Conquest earliest settlement avoided the valley floor, where records Pitsleweren Stamps and Lobbs Stamps, tin streaming would have been practised. Instead which are believed to have been stamping mills, The origins of the settlement of Chacewater appear it was located along the valley sides aligned on used for crushing ore, whilst fields named Upper to lie between the production of a detailed map of lanes, which led to the various mines outside the Stamps and Lower Stamps were located between Kerrier Hundred, produced in 1597, which does valley, as well as extending southwards along The Terrace and High Street. It is also recorded not record any evidence for a settlement in this the valley and thus forming the alignment of the that Chacewater contained as many as 13 public location and the Joel Gascoyne’s map of Cornwall modern street of the Terrace and the Falmouth houses by 1830. of 1699, which does show a hamlet north of the Road.
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 49 10/12/2008 10:23:13 50 Appendix 1
The Kenwyn Parish Tithe map of 1841 shows both of market gardens and fruit growing in the area, However, despite this period of revival it appears the areas of more scattered housing along the stimulated by the presence of the railway line and that Chacewater continued to function primarily as Terrace, North Hill, High Street and Falmouth Road, improved access to urban markets. a commercial centre for agriculture. It provided an as well as the planned development of terraced important horse and cattle market in the early to buildings along Fore Street, the Square and The Ordnance Survey edition of 1880 records that mid 20th century. The brewery also continued as an Station Road. Buildings in the Square appear to Chacewater had reached the limits of development important local employer until the mid-20th century. have included the King’s Head and a structure on that would confine it for the following seventy In 1925 Lord Falmouth donated the recreation the north side of The Square with a distinctive ‘U’ years. The development of terraced buildings had ground for the use of the villagers, but there was shaped plan, which may be preserved in the plans extended to the east of the River Carnon, including very little development. of Nos. 37-40 Fore Street. Nos.1-9 and 13-16 Chacewater Hill. Further development to the west of the town included The Later 20th century – end of mining/residential The tithe map for Kea parish of 1843 shows Crown Inn and an adjacent Post Office on the High expansion significantly less development on the east side of Street. A Masonic hall is also recorded to the rear After the closure of the mines and with the the river crossing, suggesting that the river served of the Britannia Inn at this time. increasing use of motorcars from 1946, the village as the boundary of the planned development. began to function as a dormitory settlement for In 1892, the parish church was completely re- Truro. The railway station was closed in 1964 Later 19th century – mining decline/economic modelled, albeit to accommodate a reduced ‘sealing Chacewater’s fate as an economic redirection congregation. In the following year, the Passmore backwater’. (CISI report - 2002) The Village School was built in 1847 between the Edwards Literary Institute was opened. This was parish church and the village, whilst the mainline the second of four institutes in Cornwall donated Development in the later 20th century has included railway station was opened in 1852 just over half by the philanthropist, John Passmore Edwards, a significant proportion of residential infill, between a mile to the north of the village. However, the who was born nearby at Blackwater. That it was Fore Street/High Street and The Terrace as well as 1850s saw the beginning of a long term decline possible to demolish the pre-existing buildings the former Brewery Site and along Falmouth Road. for the mining industries that had hitherto driven to construct the new institute may reflect the low Expansion of the village to the east and south east the economic prosperity of the area. Wheal Busy demand for property in the centre of Chacewater at included the construction of housing estates with a mine was closed in 1873 and the population of this time. mixture of bungalows and two storey houses to the Chacewater fell from 3558 to 2053 in the ten years north of Kerley Hill in the 1950s. A second phase of to 1891. Early 20th century – mining revival expansion to the south of Kerley Hill took place in The apparent trend away from industrial production the late 1990s/early 2000s. Comparison of trade directories reveals that the was reversed with the reopening of the Wheal Busy mixture of businesses in Chacewater had moved mine in 1907 and the Killifreth mine in 1911. Both Despite conversion of many of the former from craftsmen supplying the mines towards more mines operated largely for arsenic production until commercial properties on Fore Street to residential domestic shop keeping supplying the local village the 1940s when they were finally closed down and use, many have retained distinctive shopfronts, and farming populations. The CISI report for the machinery scrapped. which has preserved the character of the Chacewater also suggests that the character of settlement as an historic commercial centre. the area changed through the increasing presence
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 50 10/12/2008 10:23:14 51 Appendix 1
1841 Tithe Map
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 51 10/12/2008 10:23:16 52 Appendix 1
1880 Ordnance Survey First Edition
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 52 10/12/2008 10:23:18 53 Appendix 1
1906 Ordnance Survey
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 53 10/12/2008 10:23:22 54 Appendix 2
Maps
Map 1 Character areas Map 2 Townscape appraisal map
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 54 10/12/2008 10:23:25 55
7172
6
10
12
Track
Meadow 14
Springs
7 5 7361 20 FB 4 Chacewater Kenwith
6359 NORTH 1559
HILL 4
BM 65.20m 67.8m
Greenbank 11
Track kenwith 13
Trenessa 27
60.9m 16 Eckla Vue NORT 22 H Hether Hillside HILL 28 lee Glenha 8652 ven North Hill 9
1 Tre-Bron House 7753 Bremar 20 Brewery
Estrella Ct 2 FB 3
32 27
5 Pine 4 6751 Riverside 1
Chymeneth
35 ERRACE View 17 5950 THE T 32 Kerley Chapel
View 33
2 House ean v
y 1
Melbur Rose 19 3 Tre FB sco
46
45 3
5 18 Carn Lea
Seasons 1 t Try-Golva 44 St Jay's Lodge
Hodges Cour Brock 42 Church 55.2m 7 6 enhurst
7 9
8 Cheverney 1 Cottage Amberle The Trewin 40 April Cottage n Chybea
2 Yard Sundown 9 High y
ACE Chapel 1 East Bridge Hall
THE TERR Torre Ct
SERGEANTS HILL 1 Chy-an 33 FORE STREET 12 Brookside 35
-Brec 34 The Thimble 1 Menheg 32 13
House 28 y 54.9m
27 Post
17 to 17 BM 55.76m 1 to 8 to 1 Inst
28
1 Truran
5
9 to 16 to 9 20 Ho ROSELAND CR
PH 3 PH 1 24 22
The 57.1m
PO
1
1 9 2 6
Willows THE SQUARE MS 13 12a 20 Vidill
Crossways
BUCK 3
La Caprice A 390 LOWER 17 ING
Westering
14 59.4m 19 PH 1b
Astega 4 1
HAM NIP 13 MEADO The
5 55.9m Doon Brae Bostrase 10 The
1a Barn W
5 2 Cottage
4 Rose 1 1 1 9 8 Cottages Baddon
Tremarner Cottage Robern 1 to 3 to 1 FALMOUTH ROAD Carn HIGH STREET Tagree 2 4 3
The Stables JAKE'S LANE 2 65.5m 64.2m 1 31 3 Inst
1 TCB Garden 7 Woodside BM 64.83m Car Park 1 Cedar Wood 25 Woodside
6 Bowling 28 The Great Walled 1 PC Cottages 67.1m Green KERLEY
Play
VALE Green 10 Bowling Area 4 Health Centre
71.5m 26
Lantern 23 Cottage Toll KER
Greensleeves BM 60.86m
Cottage 19 LEY 2 27
Cornwall Council 8231 22
Recreation Regeana VALE 7 Hall
Stone GP
Ground 18
Recreation 14 69.4m 20 5928 Ground Chacewater Conservation Area Umina 78.3m 59.0m
64.9m 16
Pavilion 74.6m Character Area Map Pavilion Glenmor Path (um)
(Not to scale) BM 88.81m 70.2m Chacewater Junior
& Infant School
BM 72.23m
93.0m 8421
Track Track 54.3m
Anzac 9517 1 - High Street / Fore Street Cottages
7918 2 - South side CHURCH
99.7m Trelawne
Trewlawne
Cottage
HILL 5314 3 - The east end BM 52.98m 80.4m
2412 Lower 4 - Riverside BM 104.46m Chancewood 8311 9912
Lych Gate Path
Vicarage 2009
105.9m War Meml
50.8m
0307 St Paul's Church
9506 5406 BM 82.02m
This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the 86.5m 0104 permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Track Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may 108.2m Creegbrawse Cottage
2700 lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. (100023554) (2007). Meadowmist Lower 91.3m Chacewood
9600 Cottage 5600 6100 6600 7100
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 55 10/12/2008 10:23:25 56
6
10 Cornwall Council Conservation Area Appraisals
12
Track Chacewater Conservation Area
Meadow 14 Springs
Townscape Appraisal Map 7
7 (Not to scale)
5 5 20
FB 4 4 ChacewaterChacewater KenwithKenwith
NORTH 1559
HILL
BM 65.20m65.20m 67.8m67.8m
Greenbank 11
kenwith 13
TrenessaTrenessa 27
60.9m 16 Conservation area boundary Eckla Vue NORTH 22 Hetherlee
HILL 28
86528652 Glenhaven North Hill 9
1 Tre-Bron House Bremar 2020 Brewery
Ct 2 FB 3 Listed buildings
32
27 27
5 PinePine 4 Riverside 1
Chymeneth
35 ViewView 17 THE TERRACE Kerley 2 Chapel
View 33
2 House
y
1 Rosevean 19 Melbur 19 3 Positive buildings Tresco FB
46
45 3
5 18 Carn Lea
SeasonsSeasons 1
Try-Golva 44 's St Jay Lodge
Hodges Court Brockenhurst 42 55.2m 7 Significant open space Church 6 kenhurst
7 9 9
8 Cheverney 1 The 40
2 Yard 9 High
Chapel 1 East Bridge Hall THE TERRACE Torre Ct SERGEANTS HILL Torre SERGEANTS HILL
y-an 1 ChChy-an 33 FORE STREET BrooksideBrookside 35 ble -Brec 34 The Thim 1 32 13 Focal buildings 28 54.9m
27 Post
17 to 28 to 17 17 to 28 to 17 1 to 8 to 1 1 to 8 to 1 Inst BM 55.76m
1 Truran
5 6 6 9 to 1 to 9
9 to 1 to 9 20 Ho ROSELAND CR
PH 3 PH 1 24 22
57.1m
PO
1 1
9
2 6
THE SQUARE MS 13 20 Vidill
Crossways Crossways
A 390 3 Important trees and tree groups LOWER 17 ING
Westering G Westering
14 59.4m 19
PH 1b 4
Astega 4 1
HAM NIP 13 MEADOW 55.9m The 10 The 5
1a Barn
5 2 Cottage
4 1 1 1 1 9 8 Baddon TremarnerTremarner Cottage Robern FALMOUTH ROAD Carn E Tagree Important views HIGH STREET 4 3
The Stables JAKE'S LAN 2 64.2m 3131
3 Inst
1 TCB 7 Woodside M 64.83m BBM 64.83m Car Park 1 25 Woodside
6 Bowling 28 1 PC Cottages Historic paving
Green KERLEY
Play
VALE
Green 10 10 Bowling Area
Health Centre
71.5m71.5m
26 26 23
Toll 23 BM 60.86m Cottage
8231
22 22 7
Recreation RegeanaRegeana VALE 7
Hall
18 Ground 18
14
Recreation 14 20 20
Ground UminaUmina .3m.3m 59.0m59.0m
64.9m64.9m
16 16
Pavilion
Pavilion
Glenmor
70.2m70.2m
ChacewaterChacewater JuniorJunior
& InfantInfant SchoolSchool
BMBM 72.23m
84218421
Track Track 54.3m54.3m This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. (100023554) (2007). 95179517
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 56 10/12/2008 10:23:27 57 Appendix 3
References
Carrick District Council – Carrick district wide local plan – 1998
Colin M Bristow – Cornwall’s geology and scenery – 2004
Chacewater: Report under the Cornwall and Scilly Industrial settlements Initiative (CISI) – 2002 (www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/cisi)
N Pevsner – The buildings of England: Cornwall – 1951 (Revised 1970)
Ed. EB Selwood, EM Durrance and CM Bristow – The geology of Cornwall – 2004
Willem van der Eyken – Chacewater: The story of a Cornish mining village – 2nd edition 2002
www.chacewater.net
March 2010 CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA CHARACTER APPRAISAL
Chacewater DTP.indd 57 10/12/2008 10:23:29
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan
March 2010
This Conservation Area Management Plan was commissioned by Carrick District Council. At the Carrick Cabinet meeting on 17 March 2009 Members resolved to recommend to the Joint Implementation Executive that the Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan be adopted. It was subsequently endorsed by Cornwall Council as a material consideration within the emerging Cornwall Council Local Development Framework on 24 April 2010. The recommended changes to the boundaries of Chacewater Conservation Area were authorised by Cornwall Council and came into effect on 24 April 2010.
CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
2.0 THE CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA 2
2.1 Statement of Special Interest 2 2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats 2
3.0 GENERAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 4
3.1 Introduction 4 3.2 The Local Planning Context 4 3.3 Management Plan Policies 5
4.0 CARE AND REPAIR 11
4.1 The Principles of Successful Care 11 4.2 Walls 11 4.3 Roofs & Chimneys 12 4.4 External Joinery 13 4.5 Boundaries 14 4.6 Trees & Soft Landscaping 14
5.0 NEW DESIGN 15
5.1 General Principles 15 5.2 Design Principles in the Chacewater Conservation Area 16 5.3 Design Briefs 18
6.0 THE PUBLIC REALM 19
6.1 The Principles of Successful Public Realm Management 19 6.2 Ground Surfaces 19 6.3 Street Furniture 20 6.4 New Equipment 21 6.5 The Leats 21 6.6 Trees & Open Spaces 21 6.7 Traffic Management 22 6.8 Environmental Improvements 22
7.0 PROTECTION 23
7.1 Existing Designations 23 7.2 Potential Designations 23 7.3 Locally Listed Buildings 23 7.4 Positive Buildings 24 7.5 Extensions to the Conservation Area 24
8.0 ENFORCEMENT 25
8.1 Article 4 (2) Directions 25 8.2 Listed Buildings at Risk 25 8.3 Enforcement Powers 26
9.0 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MANAGEMENT PLAN 27
9.1 Overseeing the Management Plan 27 9.2 Implementing the Management Plan 27 9.3 Summary of Actions 27 9.4 Resources to Deliver the Management Plan 27 9.5 Monitoring and Evaluation 28 9.6 Reviewing the Management Plan 28
APPENDIX ONE 29
The Legislative Background Legal Implications of Conservation Area Designation 30 Development Control in Conservation Areas 30 The Local Development Framework 32
APPENDIX TWO 33
Local Development Framework Policies Retained Local Plan Policies 33 Chacewater Conservation Area Policies 33
APPENDIX THREE 35
Draft Criteria for Selection of Locally Listed Buildings 35
APPENDIX FOUR 37
Draft Local List for the Chacewater Conservation Area 37
APPENDIX FIVE 39
Chacewater Conservation Area Boundary Review 39
APPENDIX SIX 41
Summary of Issues, Policies and Actions 41
APPENDIX SEVEN 75
Glossary of Terms 75
Positive buildings in proposed buildings in proposed Positive extension Proposed conservation Proposed area boundary Conservation boundary area Listed buildings in proposed Listed buildings in proposed extension Local list proposals Enhancement Opportunities ornwall Council C Conservation Appraisals Area ConservationChacewater Area Map Management Proposals (Not to scale)
4
1 1 7
9 9
67.8m 67.8m
22 22
19 19
14
1 1
E L A Crossways V
Wes tering LEY
1
1 6
27
13 27 KER
age age
Cott Cott
e e
h h T T
7
16 .20m 5 6 M BM 65.20m B 2700 2700
1 2412 2412 m 50.8m 50.8 m 20 r M 52.98 BM 52.98m B e t
60.9m
13 13
a 1 7
1 r
8 ge
9 9 owe w otta Lower L 00 C Cottage
2 2009
4 4 hacewood e Chacewood C
c
22 22
25 25 4
ha 2
d
r
23 23 owe Chacewater C Lower L cewoo n
m
a
Vidill Vidill 1 h C Chancewood
54.3m 54.3
5 4 or
Glenm
6 4
e
e n e
ve erl a
h th
n Eckla Vu Yard
e
le 4 H House 4 Chapel
G The
Bremar ADD 55.2m
1
The Thimble The
a Path
5 min 3 5 Umina U 10
42 t Bridge
FB Eas 1559
rside 1 Rive
e DELETE
FB tr
1 en 2 ealth C
Springs H
Meadow T
eana EE g
e R
Inst
Regeana R
an Car Park
e
v
FB e Ho s St Paul's Church
.9m o
R E ST E
2 40
R n 55
a
r
u
r FO
1 T To l l Cottage PC
59.0m 6 4 Ct
5 TCB
6m
32 H 0.8 P
Brewery BM 6 6m 6
12
Hall 28 55.7 BM UARE
THE SQ
3 14 3 ADD
20 35
o 1
c s 2 e t r Pos
27 T
4
3
33 80.4m 1 Lych Gate Lych 1
Cottage
n
War Meml War 32 Trewlawne
35 54.9m Rober BM 82.02m 33 3 3 64.9m
1 Play & Infant School HILL
4 5 RCH
rea CHU
7 A Chacewater Junior Chacewater
urt
28 o
House E N s C s
ge Pine A
L
View Hod Greenbank
'S
North Hill E 70.2m K JA
BM 72.23m
1 7
e 2 PO g Vicarage Vicara Ct don e
tag m E 9 Bad
Chapel C
Cot 86.5m 86.5
1
2
THE TERRA THE 57.1m
e la Inst Church n
Seasons Estrel elaw r Trelawne T
13 0307 0307 Trenessa
rack
Carn T Ground Tagree m .3 TH Hall PH 1
9 91.3m
NOR Lodge Recreation 04 y's 1 Green 0104 HILL 0
Bowling 4 St Ja St 1
2 7 Pavilion
Kenwith
n
ree G
with
2
2
ken ADD
ury Bowling
lb
e
M
390 A
MS 9912 9912
7 1 eneth 9 9600 9600 The
51
Barn hym
Lea 9 9517 C
20
-Bron Carn Carn
Pavilion
20
Tre a
D 1b 1
A Ground
O
ck ck
R Woodside Recreation
H
Tra Tra
T
1 59.4m 1 U 2 1 O
M
lva L
2 View
FA
-Go
erley
K
ry Tr
re
or To High
3 HILL 06
5 5 4
9 9506 4
H 1 RT O
N
3 -an Cottages
Woodside -Brec Chy
urst kenh Broc
13
PH
5
0 1 y erne Chev
SERGEANTS HILL 6
Track The Stables
EET
STR
6 HIGH 2
8421 8421 9 865 8652
1 7 t
o
2
8 8 st mi ow Meadowmist Mead
8231 8231
9 to 9 16 Brookside
11
E C
83 8311
A Astega R
reegbrawse Cottage reegbrawse
R
E Cottage Creegbrawse C
E T E
7
H T
64.2m
1 to 1 7 8 Tremarner 8
1 8 79 7918
P
NI 3m HAM 71.5m m G
IN
BM 64.8 BM 9 08.2 108.2m 1 78.3m
K The 753
7 7753 BUC Path (um) (um) (um) Path Path Path Willows c Bostrase nza A Anzac ottages
C Cottages
12 e
BM 88.81m
Bra
n
o o
65.5m D 7361 7361 m 93.0 93.0m m La Caprice in
Trew .7m M 104.46 99 99.7m BM 104.46m B 172 7172 7 n
Chybea 2 il
Apr en
ottage ard C G
rley Ambe 00 1
ge 7 Cotta pyright. Unauthorised reproduction pyright. reproduction Unauthorised
ADD 1 m 105.9m own 105.9 Sund
1 6751 Walled eat 675 with the permission Ordnanceof behalf Survey on
6600 6600 7100 The Gr The y Menheg
House
2a
1
ck ck
Tra Tra 67.1m 9 5 6359 63 00
1 to 1 6100 6 3 5928 y's StationeryOffice © Crown co
Rose ves
Cottages
nslee
ree G 950 5950 5 Cottage Lantern d oo 5600 5600 69.4m r W a d Cedar Wood Ce GP ide s Hillside Hill 6 40 5406 5
4 Track Track 1 tone 3 Stone S 5314 5 This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material of theof Her Controller Majest infringes and prosecution may leadCrown copyright or civil proceedings. to (100023554) (2007). 4.6m 74.6m 7 1.0 INTRODUCTION
This Management Plan for the Chacewater Conservation Area was prepared by Carrick District Council in accordance with national planning policy and guidance. Its purpose is to provide a practical and authoritative guide, for use by the local planning authority, the Parish Council, the Tregothnan Estate, property owners, developers and their advisors, on the type and extent of development that is both permitted and desirable within and adjacent to the Conservation Area. This document was subsequently endorsed by Cornwall Council on 24 April 2010within the Council’s emerging Local Development Framework.
The Management Plan sets out objectives for the protection and enhancement of the conservation area, seeks to address the weaknesses and threats identified in the Character Appraisal, and bring forward opportunities to enhance the area. It should be read in conjunction with the Character Appraisal and the Design Guide: these documents are available on the Council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk or from the Chacewater Parish Council office. This Plan has been developed from the Character Appraisal and management proposals for the Chacewater Conservation Area produced by The Conservation Studio on behalf of the Council. These were completed in September 2008 and were developed in consultation with the local community, in accordance with the Council’s Statement for Community Involvement.
In addition to the Conservation Area Appraisal this Management Plan builds on an extensive body of recent research and planning including:
• Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) - Chacewater (2002) • Cornwall & West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site Management Plan (2005) • Chacewater Parish Plan (2007) • (draft) Landscape Strategy for Carrick Villages (2001)
As a management tool this Plan encourages the Council, property owners and occupiers, developers and their advisors and the local community at large to engage in the conservation, beneficial use and enhancement of the local historic environment. This will help secure the long term viability of Chacewater and its Conservation Area as an important cultural, social and economic asset.
The three key objectives of the Management Plan are:
• To acknowledge the issues facing management of the Conservation Area; • To provide policies for the positive management of the Conservation Area, thereby ensuring that the value of this local historic environment is protected, conserved and enhanced; • To set out a programme of actions in support of these policies, to be achieved within the life cycle of this Management Plan.
The format of this report reflects the two main priorities of a Conservation Area Management Plan:
• To ensure the ongoing protection of the existing buildings and townscape of the Conservation Area and, • To guide its future development in a manner that preserves or enhances its special character and appearance.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 1 2.0 THE CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA
2.1 Statement of Special Interest
Chacewater lies in mid-west Cornwall on the old turnpike road from Truro to Redruth about midway between the two and, equally, about midway between the north and south coasts of the county. The village occupies a narrow valley near the head of the River Carnon, which here runs from north to south, at its junction with another valley to the west.
The valleys serve to contain the settlement within an agricultural landscape that is little changed from post-medieval times. Small pastoral fields, defined by ancient Cornish hedges and punctuated by mature trees, imply a timeless setting.
Immediately to the west, however, the landscape becomes a disturbed scrubland dotted with the remains of industry which, in the mid-to-late 19th century, was one of the most prosperous places in the world. The mining of tin, then copper and latterly arsenic, gained the area an international reputation for an industry that developed many world ‘firsts’ in extractive technologies.
Chacewater, once part of a hunting estate, became the property of the Boscawen family in 1335 and it descended through the family of Viscount Falmouth. The settlement did not develop until the 17th century when it evolved to serve the neighbouring agricultural and mining economies. Initially, it was divided between the parishes of Kenwyn and Kea until 1837 when it had grown sufficiently to become a parish in its own right. Anticipating this, a new church had been built to the south of the village in 1828.
The late 19th century saw a severe decline in copper mining and the development of Chacewater effectively ceased even though a demand for arsenic led to a brief revival of mining from the early 20th century until the 1940s.
Today, although Chacewater has become something of a dormitory for commuters to Truro, it retains a strong sense of community largely unaffected by the pursuit of tourism that has changed so much of Cornwall for ever.
2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
The strengths of the village and its Conservation Area are derived from its distinctive character. These are summarised in the Appraisal under the following headings:
• A distinctive landscape setting in the cleft of two valleys • A context of industrial heritage • A planned High Street with continuous frontages • The contrast of less formal areas to north and south • The consistent use of local stone • The landmark church of St Paul • Survival of significant buildings, such as the school, Methodist Chapel and the Passmore Edwards Literary Institute
The Chacewater Conservation Area can be divided into four Character Areas according to landscape, topography, historical development, layout, building type, and uses. These are:
• Character Area 1: High Street / Fore Street • Character Area 2: South side • Character Area 3: The east end • Character Area 4: Riverside
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 2 The Conservation Area Appraisal highlights the positive aspects of each character area and identifies key significant issues and threats to their effective conservation and enhancement. A number of issues have also been identified by the local community as part of the pubic consultation process: these are discussed in Chapter 10 of the Appraisal. Some of these threats are of a kind that face conservation areas throughout Cornwall and elsewhere, but some will arise specifically from the pressures for change in Chacewater. These include:
• A lack of appreciation of the characteristics and features that make Chacewater special and give it value, in particular the archaeological potential of the village. • Proposals for inappropriate new development that erodes local character. • Unsympathetic alterations and inappropriate materials, finishes and detailing. • The loss of local facilities and vitality in the village. • The loss of trees and mature hedges. • Threats to the wider landscape setting of the village. • Achieving sustainable access and development in the Conservation Area. • Traffic management and road improvement schemes which fail to take account of the character of the Conservation Area.
A number of opportunities exist to build on the Conservation Area’s strengths and to mitigate or overcome these weaknesses and threats. In particular Chacewater may benefit from:
• Development projects in the village centre may help redress the negative impact of earlier changes, and there is a real opportunity for heritage to inform the design of new development, creating interesting areas that reinforce local distinctiveness. • The adoption of this Management Plan offers a real opportunity to achieve a co-ordinated approach to the future management and conservation of the Conservation Area, particularly in respect of highways and traffic management schemes, and an enhanced working arrangement with the Parish Council. • Developer and/or project funding may be applied to the improvements of the streetscape and public realm. • The protection and enhancement of the Conservation Area offers an opportunity to reinforce civic pride and promote local traditions and distinctiveness. • Through careful monitoring there is an opportunity to identify and quantify the contribution that the local historic environment makes to the local economy, thereby demonstrating the benefits of heritage-led regeneration and cultural tourism.
The aim of this Management Plan, as the following chapters make clear, is to help guide the future development of Chacewater in a way that will maximise the strengths of the Conservation Area.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 3 3.0 GENERAL POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 Introduction
The Chacewater Conservation Area owes its designation and its protection to national designation in the form of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The detailed obligations set out in that Act are described in Appendix One of this report. In summary, the Act aims to give protection to areas which are judged to have special architectural or historic qualities. As the title suggests, the emphasis in conservation areas is on the area, or on groups of buildings, rather than individual buildings. The quality of an area may relate to its historical unity or, in a more mixed environment, to the consistency and harmony between buildings and features of different periods. In the case of Chacewater a detailed analysis of the conservation area has been provided in the Conservation Area Appraisal which can be viewed on the Council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk
The designation of a conservation area brings into force certain controls over development but the legislation, and the official guidance which accompanies it are not intended to freeze the process of change. Instead the intention is that change should be managed in a positive way to maintain the qualities which make up the special character of the area in question. This report focuses on the management processes and priorities for the Chacewater Conservation Area.
This chapter outlines the local planning context within which this Management Plan has been developed. It then provides a set of policy recommendations which are applicable to the whole of the Conservation Area, and which form the basis of the more detailed recommendations for action in the chapters which follow.
Useful Link Further information on the background to Conservation Areas, including guidance on their appraisal and management, can be found on the English Heritage website at www.english-heritage.org.uk or at www.helm.org.uk
3.2 The Local Planning Context
The Council’s Local Development Framework (LDF) is being produced within the context provided by national planning policy and in conformity with regional guidance. It has regard to the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy.
At the time that this Management Plan is being prepared, the Local Development Framework is still in the process of evolution and consultation continues to take place. Indeed, this Plan and the consultations which have taken place during its drafting, is part of that process. Until the Local Development Framework is complete, selected retained policies from the Carrick District Local Plan (April 1998) still apply.
Of particular relevance here are four Local Plan policies which are reproduced in full in Appendix Two of this report. In summary, the aspects of the Conservation Area protection which they cover are:
• The setting of listed buildings, and the spaces and groupings of buildings which form the setting of listed buildings (Policy 4D);
• The role of development in preserving or enhancing the special character of a conservation area, and the presumption in favour of retaining buildings which make a positive contribution to such an area (Policy 4F);
• The design of new or the refurbishment of existing shop frontages, to respect the architectural integrity of the buildings and the character of the conservation area (Policy 4Q);
• Signs (including advertisements) to respect the architectural integrity of the conservation area (Policy 4R);
Useful link
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 4 Further information on the Council’s Local Development Framework and related polices can be found on the Council’s web site at www.cornwall.gov.uk
3.3 Management Plan Policies
In light of national legislation and guidance and Local Plan policies, this Management Plan recommends a number of draft policies for the protection and enhancement of the Chacewater Conservation Area. These policies are based on the analysis of the area in the Conservation Area Appraisal (2008) and reflect the outcome of consultations with local stakeholders and residents. They are policies which are designed to apply to the whole of the Conservation Area: more detailed recommendations and design guidance can be found in the following chapters.
Policy 4F of the adopted Local Plan states: “Proposals for development in a Conservation Area should preserve or enhance the special character of the area in terms of scale, height, form and massing, respecting the traditional pattern of frontages, vertical or horizontal emphasis, detailing and materials. There will be a presumption in favour of retaining buildings which make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of Conservation Areas.”
This policy applies to the Chacewater Conservation Area because of the quality and special character of its townscape and setting. As demonstrated in the Appraisal, this quality is the result of the way in which the village has developed over time and the contrast between organic and planned parts; its landscape setting within two deep and narrow valleys; the compact nature of the historic core; its commercial vitality and ambient character; the intimate scale and layout of its streets, and the height, scale and character of the buildings which line those streets.
The relationship between these buildings and spaces is as important as the buildings themselves. There is a distinct contrast in Chacewater between the informal, entirely residential outer, upper streets and the busy, tight, almost urban scale and grain of the Fore Street/High Street corridor. The two areas were historically separated by the continuing presence of streams, leats and tin streaming, walled gardens and back-land areas which have today been mostly developed.
Despite this there remains an almost immediate transition from busy street-frontage to back street throughout Chacewater which is one of its most distinctive features. This contrast is made all the more apparent because the buildings along the High Street and Fore Street were largely built as part of a single planned phase or development, with an overall similarity in scale, material, detailing and function. This formal, linear, planned market town sponsored by the Tregothnan Estate was fitted into an older, more organic settlement structure.
The unrivalled network of paths, alleys and back lanes provide a high degree of permeability and public access within Chacewater. Away from the main route through the village they reveal a more peaceful, ambient character in which the sound of running water prevails and providing views across the jumbled roofscape of the Conservation Area. As a consequence of this permeability and local topography there are few buildings that are not to some extent visible from visible from the public realm, particularly from the upper, outer streets of the village. As a result roof alterations, rear and side extensions, back land developments and extensions into rear plots will all have a potentially significant impact as will less obvious works such as the siting of solar panels and telecommunications equipment.
Recognising that Chacewater is distinctive, the following chapters emphasise the importance of good design and materials in the application of Policy 4F and stress the importance of ensuring that new development, whether it be a minor extension or new dwelling house, reinforces the distinct character of the village.
The policies which follow relate to and expand upon the retained Local Plan policies detailed above. In each case the policy is accompanied by an explanation to show how that policy relates to the special qualities which characterise the Chacewater Conservation Area. More detailed guidance and supporting information is contained in the following three chapters of this Management Plan.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 5 POLICY 1
Developments adjacent to the Chacewater Conservation Area should in their scale, height and massing, respect the wider setting of the Conservation Area, including views into and out of it.
Explanation
This builds directly upon Policy 4F of the Carrick Local Plan which addresses development within a Conservation Area.
National guidance emphasises the need to consider the impact of development on the setting of a Conservation Area and views into and out of it. Chacewater is distinguished by its topography and landscape setting, nestled within two valleys. Buildings are located on the valley floor and rise up the lower valley slopes, contained within a strong structure of landform and tree-lined hedgerows.
Visually, the village is strongly contained with well defined ridgelines surrounding the village on all sides preventing any views of the settlement from outside its valley setting. Within the confines of the valley the village is a notable element. However there is a strong structure of trees within the lower valley and in the south and northwest landscape which help to integrate the majority of built form into the surrounding landscape.
Key elements of the Chacewater Conservation Area in its setting are:
• The contained and enclosed character of the village. Rural ridgelines and sloping valley sides for a green backdrop to the settlement and are an important natural setting. • The predominantly linear form of the village responding to the strong linear valley form. • The strong structure of trees and mature hedgerows. • The small scale rural landscape to the south west of the village which is a key element in the setting of the church. • Long distant views of the village are confined by landform and tree coverage. • Permeable network of public footpaths creating close links between the village • The landmark church and church tower, set apart from the village on wooded slopes to the south is a prominent feature and focal point. • The landscape to the west of the village is designated as an Area of Great Historic Value and is within the World Heritage Site, recognising its value as a former industrial landscape.
The setting of the Chacewater Conservation Area is sensitive to development, in particular the rural upper slopes and ridgelines that surround the village and define its enclosed and contained character. The wooded, rural setting to the Church of St Paul’s is also highly sensitive, being of high scenic quality and critically important in retaining the church’s identity and its important relationship and contribution to the village character and setting.
Highly sensitive features include:
• The rural, wooded setting of the church when viewed from the northwest, north and east; • Open farmland, ridgelines and upper valley slopes to the north, northwest; northeast, east, south, south west and west. These landscapes contain and restrict the visual setting of the Conservation Area are critical because of their visual prominence and vital contribution to the character and setting of the village. • Mature tree cover on lower valley slopes and within hedgerows to the southwest of the village.
The pattern of development in Chacewater clearly relates strongly to the surrounding landscape, a relationship that is essential to maintain. The extent of an impact on the visual setting the Conservation Area will therefore be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 6
POLICY 2
Alterations to streets, roads and back lanes in the Chacewater Conservation Area including changes to the carriageway, pavements, parking layouts, and street furniture should have regard to the character of the Conservation Area and its long term conservation.
Explanation
Chacewater is a residential village popular with commuters and with a small commercial core. Movement is essential to the wellbeing of the village; however movement can also be destructive. In particular the dominance of traffic and parking can have an immensely negative effect on the character of this rural village. At the public consultations during the preparation of the Conservation Area Appraisal respondents placed a great deal of emphasis on the detrimental impact that speeding traffic and parking have had, particularly the High Street/Fore Street character area.
Achieving the right balance between movement and the quality of a place is never easy. The intention of this policy is to emphasise that the quality of the streets and spaces should not be sacrificed to meet the needs of traffic or parking. In many cases, the retention of historic street layouts and surfacing will have a more positive effect of traffic calming and regulation than more engineered solutions: the introduction of urban features such as road humps and rumble strips should be avoided in a rural setting such as Chacewater.
As the Conservation Area Appraisal reveals, there is a limited amount of surviving paving on streets and footpaths in the village. Where historic ground surfaces do survive they should be retained wherever possible, or where they no longer exist, be reintroduced where there is historic evidence for them. Of particular importance in Chacewater is the original granite paving outside the market, cobbling outside No. 2 The Square, the flush curved granite doorstep to No. 1 Fore Street as well as the granite kerbs to the pavements.
Chacewater has a unique quality of the countryside being immediately accessible from the hard, traffic-filled core of the settlement. An unrivalled network of paths, alleys and back lanes, often intimately secluded, lead directly into quiet, hedgerow dominated countryside. These paths are often historic tracks to the neighbouring old mine sites, and are of great historic interest in themselves.
The rough-surfaced informal quality of many of the rear lanes and alleys is an important characteristic: an unrestrained use of black tarmac in these areas would not enhance the historic character of the Conservation Area.
Further guidance on works within the public realm in support of this policy is provided in Chapter 6 of this Management Plan.
POLICY 3
Development proposals entailing the loss of existing trees, hedges, mature gardens and green open spaces that make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area will not normally be permitted.
Explanation
Chacewater is overwhelmingly characterised by its sheer quantity of trees, overgrown hedges, rough verges, mature gardens, informal and semi-rural stream banks and a direct visual and physical link with the surrounding countryside. The aim of this policy is to highlight the value of green open space, mature gardens and trees within the Conservation Area to ensure that they are safeguarded in the future.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 7 Significant groups of trees are identified in the Conservation Area Appraisal. These include the Monterey Pines surrounding the village recreation ground, which are echoed in the grounds of North Hill House across the valley.
Trees within the Conservation Area are protected by law where they have a stem diameter greater than 75mm when measured at a height of 1.5 metres above ground level. Any person who intends to do works to such a protected tree is required to give the Council 6 weeks notice.
Useful Link: ‘Protected Trees: A Guide to Tree Preservation Procedures’ has been produced for the benefit of tree owners, the general public and amenity groups, and answers some of the most common questions about Tree Preservation Orders. For more information visit www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planning&building/protectedtreesguide and the Council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk
Useful link: The Arboricultural Association produces a list of approved contractors and consultants for the management of trees on their web site www.trees.org.uk
Where landscaping forms part of a development the retention or use of locally characteristic species will be favoured; native species will normally be preferred because of their benefits to biodiversity. To aid visual cohesion the Council will encourage the use of fewer, characteristic species. Where significant specimen trees, hedgerows or general tree cover cannot be retained, well-planned and high quality re-planting will be expected, particularly where such natural features are important in creating enclosure.
In the village itself the recreation ground is an important local space both visually and in terms of ambient character, providing a valuable community asset. Millennium Green and the churchyard also function as public open space, as do the green fingers that reach into the village along the riverside or following the leat that leads in from the west. The latter are crucially important for retaining a link between the village and the surrounding countryside.
POLICY 4
Uses that would be detrimental to the character of individual buildings and character areas within the Chacewater Conservation Area will be resisted.
Explanation
The uses of buildings and areas are an important consideration in the preservation or enhancement of the special character of the Chacewater Conservation Area, in accordance with Local Plan Policy 4F.
Part of the character of a Conservation Area is the ‘mix’ of uses in it. This ‘mix’ relates to the types of building in the area, as well as the functions of particular neighbourhoods. Whilst most property is now in residential use, Chacewater retains the more varied character of a commercially and socially active village with mixture of uses that provide a range of different building types and a distinct ambient character in the Conservation Area. There are a good range of commercial and community facilities, better indeed than many settlements of its size, which to preserve a positive sense of local identity despite the pressures of commuter-type development.
Generally speaking there is a presumption that the best uses for historic buildings are those for which the buildings were designed, or if that is not possible, that alternative uses of a sympathetic kind should be identified. There are many instances in Chacewater where that approach has been successfully followed. The intention of this policy is not to prevent changes of use, but to indicate that primacy should be given to uses which are historically appropriate to the building or area concerned.
POLICY 5
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 8
The Council will support measures to improve an understanding and appreciation of Chacewater and its Conservation Area.
Explanation
One of Chacewater’s strengths is the strong local identity within the resident community.
To date a range of initiatives have been developed with the potential to build up an awareness of Chacewater and what it has to offer to visitors and residents alike. These include the Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative (CISI) and the Cornish & West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site (WHS).
In additiona to the obvious mining landscape immediately to the west, there is potential within the village to develop a better understanding of former industrial sites, such as the stamping mills and brewery, and the network of watercourses that linked them. This policy is meant to support such initiatives and promote new ones including the provision of well designed interpretation material, and improved access. The Parish Council could have a key role in the development and delivery of this policy, particularly following local government reorganisation.
Useful link For more information about CISI and the World Heritage Site visit www.historic-cornwall.org.uk.
POLICY 6
Proposals for energy-saving measures and for sustainable forms of energy supply will be supported where they do not adversely affect the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area.
Explanation
The requirement to improve the energy performance of all buildings, including existing ones when altered, lies at the heart of both national and local planning policy. Of particular relevance is Part L of the Building Regulations, Conservation and Fuel Power, the current amended version of which came into force in April 2006.
This policy seeks to address potential conflicts between energy efficiency and the conservation of Chacewater’s historic environment. It is important that the introduction of energy-saving measures do not detract from the architectural, landscape and historic character of the Conservation Area. For instance, the use of UPVC windows, insulated exterior walling materials or solar panels on visible roof slopes may all be harmful to the appearance of a building, especially ones of traditional form and appearance. Part L of the Building Regulations acknowledges this issue by allowing discretion to be used in its application to historic buildings. Under the term ‘historic buildings’ it includes:
• Listed buildings; • Buildings in Conservation Area; • Buildings on a local authority’s ‘local list’.
In practice, many traditional buildings do not perform particularly well in terms of energy saving. However, they can be adapted to improve performance although the cost and visual impact of such measures should not be underestimated. Some energy saving measures can often be readily introduced with little visual impact – for instance carefully installed draught proofing or secondary glazing. Solar panels can sometimes be installed on roofs where they will not be obtrusive, although this is problematic in Chacewater because of the topography of the village which means that most south-facing roof slopes are highly visible. It is recommend that expert impartial advice is sought to determine which device – if any – will be suitable in any given situation.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 9 It must also be recognised that the presence of large trees can prove both beneficial and harmful in terms of energy efficiency. For example their shelter can reduce wind speeds and heat loss from buildings, whilst their shade can reduce thermal gains from sunlight. The potential impact upon trees and other natural features should be considered when weighing up the efficacy of any given scheme.
Useful Link: English Heritage advice on the impact of climate change and how to improve the energy efficiency of traditionally constructed houses is available on the web site www.climatechangeandyourhome.org.uk
Guidance on the application of Part L of the Buildings Regulations to historic buildings is provided by English Heritage in ‘Building Regulations and Historic Buildings’ (currently published as an interim guidance note in 2004). This can be downloaded from the English Heritage website at www.english-heritage.org.uk or at www.helm.org.uk
POLICY 7
The Council will take steps to ensure that the policies, guidance and actions in this Management Plan are carried out and that sufficient resources are made available for their implementation. The Management Plan will be reviewed five years from the time of its adoption.
Explanation
The effectiveness of the Management Plan will depend upon the way its policies and recommendations are administered. Cornwall Council is committed to ensuring that local community networks provide opportunities for local people and organisations to be part of the local decision-making process and influence the delivery of services (www.cornwall.gov.uk). There are four strands to the implementation process:
• The adoption of a consistent corporate Council approach to the management of the Chacewater Conservation Area, involving the Historic Environment Champion, development control, planning policy, building control, highways engineering and the Parish Council. • The commitment of Council departments, government agencies, the Parish Council, the Tregothnan Estate, local organisations and building-owners to the protection and enhancement of the Conservation Area. • The application of sufficient resources, not just to enable the Council to carry out its statutory duties but also to help initiate (in partnership with others) the conservation area enhancements recommended in the Conservation Area Management Plan. • The review of this Management Plan after five years, involving a fresh round of consultations with Council departments, the Parish Council, the Tregothnan Estate, other stakeholders, and building-owners.
Some of the Conservation Area-wide actions and initiatives identified in this Management Plan will involve entering into partnership with the Parish Council and other organisations in pursuit of shared objectives. Whilst the Management Plan will establish a preferred priority order for the implementation of such actions, delivery will inevitably depend to some extent on the provision of resources by outside organisations.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 10 4.0 CARE & REPAIR
This section provides general guidance for the enhancement of the Conservation Area through care and repair. The focus of conservation area measures is on times of change – proposals to alter or develop buildings or to change the landscape and planting. However the quality of a conservation area depends as much on everyday care and maintenance: whether the footways are weeded; gutters and drains cleared; old notices removed and buildings and boundaries repaired. This is an aspect of conservation area management in which community action can be most effective. The aim of this section of the Management Plan is to encourage property owners to look after their buildings and to help involve the local community in the overall care of the wider Chacewater Conservation Area,
4.1 The Principles of Successful Care
As has been noted in the Conservation Area Appraisal, any and every change that results in the loss of characteristic features will damage the quality of individual buildings, the public realm and the wider conservation area. With this is mind the purpose of this Management Plan is to:
• Promote the retention and repair of traditional features and materials where they survive, for example Delabole scantle slate roofs; • Promote the reinstatement of traditional features and materials where they have been lost to modern inappropriate replacements such as corrugated asbestos and artificial slate or upvc windows.
As a general rule, all repairs and works of restoration should be carried out in a traditional manner matching both the original materials and construction techniques on a like for like basis. This will help protect the architectural cohesiveness of the Conservation Area and any subtle variations that exist in each of the four character areas.
Where traditional materials or methods are felt to be inappropriate, alternative solutions should be adopted only after careful consideration of their potential impact on the character and architectural detail of the individual building and wider streetscape.
Useful Link: The English Heritage publication ‘Conservation Principles – Policies and Guidance’ (2008) is available to download from their website www.english-heritage.org.uk. An excellent source of guidance on methods of repair is the web site for the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, www.spab.org.uk and a valuable source of information about conservation products and services is available from www.buildingconservation.com.
4.2 Walls
Traditional walling materials within the Conservation Area include local elvan and killas rubblestone with granite and/or brick dressings. The local building stone is not suited to fine work so it is often covered with a lime render: many of the mid 19th century buildings and shops along Fore Street make extensive use of stucco and other moulded and enriched composition materials. There are scattered examples of slate hanging, occasionally for a main elevation, but it is not a particular local tradition.
Wherever possible the continued use of traditional local materials and construction is strongly encouraged to reinforce local identity and maintain the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and its individual character areas. Particular attention should be paid to the size, shape, colour and surface texture of any new materials.
Emphasis needs to be placed on the importance of using appropriate mortar mixes and finishes when carrying our repairs or repointing external masonry walls. Stone walling was traditionally pointed up using a lime mortar with a flush or slightly recessed finish to the joint. Considerable damage is caused – both aesthetically and physically – to buildings and the wider streetscape in the Conservation Area by the use of hard cement mortars with ribbon or similarly prominent pointing profiles.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 11 Lime rendering, stucco and whitewashing are traditional finishes to some buildings in the Conservation Area, particularly the more vernacular cottages built of poorer quality stone. Where lime rendering has been removed to ‘restore’ properties, stonework has been erroneously exposed and this is to the detriment of both the individual property and the character of the Conservation Area.
Traditionally rendered or stuccoed buildings were decorated externally using limewash, a porous material that allows the building to ‘breathe’. Limewash is available from specialist suppliers and there are now also modern breathable paint systems on the market which remain white for long periods without discolouration.
Care should be taken when choosing new paint systems for the exterior walls of historic buildings in the Conservation Area. Modern systems tend to prevent the evaporation of moisture from the surface. This then becomes trapped unless it is able to evaporate from the inner face of the wall and the moisture content of the wall will increase, leading to the blistering of paint, further water penetration, and potential damage to the fabric of the wall.
Useful Link: The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings have produced an excellent guidance note called ‘The Need for Old Buildings to Breathe’ which is available from their web site, www.spab.org.uk. Suppliers of lime and breathable paint systems can be found on the web site www.buildingconservation.com
4.3 Roofs and Chimneys
The great majority of roofs in the Chacewater Conservation Area are of simple shallow pitched roofs with similar ridge and eaves heights. Some buildings have hipped ends, providing variety in roof form. Roofs are clad in natural Cornish slate, corrugated asbestos or artificial slate. The loss of original roofing materials and detailing, and their replacement with artificial alternatives will gradually erode the character of the Conservation Area and will be resisted.
4.3.1 Roof Coverings
Natural Cornish slate predominates as the characteristic roof covering in Chacewater despite the widespread use of artificial slate. Slate roofs are normally set against red brick stacks, and the use of ceramic imbrex tiles to cover the angles of hipped roofs provides an interesting contrast of colours when viewed as a roofscape.
Where it exists, scantle slating should be retained and repaired. Scantle roofs use small slates of random widths set in diminishing courses: the slates are hung on thin lathes using oak pegs and are bedded in lime mortar. This technique gives a finely grained and textured roof which contributes significantly to the character of individual buildings and the Conservation Area as a whole.
The replacement of corrugated asbestos and artificial slate with natural slate will be encouraged. Replacement coverings should be in a similar slate to the original, carefully matching colour, size, texture and coursing. New slates should always be nailed or pegged rather than clipped.
Action: The Council will resist the loss of natural slate roofs in the Conservation Area through considering the use of an Article 4(2) Direction
4.3.2 Chimneys
Because of the topography of the village chimney stacks form an important component of the local townscape, particularly in views from the eastern end of the village. Chimney stacks in Chacewater tend to be simply detailed and provide rhythm and interest along the rooflines of terraces and groups of buildings, and a contrast of colour and materials when set against natural slate roofs. Chimneys are short and positioned flush with gable ends or more rarely at the centre of the ridge. Any change in design or reduction in height greatly impairs the appearance of individual buildings and the character of the wider streetscape. Consequently, chimney stacks in the Conservation Area should not be reduced in height or
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 12 removed entirely above roof level. Where defects exist, repairs or reconstruction should be carried out, replicating historic materials and detailing wherever possible.
The Council will encourage owners to return previously truncated stacks to their former height if other major work is being undertaken at roof level.
4.3.3 Rainwater Goods
The existing above-ground rainwater goods in Chacewater vary in type, condition, and performance but originally guttering and downpipes were of cast iron.
Replacement rainwater goods should match the original in terms of profile and material wherever possible. If cast iron goods are not available in the sections required or the costs are prohibitively expensive, suitably detailed cast aluminium gutters and downpipes might be considered where they are certain to be protected from any form of direct impact.
4.4 External Joinery
The quality of timber joinery in Chacewater is a noticeable local feature, particularly the surviving shopfronts in the High Street/Fore Street area. As a matter of principle every effort should be made to repair existing features or reinstate those that have been lost to inappropriate replacements.
4.4.1 Windows and Doors
Traditional timber windows and doors make an important contribution to the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area and many of the early to mid 19th century houses retain their four- or six-panelled front doors and multi-paned sash windows.
As a rule, windows and external doors should be repaired or, if beyond repair, should be replaced on a ‘like-for-like’ basis. Replacement windows and doors should be constructed in traditional materials with appropriate detailing. The use of timber stains will be resisted: a white painted finish is most commonly used for external joinery in the Conservation Area.
Action: The Council will resist the replacement of traditional timber windows and doors with upvc or aluminium versions through considering the use of an Article 4(2) Direction for all single family dwellings in the Conservation Area.
4.4.2 Fascias, Eaves and Bargeboarding
One of the characteristics of the Conservation Area is the overall simplicity of buildings and their detailing. There are few examples of ornamented or decorated timber facings, with most properties having simple undecorated eaves and plain painted timber fascia boards. These are important both architecturally and in terms of their visual contribution to individual buildings and the wider street scene. Necessary repairs should, as far as possible, exactly match the original for the same reasons.
Gable ends, eaves and fascias should not be overclad with upvc or other materials.
4.4.2 Shopfronts
The quality of surviving shopfronts is a noticeable feature in Chacewater. Fore Street is remarkable for the amount of good surviving shop fronts, many of which are part of listed buildings and include the use of curved transoms and projecting bays. Although many of these former shops have now been converted to residential use there has been very limited loss of shop fronts as a whole or of their historic detail.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 13 As a matter of principle shop fronts in the Conservation Area should be retained and repaired wherever possible. In general terms, these structures should only be replaced where the original timberwork has severely deteriorated, causing loss of structural performance , or permitting significant water penetration into the adjacent structure and the fabric of the building.
Action: The Council will prepare a shop front design guide and seek to prevent the loss of unlisted shop fronts in the Chacewater Conservation Area through considering the use of an Article 4(2) Direction.
4.5 Boundaries
As highlighted in the Appraisal boundary treatments are tremendously important to the character of Chacewater. Traditional boundary walls within the Conservation Area include low rubble walls such as the 19th century remnants of the Great Walled Garden; Cornish hedges and mature hedgerows, and granite posts with metal rails such as those on Station Road and beside the village car park. These all of which give a strong boundary line along the highway and back lanes. Historic railings are not commonplace here: one of the few examples in the Conservation Area are the spear-headed railings to the front of the Primary School.
Masonry boundary walls throughout the Conservation Area are normally made from local killas rubble stone. Granite copings and gate piers are provided for more prestigious properties. Copings can be flat curved or triangular in shape. Walls are dry laid and pointed with lime-based mortars. Historic forms of enclosure should be retained wherever possible, and where original detailing survives this should be repaired. The guidance provided above under ‘walling’ applies equally to masonry boundary walls.
The removal or alteration of such boundary treatments, for instance to create car parking spaces, can be immensely harmful to the appearance of a street and will be resisted. Policy 4 of this Management Plan seeks to address this issue, and proposals to use Article 4 (2) directions to protect front boundary walls in the Conservation Area are put forward in Chapter 8.
Action: The Council will seek to retain boundary walls through considering the use of an Article 4(2) Direction.
4.6 Trees and Soft Landscaping
Mature hedgerows, trees and shrubs are also essential to the character of the Conservation Area and serve as important boundary features in Chacewater.
Trees within the Conservation Area are protected by law where they have a stem diameter greater than 75mm when measured at a height of 1.5 metres above ground level. Any person who intends to do works to such a protected tree is required to give the Council 6 weeks notice. Further advice about the notification process and protected trees is available from the Council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk
In support of Policy 3 mature hedgerows, trees and shrubs should be retained wherever possible and specialist horticultural or arboricultural advice should be sought regarding their care and maintenance. Where replacement is necessary, suitable characteristic species should be used. Residents will be encouraged to retain, maintain and plant suitable trees and hedges; the use of leyland cypress and similar planting will normally be discouraged
Useful link: The Arboricultural Association produces a list of approved contractors and consultants for the management of trees on their web site www.trees.org.uk
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 14 5.0 NEW DESIGN
This section provides general guidance for the enhancement of the Conservation Area through new design. It puts forward key principles for all new development within the Chacewater Conservation Area and should be read in conjunction with The Carrick Design Guide and the Chacewater Conservation Area Appraisal.
Useful Link: The Carrick Design Guide is available to download from the Council’s web site www.cornwall.gov.uk.
5.1 General Principles
“Good design is design that is fit for purpose, sustainable, efficient, coherent, flexible, responsive to context, good looking and a clear expression of the requirements of the brief”, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) 2001
Useful Link: Led by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Home Builders Federation (HBF) ‘Building for Life’ (2008) is the current national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods and provides a step-by-step toolkit for evaluating housing proposals. For more information visit www.buildingforlife.org
As detailed in the Carrick Design Guide the right approach to designing new development within historic areas can be achieved by examining and understanding the local context (context appraisal) and its character (character appraisal). A successful project will:
• Relate well to the geography and history of the place and the lie of the land (topography). • Sit happily in the pattern of existing development and routes through and around it. • Respect important views. • Respect the scale of neighbouring buildings. • Use materials and building methods which are as high in quality as those used in existing buildings. • Create new views and juxtapositions which add to the variety and texture of the setting.
The Conservation Area Appraisal identifies key characteristics that make a positive contribution to Chacewater’s townscape as a whole, and analyses the character of each of the four individual character areas on a street by street basis. Important features of the Conservation Area’s character include:
• A defining landscape setting in the cleft between two valleys • A context of industrial heritage • A planned High Street with continuous frontages and a strong building line • The contrast with less formal areas to the north and south • The consistent use of local stone • The landmark church of St Paul • Survival of other significant buildings such as the primary school, Methodist Chapel and Passmore Edwards Literary Institute • Vernacular building form and domestic scale. • Mature trees, shrubs and hedges and green open spaces.
In accordance with Policy 4F of the Local Plan and the policies put forward in this Management Plan, all new development within the Conservation Area will be expected to preserve or positively enhance its character and appearance. High quality contemporary architecture and designs which reinforce local character will be welcomed. Pastiche or ‘anywhere’ designs will neither enhance the appearance of the Conservation Area nor maintain the existing
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 15 diversity of design, a key characteristic of the Conservation Area. The Council encourage pre-application discussions on all developments within and adjacent to the Conservation Area prior to any formal application.
ACTION: The Council will require a detailed contextual appraisal and an assessment of the potential impact of development proposals on the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area including the character area in which the proposal sits, to be submitted as part of any Design and Access Statement.
5.2 Design Principles in the Chacewater Conservation Area
The general principles set out in the Carrick Design Guide and Building for Life are relevant here and should be applied in the consideration of all development proposals, including alterations and extensions to existing buildings in Chacewater. Additional guidance for new design in the Chacewater Conservation Area is presented below:
5.2.1 The Character Areas
The Conservation Area Appraisal has identified four distinct character areas in Chacewater. These are:
• High Street / Fore Street • South Side • The East End • Riverside
As a general principle development proposals should also seek to reinforce the special features and distinctiveness of each character area. Reference should be made to Chapter 9 of the Conservation Area Appraisal for a detailed analysis of each of the four character areas:
5.2.2 Landscape Setting
In accordance with Policy 1 of this Management Plan the full impact of developments on the setting of the Conservation Area will be a consideration when assessing proposals for development. Rural ridgelines, sloping valley sides and mature tree coverage form a green backdrop to the settlement and an important natural setting to Chacewater which is characterised by this visual and physical containment on the valley floor. New development should seek to reinforce this character.
Particular attention should be paid to the effect that proposals will have on the transition between the contained historic core of the village and the surrounding valley sides. Likewise great care should be taken to avoid further erosion of the green rim on the horizon surrounding the village. Where modern housing has been allowed to sprawl up the hillside to the east of the village centre it is visually prominent and erodes the landscape setting of the Chacewater. This is to the detriment of the Conservation Area.
5.2.3 Urban Grain
Development will be expected to respect the distinction between informal, entirely residential outer streets of the Riverside and South Side character areas and the tight, almost urban scale and grain of the built-up village core which is one of Chacewater’s most distinctive features.
Opportunity sites are few in Chacewater, and further development would be likely to require the loss of important historic ornamental and garden space or the demolition of existing historic buildings. Developments in these areas has potential to change the distinct contrast between the hard streetscape of the built-up core in the High Street / Fore Street character area and the softer, quieter, less densely packed, greener more informal outer streets. The merits of
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 16 proposals for infill development elsewhere in the Conservation Area will be considered on a case-by-case basis in light of all relevant Local Plan and Management Plan policies and guidance.
5.2.5 Materials
As detailed above Chacewater is characterised by the consistent use of local stone and lime rendering and /or whitewashing with natural slate roof coverings. Materials for extensions and for new build should accord with those traditionally used in the immediate surrounding, or for comparable traditional buildings or groups in the Conservation Area, with attention paid to quality and craftsmanship. The use of modern materials may be appropriate providing it is combined with high quality design which is sensitive to context.
5.2.6 Scale & Proportion
Generally Chacewater is characterised by the two storey domestic-scale of both detached properties and groups of terraces. New build, whether in the form of new development or small private extensions, will be expected to observe the locally distinctive proportions and domestic scale of the Conservation Area within each of the four character areas.
Likewise new development should seek to reinforce the intimate scale of buildings and streets with Chacewater by maintaining kerb lines and the proportions between buildings, footways and the carriageway.
5.2.7 Roofscape
The setting of Chacewater within two relatively deep and narrow valleys allows for a great quality and scale of outlook in the upper, outer streets, and provides for an important roofscape throughout the village. Consequently alterations to original structures, shallow pitches and coverings must be considered with great as must the design of new development and the siting of aerials and telecommunications equipment.
New development will be expected to respect the proportion, pitch, covering and simplicity of roof forms in the Conservation Area to create a roofscape that is characteristic to Chacewater and its individual character areas. Deep plan forms which necessitate wide roof spans resulting in either uncharacteristically tall ridge heights or slack roof pitches should be avoided. Rooflights and dormers are not characteristic in the Conservation Area and should also be avoided, particularly on front roof slopes.
5.2.8 External Joinery
As noted above the quality of timber joinery in Chacewater is a noticeable local feature, particularly the surviving shopfronts in the High Street/Fore Street character area. Shopfronts aside, Chacewater is characterised by its simple external joinery and detailing and new development should seek to reinforce this.
The proportions of openings for windows and doors in new development and alterations or extensions should respect the scale and style of the host building or nearby properties within the character area, whichever is most appropriate. This is particularly important on principal and elevations visible from the public realm. Windows and doors should be constructed in timber with a painted finish: the use of upvc and timber stains will be resisted.
5.2.9 Planting and Landscaping
Chacewater is overwhelmingly characterised by its sheer quantity of trees, hedges, rough verges, mature gardens, informal and semi-rural streams. Whilst the core of the village is entirely built up and front gardens or yards are rare, properties further out tend to be detached with more spacious gardens. The most evident are the 19th century houses along The Terrace, the stuccoed villas overlooking Station Road, 18 Chacewater Hill with its mature gardens, the listed ‘Woodside’ set in its own extensive grounds and the grand former vicarage Chacewater House.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 17
Where landscaping forms part of a new development, planting should suit the characteristic pattern of the local landscape and respect the urban grain of the village and individual character areas. Where appropriate the use of native species will be preferred. The Council will encourage the use of fewer characteristic species to reinforce the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area.
5.2.10 Boundary Treatments
Proposals to erect or alter boundary treatments should make use of locally distinctive, high quality materials and seek to reinforce the character of the Conservation Area. As detailed in the Conservation Area Appraisal boundary treatments in Chacewater vary between character areas and include low rubble stone walls; Cornish hedges and mature hedgerows, and granite post and rail fencing. Railings are not commonplace in the Conservation Area.
In new development the conspicuous use of alien materials and boundary treatments such as concrete blocks, reconstituted stone and close-boarded panel fencing should be avoided. Where these materials have been excessively used it has been to the detriment of the character of the Conservation Area.
5.3 Design Briefs
The Conservation Area Appraisal identifies a number of small buildings that currently have a negative impact on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area either because of the quality of their design or because of unsympathetic alterations that have taken place. These include the overly-prominent development at Estrella, The Terrace.
Where opportunities arise to replace these, or other buildings that have a detrimental impact on the character of the conservation area the Council will encourage proposals that are in keeping with the character and appearance of the Conservation Area: in some instances this will be achieved though a design brief. A similar pro-active approach will be encouraged for other key sites in the Chacewater Conservation Area where design briefs will be required to inform any future development and/or enhancement schemes.
ACTION: The Council will require design briefs to inform future development where appropriate within the Chacewater Conservation Area.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 18 6.0 ENHANCEMENT: THE PUBLIC REALM
Streets and open spaces, collectively called the ‘public realm’ make a significant contribution to the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area. This section provides general guidance for the enhancement of the village through the maintenance and improvement of the public realm in support of policies 2 and 7. It begins by outlining the principles that should underpin the future management of the public realm in Chacewater before discussing specific elements of the streetscape, and concludes with suggestions for public realm enhancement projects in the Conservation Area.
6.1 The Principles of Successful Public Realm Management:
English Heritage has provided specific guidance for streetscapes in the south west as part of its ‘Streets for All’ initiative. The principles that it promotes form the basis for the future management of the public realm in the Chacewater Conservation Area. These include:
• Adopting a co-ordinated approach to management across all agencies and organisations involved in the care and maintenance of the public realm, and a shared understanding across professional disciplines including historic environment; urban design; traffic engineering; management and safety issues. • Investing in high quality solutions that will endure and offer best value for money. • Promoting repair and retention of traditional materials and detailing. • Respecting local distinctiveness and ensuring that all work in the highway or public realm follows good streetscape practice and principles. • Following the principle ‘less is more’ and place nothing in the street unless there is clear public benefit. • Ensuring that the public realm is accessible to all.
Useful Link: The English Heritage publication Streets for All is available from www.english-heritage.org.uk/streetsforall. The Sensory Trust offers valuable advice and guidance about inclusive design in the public realm. For more information visit www.sensorytrust.org.uk
For the purpose of this Management Plan the public realm in Chacewater has been subdivided into six categories: ground surfaces, street furniture, new equipment; the leats; trees and open spaces, and traffic management. This section should be read in conjunction with Chapter 9 of the Conservation Area Appraisal.
6.2 Ground Surfaces
The overall quality of the streetscape in the Chacewater is good, partly as a result of its simplicity. Where they do survive historic street surfaces are of interest and provide wonderful texture and contribute greatly to the character of the Conservation Area. Examples include the paving outside the market, cobbling outside No. 2 The Square, the flush curved granite doorstep to No. 1 Fore Street, as well as granite kerbs to the pavements, and some of the rough paved surfaces of tracks leading away from the village centre.
As a matter of principle where they do survive historic street surfaces should be retained and repaired using appropriate materials. Likewise the historic form of streets should be retained by maintaining kerb lines and the proportions between buildings, footways and the carriageway.
Proposals for new ground surfaces should respect the character and simplicity of the streetscape in Chacewater, and use natural local materials wherever possible. Every opportunity should be taken to reinstate or extend the use of locally distinctive materials in the public realm as part of enhancement projects or new development.
The network of back lanes, paths and alleys so characteristic of the Chacewater Conservation Area should remain rough-surfaced: the widespread use of black tarmac will not be appropriate.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 19
Action: The disturbance of historic street surfaces during the repair or renewal of service infrastructures should be kept to the absolute minimum. All works should be the subject of careful planning and dialogue between the statutory undertaker and Council’s Conservation Officer.
6.3 Street Furniture
6.3.1 Historic Street Furniture
The appraisal identifies little historic street furniture in Chacewater, with the exception of the listed milestone in Fore Street that reads ‘Truro 5 miles’ and the number of standing granite stones and posts, discussed below.
As a matter of principle where the little historic street furniture that does survive in Chacewater should be retained and repaired wherever possible.
6.3.2 Street Signs and Nameplates
With the exception of the village car park, there is little street signage in Chacewater and what there is tends to be low key and simple, with black lettering on a white background.
There is a tradition of mounting cast metal street nameplates on to the walls of buildings and boundary walls, thereby leaving the pavement space free of signage. Where these have been replaced by free standing standard-issue pressed aluminium or plastic versions, this is to the detriment of the Conservation Area.
Street signs and nameplates should be of appropriate materials and follow traditional signage mounting methods, and there should be a presumption in favour of restoring or reinstating historic street signs and reducing street clutter caused by excessive or duplicate signage.
6.3.3 Traffic Signs
As a commercially and socially active village popular with commuters, movement is essential to the wellbeing of Chacewater. However movement can also be destructive and the requirements to manage traffic can have a negative effect on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. Traffic signs in the village are standard-issue aluminium and there are areas such as the gateway into the village down Chacewater Hill, where traffic signs and notices potentially detract from the quality of the Conservation Area.
Where traffic management signs are necessary these should be integrated into single units or onto existing lamp posts or bollards. Internally illuminated signs should not be used in the Conservation Area.
6.3.4 Street Lighting
There is no historical precedent for street lighting in Chacewater. The centre of the village is currently lit using catalogue swan-necked lanterns on independent modern columns with cast bases. In peripheral areas lighting is provided by more utilitarian downlighters on steel columns. Neither design enhances the distinctive character of the Conservation Area.
The Council will support proposals for the co-ordinated replacement of standard-issue street lighting in the Conservation Area. Posts and new light fittings should be of an appropriate design and carefully located to avoid clutter. As a matter of principle street lighting should be kept to a minimum and care should be taken to avoid light pollution when considering the intensity of any new lighting in the village.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 20 6.3.5 Bollards and Posts
Standing granite stones and posts are a notable local feature in Chacewater and of historic importance in the Conservation Area, whether post and rail fences along roadsides, boundary stones, or the listed milestone. Despite this local feature, standard issue bollards of varying quality have been used throughout Chacewater, diluting local character and distinctiveness.
Surviving historic posts should be retained and restored because of the contribution that they make to local character and identity. New bollards will be resisted and used only as a last resort: where new posts are required in the Conservation Area, the use of standard-issue catalogue designs will not be supported.
6.4 New Equipment
Modern equipment such as bus shelters and litter bins are of a modern standard-issue design that do little to enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area. As a general principle new design, whether of bus shelters, bicycle racks or public benches, should make a positive contribution to the Conservation Area and introduce high quality and innovative solutions which complement their immediate context.
In the Chacewater Conservation Area it will be more appropriate encourage good quality bespoke designs than to use catalogue products. Proposals for standard catalogue designs will do little to reinforce local distinctiveness and the quality of the Conservation Area and will not be supported.
6.5 The Leats
The sound of running water from the River Carnon and the leat system that runs through the village is now the most obvious and all pervasive remnant from Chacewater’s industrial past. The leats follow roughly the same courses as the early 19th century streams but they have often been straightened, realigned, lined with stone and, more recently, concrete, bridged and culverted: it is regrettably overgrown and not functioning in places.
Other features associated with the leats are the several bridges of varying dates, scale and quality. These include the listed road bridge and watering place along Fore Street, and the less attractive concrete bridge where Sergent Hill crosses the leat.
Action: The Council will welcome initiatives to improve and maintain the leat system in the Chacewater Conservation Area.
6.6 Trees and Open Spaces
As discussed above mature trees, shrubs and hedges are all essential to the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area and should be kept suitably well-maintained.
Mature trees, shrubs and hedges are all essential to the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area and should be kept suitably well-maintained. Where there are opportunities for new planting in the public realm the Council will encourage the use of fewer characteristic species to reinforce the character of the Conservation Area.
Important also are open green spaces on the edge of the village such as the recreation ground and the more recent Millennium Park which provide vital recreational space for the local community, and the extensive but secluded churchyard at the Church of St Paul. Appropriately treated open spaces within the ‘urban’ core are harder to find. The main car park remains a scruffy tarmac area with little quality or sense of place while potential urban spaces as in The Square or around the Methodist Chapel lack definition or a fixed identity within the wider streetscape. This makes it all
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 21 the more important to retain the sense of the rural landscape coming up to the village centre and the green ‘fingers’ that reach into the village along the riverside or following the leats.
6.7 Traffic Management
The volume of traffic passing though the centre of the village has a significant impact on the ambient character of Chacewater. While on-street parking along Fore Street and the High Street performs a valuable function in traffic calming, it effectively reduces the carriageway to a single lane, thus increasing congestion at peak times and cars have become a dominant feature that detracts from the public realm.
Improvements at the junction of the A30 and A390 and at Threemilestone, together with the new park-and-ride scheme for Truro will all potentially benefit the village. However there is also an opportunity to improve traffic management and reinforce the character of the central route through Chacewater as a pedestrian ‘street’ rather than a car-dominated ‘road’.
Safety must always be the primary consideration. There is potential to reduce traffic speeds in Chacewater, particularly Fore Street & High Street, which will also provide the opportunity to remove signs and markings and adopt a minimalist approach to traffic calming as promoted in Streets for All. This is to be supported.
As a matter of principle future traffic management initiatives in Chacewater must be considered in terms of their impact on the character of the Chacewater Conservation Area and be developed in close liaison with the Council’s Conservation Officer. A co-ordinated, multi-disciplinary approach is advocated by Streets for All and supported by policies 2 and 7 of this Management Plan.
6.8 Environmental Improvements
Environmental improvements should enhance the qualities that make a place special and enjoyable for local residents and visitors. The Chacewater Conservation Area Appraisal identified a small number of enhancement opportunities which may take the form of a single small scale project or one phased over a longer period as part of a larger scheme: in each case a clear design brief will be essential. These opportunities are:
• Underground wiring: some improvements have been achieved by the partial undergrounding of power cables and the removal of redundant timber posts along Fore Street and High Street. Remaining overhead wires are identified as having a negative impact on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area, particularly in The Square and at the entrance to the village car park and the undergrounding of cables here would be a welcome, if costly, enhancement.
• The Square and village car park: this area is identified as having a negative impact on the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and would benefit from a co-ordinated enhancement scheme. Any scheme must include the repair and restoration of the mid 19th century stone outbuilding immediately to the north of the car park, reduce signs and improve linkages with the leats and sluice system.
In each case the Council will seek well-designed enhancement proposals which complement and strengthen the positive elements of the townscape.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 22 7.0 PROTECTION
A variety of statutory designations are in place to protect buildings, structures and sites within the Chacewater Conservation Area, and conservation area status is of course a protective designation in its own right.
The purpose of designation as a conservation area is not to stifle or prevent change, but to control it in such a way as to maintain and enhance local character and distinctiveness. In making decisions on future development in the Chacewater Conservation Area, the Council is required by statute to ‘pay attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the area’ [Section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990).
7.1 Existing Designations
The existing designations within the Conservation Area are discussed in detail in the Conservation Area Appraisal and are summarised below. These designations include:
• World Heritage Site – the Conservation Area falls within Area 6 of the designated Cornish and West Devon Mining Landscape WHS • Chacewater Conservation Area, 9 hectares • 47 listed buildings and structures, all of which are Grade II • 13 Tree Preservation Orders covering groups as well as individual trees, and 3 blanket TPO’s covering groups of trees immediately adjacent to the conservation area
ACTION: The Council will continue to review local designations and protection systems throughout the Conservation Area and secure the retention of valuable buildings, structures and trees through the appropriate protection mechanism.
7.2 Potential Designations
The Chacewater Conservation Area Appraisal makes does not identify any buildings or structures for potential inclusion on the statutory list.
7.3 Locally Listed Buildings
The Council has the power to include buildings on a local list and develop policies within the Local Develop Framework or Supplementary Planning Documents to protect these buildings from inappropriate change or development. Although these buildings have no statutory designation, local listing is a material consideration when determining planning applications.
Locally listed buildings or structures are those which make a special contribution to the history, appearance, character and cultural value of the District. They include the following:
• Buildings which have qualities of age, style, materials and detailing; • Well-detailed shop fronts; • Historic structures such as railings or walls; • Historic street furniture including post boxes, bollards or street lighting; • Historic sites such as tramways • Other features which have historical or cultural significance, perhaps by association with a famous person or event.
They should all survive in a clearly recognisable form, with their historic features and layout still present. Some selection of the better examples of these buildings and structures will be necessary. It is likely that most of the entries will date from the mid 19th to mid 20th century, but recent buildings of outstanding quality could also be considered. The suggested criteria for the selection of buildings for the Local List are set out in Appendix Four.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 23
The Conservation Area appraisal process identified a number of buildings and places that might be included in a Local List. A draft local list with detailed descriptions is set out in Appendix Five. This includes:
• Roseland House, Chacewater Hill • Cottage to north of No.9 Chacewater Hill • Chapel House, Chacewater Hill • Kings Head Public House, Fore Street • The Rambling Miner Public House, High Street • Cobbling outside No.2 The Square
Extensive engagement with the Parish Council and local community will be necessary before a local list for Cornwall can be created. This must involve discussion and agreement on the possible criteria for selection as a starting point.
ACTION: The Council will develop a Local List of buildings and criteria for inclusion in consultation with the local community. Draft criteria and a draft local list for Chacewater are included in Appendices Four and Five.
The majority of these buildings have been identified because of the survival of their architectural features, the overall contribution that they make to their local context, and because they stand out as good examples of their type or are good representations of the phase of Chacewater’s development.
7.4 Positive Buildings
The majority of buildings in Chacewater make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. PPG15 states that there should be a presumption in favour of the retention of unlisted buildings that make a positive contribution to the character of a conservation area and advises that proposals that may involve the demolition of such buildings should be assessed against the same broad criteria as proposals for the demolition of a listed building. The quality of the replacement building will be taken into consideration in these cases.
7.5 Extensions to the Conservation Area
Local Authorities are required by law to regularly review the boundaries of their existing conservation areas, to ensure that they encompass ‘areas of special architectural or historic interest’. The original Chacewater Conservation Area boundary was drawn up in 1991 and has not been reviewed until now.
Following extensive survey work in March 2007 and consultation with the local community as part of the appraisal process, this Management Plan proposes four amendments to the Chacewater Conservation Area boundary. These are:
• Add St Paul’s Church and burial ground, the former rectory and the land between the church and the existing conservation area; • Add a small piece of land to include the open space beyond the garden of No. 5 East Bridge; • Add land to the west and north of High Street including The Terrace; • Delete a small piece of land at Regiana, Falmouth Road
Further details are included in Appendix Six.
ACTION: The Council will amend the Conservation Area boundary designation as recommended in the appraisal.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 24 8.0 ENFORCEMENT
The development control powers available to the Local Planning Authority through listed building and conservation designations are outlined in Chapter 3 and Appendix Two. There are a number of examples in Chacewater where alterations to listed and unlisted buildings may have been made without listed building consent and/or planning permission. These include the conversion of front gardens to hard standings for car parking and the removal of boundaries to listed buildings that may be considered to be part of their curtilage. Similarly damaging alterations include the installations of satellite dishes to front elevations, and replacement of traditional timber windows and doors with inappropriate designs and materials.
8.1 Article 4 (2) Directions
The Local Planning Authority may make directions under Article 4(2) of the Permitted Development Order to withdraw permitted development rights for a prescribed range of development that materially affects the appearance of unlisted residential properties.
The public consultation process revealed a resistance to the suggestion of an Article 4 Direction however the appraisal of the Chacewater Conservation Area has emphasised the erosion of local character and distinctiveness as result of relatively small scale unsympathetic alterations and the incremental loss of architectural features.
To fulfil the key objectives of this Management Plan and safeguard the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area, it is proposed to introduce a new Article 4(2) Direction. This will cover all single-family dwellings in the designated conservation area and will bring under control the following alterations:
• Changing roof materials and the installation of roof lights and solar panels on the front*-facing roof slope; • The replacement of windows and doors on the front elevation; • The provision of a hard standing (i.e. parking area) within the curtilage of the house; • The demolition of a wall, fence or gate facing the front.
(‘Front’ means facing a public highway, private road or waterway)
ACTION: The Council will initiate the adoption of an Article 4(2) Direction for the Chacewater Conservation Area. A guidance leaflet for property owners affected by the Article 4(2) Direction will be produced and distributed.
8.2 Listed Buildings at Risk
The Council acts as the primary custodian of the historic environment and strives to follow best practice by informally monitoring the condition of listed buildings. It aims to foresee problems that are likely to arise, to take action to prevent vulnerable buildings sliding into decay, and to address those that are at risk.
Chacewater is an attractive village and property owners on the whole maintain their properties to a reasonable standard, with the greatest threat from well-intentioned property ‘improvement’. The 2008 Conservation Area Appraisal noted several properties that would benefit from repairs or redecoration, and at least one, No. 27 Fore Street, is in urgent need of repair and refurbishment. Lantern Cottage is another though currently outside the designated conservation area.
Action: The Council will monitor the condition of No. 27 Fore Street and Lantern Cottage and support proposals for their sensitive repair and refurbishment.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 25 8.3 Enforcement Powers
Local Planning Authorities have a duty to consider taking enforcement action where they believe there has been a breach of planning control. The Council seeks to resolve breaches without taking formal action wherever possible, as advocated in Government advice. That notwithstanding, failure to comply with planning control procedures could lead to prosecution by the Council, and it is therefore advisable to contact the Council before proceeding with any works that might affect the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area.
During the appraisal of the Chacewater Conservation Area a number of properties were identified where works have taken place without the benefit of the requisite permission. These included several satellite dishes erected in highly visible locations, and a large number of unlisted buildings with modern replacement windows and doors.
During the public consultation process the local community expressed their reluctance to see tighter controls, however to fulfil the key objectives of this Management Plan and safeguard the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area, it is proposed to introduce a new Article 4(2) Direction. A photographic survey of buildings in the Conservation Area will accompany the new Article 4(2) Direction which will enable the Council to monitor and, where expedient, enforce against future unauthorised developments and alterations.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 26 9.0 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Following the Government’s review of regional, sub-regional and local government in 2007, the two-tier structure of Cornwall County Council and Carrick District Council was replaced by a new unitary authority for Cornwall in April 2009.. Local Community Networks have been created to provide opportunities for local people and organisations to be part of the decision-making process and influence the delivery of services.
It is essential that the actions and implications set out in this plan are carried forward by the new Council at all levels, and appropriate resources allocated for their implementation and for enforcement of Conservation Area and listed building controls.
The previous chapters have examined the measures required to protect and enhance the Chacewater Conservation Area. This section outlines the arrangements for ensuring that the policies and actions described in the previous sections will be delivered, and describes how the Management Plan will be implemented in the immediate future., 9.1 Overseeing the Management Plan
The Council will be required to directly manage or take the role of lead organisation and oversee the implementation of the Management Plan, working in partnership with the Parish Council and other stakeholders referred to below.
9.2 Implementing the Management Plan
Responsibility for implementing many of the policies and actions lies with the Council working with the Parish Council, government agencies, and property owners and managers in the Conservation Area.
Success will require commitment by all Council departments and their partners to ensure the sensitive exercise of controls, such as planning permissions, building control, fire regulations and highways standards, in the best interests of the village and, likewise, the sensitive deployment of such resources as are available.
Although the administration of the Conservation Area is largely a planning function, there are many other actions that can impact on its character and appearance, for instance the maintenance of public buildings. It is important, therefore, that conservation aims are coordinated across all Council departments, the Parish Council and other stakeholders including property owners, residents, businesses and amenity groups.
9.3 Summary of Actions
The Chacewater Conservation Area Appraisal identifies a number of issues affecting Chacewater. These are addressed by the guidance, policies and actions put forward in this Management Plan. The resourcing and programming for actions are often difficult to give in detail, but every attempt has been made to give an order of magnitude to different actions, plus an indication of where priorities should lie. The table in Appendix Six identifies these actions and establishes priorities and an outline timetable for each.
9.4 Resources to Deliver the Management Plan
The preceding paragraphs indicate the extent to which the care of the conservation area can be a shared responsibility, and the Council is well-placed to identify and encourage other partnerships which can take forward the actions identified in this Management Plan. In this respect the Historic Environment Champion for Cornwall Council will also have an important role to play.
Inevitably the principal burden in caring for the conservation area will fall upon the Local Planning Authority, because of the obligations placed upon it by the planning legislation. In support of these statutory duties the Council can be expected to commit adequate resources by ensuring that it has access to the necessary skills and that it adopts
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 27 appropriate policies. It will also be essential to ensure that the local community is sufficiently informed about the implications of designation so that it too can play its part.
There will be a need for additional resourcing, especially in the next five years, to carry out the recommendations in this Plan.
In recent years Townscape Heritage Initiative grants administered by the Heritage Lottery Fund, have been an important source of finance for conservation area enhancement projects. It is unlikely that such grants will play a major role in the future, especially in a comparatively prosperous and successful village such as Chacewater unless a more strategic project is developed, for example one that seeks to enhance all of the Conservation Areas within the designated World Heritage Site. Therefore the principal sources of funding for the enhancement projects will be:
• Developer funding through Section 106 contributions. There are well-established precedents for the use of such contributions for improvements which are not directly related or adjacent to the relevant development. • European Convergence funding • Owners of commercial and residential properties, in addition to their own funds, may be eligible for grants for building improvements and repairs, for instance through the Architectural Heritage Fund (www.ffhb.org.uk ). • Charitable trusts and government agencies. • Small scale local funding primarily from the Parish Council
9.5 Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring is a key responsibility of the Council and over the life of the Management Plan the Council and the Parish Council will develop a useful and comprehensive set of monitoring indicators to assist with this.
English Heritage has produced a set of suggested indicators for monitoring the state of the historic environment and where possible the Council will use these. Suggested relevant indicators are:
• Users – patterns of use; numbers of mineral tramway visitors • Enhancement – number of buildings/streetscapes conserved; new educational material produced, and the quality of design in line with CABE/IHBC indicators. • Economics – public funds invested in relation to private finance invested; • Protection – number of designations created ; number of Local Development Framework documents with Chacewater Conservation Area policies. • Condition – number of buildings/monuments at risk; number of conservation area consents/enforcement cases; number of planning applications and other development proposals in the Conservation Area receiving conservation advice.
9.6 Reviewing the Management Plan
Progress and performance with this Management Plan will be reviewed annually with the Parish Council. This Management Plan has a five year life and will need to be reviewed in 2015. This review will help assess how many of the actions specified in this Plan have been achieved, or how they should be amended. This review process will also involve public consultation and lead to the adoption of a new or amended Plan for a further five year cycle.
Action: The Council and the Parish Council will monitor the effectiveness of this Management Plan on an ongoing basis. It will formally review the Plan in 2015 and will involve the community in that process.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 28 APPENDIX 1
LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND
Introduction
Please note that at the point of endorsing this Management Plan (March 2010) PPG 15 and PPG 16 are due to be replaced with a combined PPS.
Conservation Area designation, along with the listing of historic buildings, forms the core of the British planning system’s protection measures for the historic environment.
Typically carried out by the local authority, the purpose of Conservation Area designation is to introduce additional levels of planning protection and control within any geographical area that is judged to have special architectural or historic qualities, and therefore whose character or appearance should be preserved. In official terms, Conservation Areas are ‘areas of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve’ (paragraph 4.1, PPG15).
Conservation Area protection, in contrast to ‘listing’ (which is typically directed at individual or small groups of related buildings), allows for a large and often diverse group of buildings and streets to be protected under a single protection measure. Typical subjects of Conservation Area status include historic planned residential areas, from village squares to garden cities, or, most commonly, village centres, which accommodate the services for and define the identity of their wider communities. Chacewater is a typical example of the kind of historic environment that Conservation Area designation is intended to protect.
The Chacewater Conservation Area was first designated in1978, and its boundary has not been extended since then.
The designation of Conservation Areas is the responsibility of the local planning authority and is carried out under the Section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
The principal consideration in the designation of Conservation Areas and in the assessment of any proposal for the alteration of an area is to ensure the preservation and enhancement of those features which contribute to its special architectural and historic interest. Such features will of course include historic buildings, however numerous other features are also of importance: the public realm, signage, traffic, the mix of uses, views etc. Conservation area policy is therefore concerned with the quality of the townscape in its broadest sense (paragraph 4.2, PPG15).
The preservation and enhancement of a conservation area, and of its setting and views, should be a material consideration in the handling of any development proposal within or adjacent to the conservation area. This should not however preclude change and development where it can be demonstrated that it will preserve or enhance the area’s special interest. The emphasis will generally be on controlled and positive management of change (paragraph 4.16, PPG15).
Information on the assessment and designation of Conservation Areas, the handling of consent applications and on development controls within Conservation Areas is laid out in statutory guidance Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and the Built Environment (PPG15). Conservation Area designation introduces general control over the demolition of unlisted buildings and works to trees within the Area, requires the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character and appearance of the Conservation Area to be taken into account as a material consideration when determining any planning application within an Area, and will typically involve the suspension of permitted development rights.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 29 Legal Implications of Conservation Area Designation
In order to ensure that a Conservation Area continues to retain its status as an area of special architectural or historic interest sections 71 to 73 of the 1990 Act require the local authority to carry out the following ongoing duties:
• From time to time formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of [their] conservation areas: clearly assessing and defining what it is about the area that should be preserved or enhanced and setting out the actions needed to protect it; • To submit any proposals involving the preservation and enhancement of the conservation area for consideration to a ‘public meeting’, and to have regard for the arising views of consultees; • In the exercise of any planning powers, to always pay special attention to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the conservation area;
Development Control in Conservation Areas
Development control measures for conservation areas include the withdrawal of permitted development rights within the area, regulation of the demolition of unlisted buildings within the area, and a requirement to provide notice to carry out works to trees within the area. Development control measures are laid out in relevant national guidance (the 1990 Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act & PPG15) and as part of the Local Development Framework for each authority, which may include additional restrictions relevant to individual conservation areas.
Suspended Permitted Development Rights
Planning permission is required for certain types of development within conservation areas. Typically works for which planning permission is required for single family dwelling houses in conservation areas include:
• The addition of certain types of external cladding using stone, artificial stone, pebble dash, render, timber, plastic or tiles; • The alteration of a roof’s shape, including the insertion of dormer windows into roof slopes; • The erection of satellite dishes: fronting or visible from a highway; exceeding 100mm in length; or on a building which exceeds 15m in height; • The installation of radio masts, antennae or radio equipment housing over 35 cubic metres in volume; • Extensions to the side of a residential property or extensions to the rear of a property which are greater than one-storey in height; • The construction of a structure within the curtilage of a residential property sited on land between a side elevation and a boundary wall;
The local authority has the powers to withdraw further permitted development rights in order to control works that materially affect the external appearance of dwelling houses, such as the alteration of windows, doors, roofs and façades. This may be done through the introduction of Article 4 directions, which means that works must be considered against conservation area interests and planning permission granted before works can take place: there is normally no fee payable for such planning applications made as a result of Article 4 directions.
Commercial properties within Conservation Areas have very limited permitted development rights and planning permission will be required for any material alteration. These include:
• The alteration of a roof’s shape or materials; • The removal of architectural features; • The replacement of a shop front; • The replacement of windows or doors unless in an identical material, design or finish;
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 30 • The installation of decorative lighting; • The provision of fire escapes; • The addition of solar panels, rooflights or dormers; • The erection of an extension regardless of its volume; • The addition of plant/machinery, ventilation and extraction equipment.
When considering applications for planning permission within a conservation area the local planning authority must pay special regard to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character and appearance of that area.
Demolition of Unlisted Buildings in Conservation Areas
Conservation area designation introduces control over the demolition of all unlisted buildings within the area (with the exception of ecclesiastical buildings in ecclesiastical use). Listed buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments are covered by other legislation.
The general presumption is in favour of retaining those unlisted buildings include on the Local List or classified by the local authority as making a positive contribution to the character or appearance of the conservation area.
Where demolition of an unlisted building within a conservation area is proposed Conservation Area Consent must be gained ahead of works. In order to gain consent proposals must address those considerations laid out in paragraph 3.19 of PPG15:
i. the condition of the building, the cost of repairing and maintaining it in relation to its importance and the value derived from its continue use; ii. the adequacy of efforts made to retain the building in use; and iii. the merits of the alternative proposals…subjective claims for the architectural merits of proposed replacement buildings should not in themselves be held to justify the demolition of any listed building [or unlisted building in a conservation area]. There may be very exceptional cases where the proposed works would bring substantial benefits to the community which have to be weighed against the arguments in favour of preservation.
Though the demolition of unlisted buildings is assessed against the same criteria as for the demolition of listed buildings, this does not make unlisted buildings in conservation areas of equal historic or architectural importance to statutory listed buildings.
The local authority or Secretary of State may take enforcement action if the demolition of an unlisted building within a conservation area is carried out without consent.
Condition of Unlisted Buildings in Conservation Areas
Financial grant schemes to assist with the renovation and upkeep of unlisted buildings in the conservation area may be available through English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as through some local authorities, though available funds will be prioritised for the most urgent cases.
Trees
Trees form an integral part of the character and appearance of conservation areas. As such all trees within conservation areas, whether covered by individual Tree Preservation Orders or not, are protected. As a result, anyone proposing to cut down, prune or damage in any other way a tree over which measured at 1.5 metres high has a stem diameter greater than 75mm must provide written notice of the intended works to the local planning authority six weeks before carrying out the works. This provides the Council with the opportunity to assess whether the tree makes a
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 31 positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Conservation Area. Fruit trees are no longer exempt, although slightly different constraints occur where the tree forms part of a managed woodland.
Control of Advertisements and Signs
Stricter rules apply in Conservation Areas with regard to the size and type of advertisements, illumination, signage and shop fronts erected or installed without consent.
The Local Development Framework
The Council is currently in the process of drafting and consulting on those documents that will comprise the contents of its Local Development Framework. The Local Development Framework will contain a comprehensive collection of planning guidance documents which will, when adopted, supersede the existing Carrick District-wide Local Plan (1998). Until their adoption, the relevant policies at local level are the retained policies of the Local Plan (see Appendix Two)
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 32 APPENDIX TWO
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK POLICIES
Retained Local Plan Policies The following are the Local Plan Policies of direct relevance to the Chacewater Conservation Management Plan:
Policy 4D Development should be designed to respect the setting of listed buildings following the fundamental architectural principles of scale, height, massing, alignment and use of appropriate materials. Developments should also respect the quality of spaces between and the grouping of buildings which form the setting of a listed building. Proposals which would have a significant adverse impact upon the setting of a listed building will not be approved.
Policy 4F Proposals for development in a Conservation Area should preserve or enhance the special character of the area in terms of scale, height, form and massing, respecting the traditional pattern of frontages, vertical or horizontal emphasis, detailing and materials. There will be a presumption in favour of retaining buildings which make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of Conservation Areas. Redevelopment which involves the demolition of an existing building within a Conservation Area will not be allowed unless the alternative development preserves or enhances the character or appearance of the conservation area, and i) the building makes no positive contribution towards the character or appearance of the Conservation Area, or ii) that the condition of the building and the cost of its repair and maintenance renders it impracticable to retain when assessed in comparison with its importance and the value derived from its continued use; and iii) that there is clear and convincing evidence that all reasonable efforts have been made to sustain existing uses or to find viable new uses and these efforts have failed.
Policy 4Q Proposals for the development of new, or the refurbishment of existing shop frontages and other commercial premises within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or Conservation Areas should be sympathetic to and respect the architectural integrity of the building and the character of the area with special regard to such matters as scale, pattern of frontages, vertical or horizontal emphasis, materials and detailed design.
Policy 4R Within Areas of Special Control of Advertisements, the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Conservation Areas and on Listed Buildings signs should respect the architectural integrity and features of the buildings and the character of the locality and be located so as not to be a cause of confusion or danger to the travelling public.
Proposed Chacewater Conservation Area Policies
The following policies are designed to apply to the whole of the designated Conservation Area.
Policy 1 Developments adjacent to the Chacewater Conservation Area should in their scale, height and massing, respect the wider setting of the Conservation Area, including views into and out of it.
Policy 2 Alterations to the streets, roads and back lanes in the Chacewater Conservation Area including changes to the carriageway, pavements, parking layouts and street furniture should have regard to the character of the Conservation Area and its long term conservation.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 33
Policy 3 Development proposals entailing the loss of existing trees, hedges, mature gardens and green open spaces that make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area will not normally be permitted.
Policy 4 Uses that would be detrimental to the character of individual buildings and character areas within the Chacewater Conservation Area will be resisted.
Policy 5 The Council will support measures to improve an understanding and appreciation of Chacewater and its Conservation Area.
Policy 6 Proposals for energy-saving measures and for sustainable forms of energy supply will be supported where they do not adversely affect the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area.
Policy 7 The Council will take steps to ensure that the policies, guidance and actions in this Management Plan are carried out, and that sufficient resources are made available for their implementation. The Management Plan will be reviewed five years from the time of its adoption.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 34 APPENDIX THREE
DRAFT CRITERIA FOR LOCALLY LISTED BUILDINGS
Purpose of a Local List
Buildings that are listed nationally are protected by law. They tend to be buildings of higher quality and generally date from before 1840. The purpose of a Local List is to identify locally significant buildings and other features which may not be considered eligible for statutory listing.
The effect of local listing
The protection of buildings or other features which are Locally Listed can be achieved through policies in the Local Development Framework. The identification of these special buildings or features is also best achieved through consultation with local communities, giving them ‘ownership’ of the Local List and helping to inform and enlighten local knowledge.
Although there is no statutory protection for such buildings, local listing can be a material consideration in determining planning applications.
Principles of selection
Locally listed buildings or structures are those which make a special contribution to the history, appearance, character, and cultural value of Cornwall Coucil. They include the following:
• Buildings which have qualities of age, style, materials and detailing • Well detailed historic shopfronts • Historic structures such as walls or railings • Historic street furniture including post boxes, bollards, or street lighting • Historic sites (where scheduling as an ‘Ancient Monument’ is not appropriate), such as tramways and other features of Cornwall’s industrial development • Other features which have historical or cultural significance, perhaps by association with a famous person or event
They should all survive in a clearly recognisable form, with their historic features and layouts still present. Some selection of the better examples of these buildings or structures will be necessary, so in some cases the most authentic and interesting of a group of buildings may be Locally Listed, rather than the whole group. It is likely that most of the entries will date from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, but recent buildings of outstanding quality could be considered.
The Local List includes the following categories:
BUILDINGS
These may include:
• Buildings designed by a particular architect or designer of regional or local note • Good examples of well designed domestic buildings which retain their original details and materials • Good examples of educational, religious or community buildings which retain their original details and materials • Landmark buildings or structures of notable design • Buildings or structures of which contribute to our understanding of the development of the area
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 35 STRUCTURES
These may include: • Notable walls or railings • Street lighting • Bollards • Street surfaces • Post boxes
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
These must be well documented and may include: • Any building or structure which has a close association with famous people or events • Any building or structure which has a close association with an important local feature including statutorily protected sites or buildings
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 36 APPENDIX FOUR
DRAFT LOCAL LIST FOR CHACEWATER
Buildings:
1 Roseland House, no. 18 Chacewater Hill
House built between 1843 and 1882.
2 Cottage to north of no. 9 Chacewater Hill
Cottage built between 1843 and 1882.
3 Chapel House, Chacewater Hill
1830. Originally a Methodist Chapel, now converted for commercial and residential uses.
4 King’s Head Public House, Fore Street
Dating to before 1843, and possibly before 1803.
5 The Rambling Miner Public House, High Street
Dates to between 1843 and 1882.
6 Greensleeves, High Street
Pre-1809.
7 Masonic Hall, attached to the rear of the Britannia Inn, High Street
Dating to between 1843 and 1882.
8 The Cottage, Kirley Hill
Dating to before 1803 – one of the early squatter’s cottages
9 North Hill House, North Hill
Dates to between 1809 and 1843.
10 Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Station Road
Built in 1832 and restored in 1905.
11 Greenbank, Station Road
Dates to between 1809 and 1882.
12 Nos. 12-27 (consec) Station Road
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 37
Early 19th century cottages probably associated with the brewery which once stood on the adjoining site, next to the river.
13 Nos. 6 and 7 The Square
Dates to between 1809-1843.
14 The Willows, The Terrace
Dates to between 1809-1843.
15 Nos, 3, 4 and 5 The Terrace
Date to between 1809-1843– higher status houses built for middleclass families.
16 No. 6 The terrace
Dates to before 1809.
17 Nos. 7 and 8 The Terrace
Dates to between 1809-1843.
Walls and other structures:
18 Granite bridge at Riverside
Granite bridge, possibly early 19th century.
19 The Great Walled Garden, High Street
Substantial stone walls enclosing three sides of a long rectangular space, now with modern development inside. No history available.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 38 APPENDIX FIVE
CHACEWATER CONSERVATION AREA BOUNDARY REVIEW
Local authorities are required by law to regularly review the boundaries of their existing conservation areas, to ensure that they encompass ‘areas of special architectural or historic interest’. The original boundary to the conservation area was drawn up in 1991 and the boundary has not been reviewed since.
These recommendations follow extensive survey work, undertaken in March 2007, and largely follow recommendations made in the CISI report of 2002. They are also broadly in line with discussions with the local community at the public workshops in April and May 2007.
It is recommended that the following additions are made to the Chacewater Conservation Area:
• Add St Paul’s Church and burial ground, the former rectory, and the land between the church and the existing conservation area; • Add a small piece of land to include the open space beyond the garden of No.5 East Bridge; • Add land to the west and north of High Street including The Terrace; • Delete a small piece of land at Regiana, Falmouth Road.
In details, these proposals are:
(i) Add St Paul’s Church and burial ground, the former rectory, and the land between the church and the existing conservation area
This proposal includes the listed parish church, the listed lych-gate, the listed former rectory (Chacewater House), and a broad swath of land between the church and Chacewater. St Paul’s Church and its lych-gate stand to the south of the village, with the surrounding church yard bounded by formal stone walls and softer Cornish hedges that contribute to their setting. Chacewater House, the former rectory, was built in c1832 and with its gardens, marks the edge of the proposed extension. The isolation of the church and its position on the hillside overlooking the village make a significant contribution to the character of the conservation area, particularly in views from the high ground to the east of the village, and in views down the valley from both the A30 and the railway.
The proposed extension also includes the recent Village Hall, probably the most significant addition to Chacewater over the last century, and the adjacent Millennium Green with its nascent planting.
(ii) Add a small piece of land to include the open space beyond the garden of No.5 East Bridge
This proposal merely sorts out the slight anomaly of the current boundary whereby the garden to No.5 is included but the similar adjacent plot is not.
(iii) Add land to the west and north of High Street including The Terrace
This area contains some early 19th century cottages and houses, considered to be ‘positive’ and marked on the Townscape Appraisal map. It also contains one of the two remaining squatter’s cottages in Chacewater (No.6 The Terrace) and the interesting remains of a large walled garden with its surrounding high wall. Unfortunately there is no evidence for the original house which must have stood on the site. The area is characterised by other stone walls, and by the height of The Terrace, overlooking High Street and Fore Street. These views are constrained by the many trees within the village, and trees also are very important in views from The Terrace across the valley, towards Chacewater House and the church.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 39 (iv) Delete a small piece of land at Regiana, Falmouth Road
The current boundary cuts through the house, which must have been built after the area was designated. It is therefore proposed that the boundary should be adjusted to follow that of the adjacent Toll Cottage and to delete that part of Regiana that is currently included.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 40 APPENDIX 6
SUMMARY OF ISSUES, POLICIES AND ACTIONS
The conservation area policies and guidance have generated a series of actions to be achieved during the life of the Management Plan either as one-off projects or in many cases as ongoing and continuous action. Working in close partnership with the parish Council, the Council has a leading role in implementing all of these policies and actions, and in the success of the Management Plan in general. A timetable has also been assigned to identify those actions which should be prioritised in the short ***, medium** and long * term. Progress will contribute toward the monitoring of the implementation of the Management Plan.
Management Policy Actions Lead Priority Issue Agency Achieving high Retained Local Plan Policy 4F: The Council will require design briefs Council ** quality design to inform the development of key sites and new Proposals for new development or the within the Chacewater Conservation development that alteration of buildings in the Area. reinforces local Conservation Area should have regard *** distinctiveness to the urban grain, scale, height, The Council will require a detailed massing, and materials of the existing context appraisal and an assessment buildings in the area. of the potential impact of development proposals on the character of the Retained Local Plan Policy 4D: Chacewater Conservation Area, including the character area in which Development should be designed to the proposal sits, to be submitted as respect the setting of listed buildings part of any Design and Access following the fundamental architectural Statement principles of scale, height, massing, alignment and use of appropriate materials. Developments should also respect the quality of spaces between and the grouping of buildings which form the setting of a listed building. Proposals which would have a significant adverse impact upon the setting of a listed building will not be approved.
Policy 1:
Developments adjacent to the Chacewater Conservation Area should in their scale, height and massing, respect the wider setting and key views into and across the Conservation Area. Improving the Council / Ongoing conservation and building maintenance of owners buildings
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 41 Increasing Policy 3: The Council will resist the loss of Council *** protection in the natural slate roofs in the Conservation conservation Development proposals entailing the Area through the use of an Article 4(2) area loss of existing trees, mature gardens, Direction hedgerows and green open spaces *** that make a positive contribution to the The Council will resist the replacement character and appearance of the of traditional timber windows and Chacewater Conservation Area will not doors with upvc or aluminium versions normally be permitted. through the use of an Article 4(2) Direction for all single family dwellings *** in the Conservation Area.
The Council will seek to retain ** boundary walls and railings through the use of an Article 4(2) Direction
The Council will continue to review local designations and protection systems throughout the Conservation ** Area and secure the retention of valuable buildings, structures and trees through the appropriate protection mechanism. ***
The Council will develop a Local List of buildings and criteria for inclusion in consultation with the local community
The Council extend the Conservation Area designation as recommended
Protecting the Policy 1: Council, Ongoing visual setting Natural and historic Developments adjacent to the England context of the Chacewater Conservation Area should conservation in their scale, height and massing, area. respect the wider setting and key views into and across the Conservation Area
Achieving high Policy 6: Council, Ongoing quality CSEP sustainable Proposals for energy-saving measures development and for sustainable forms of energy supply will be supported where they do not adversely affect the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area.
Improving the Policy 2: Council Ongoing public realm Alterations to the streets, roads and
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 42 back lanes in the Chacewater Conservation Area including changes to the carriageway, pavements, parking layouts and street furniture, should have regards to the character of the Conservation Area and its long term conservation.
Policy 3:
Development proposals entailing the loss of existing trees and green open spaces that make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Chacewater Conservation Area will not normally be permitted.
Policy 6 The Local Planning Authority will support measures to improve understanding and appreciation of Chacewater and its Conservation Area.
Achieving Policy 2: The Council will initiate the adoption of Council * sustainable a replacement Article 4(2) Direction. A access to the Alterations to the streets, roads and Guidance leaflet will be produced and conservation back lanes in the Chacewater distributed to all property owners area Conservation Area including changes affected by it. to the carriageway, pavements, parking layouts and street furniture, should have regards to the character of the Conservation Area and its long term
Policy 6:
The Council will support measures to improve understanding and appreciation of Chacewater and its Conservation Area. Increasing Policy 8: Council Ongoing community involvement and The Council will take steps to ensure social inclusion that the policies and recommendations in this Management Plan are carried out, and that sufficient resources are made available for their implementation. The Management Plan will be reviewed five years from the time of its adoption. Consistent Policy 8: Council Ongoing
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 43 coordinated management The Council will take steps to ensure that the policies and recommendations in this Management Plan are carried out, and that sufficient resources are made available for their implementation. The Management Plan will be reviewed five years from the time of its adoption.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 44 APPENDIX SEVEN
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Accessibility The ability of people and/or goods and services to reach places and facilities. Accessibility can be shown on a plan or described in terms of pedestrian and vehicle movements, walking distance from public transport, travel time or population distribution.
Adaptability The capacity of a building or space to respond to changing social, technological, economic and market conditions.
Advertisement A sign, board, notice or word (whether illuminated or not) announcing the selling of goods or services, or giving public information, as defined in the Village and Country Planning Control of Advertisements Regulations 1992.
Amenity Something that contributes to an area’s social, economic or cultural needs.
Area Action Plan (AAP) These are Development Plan Documents (see below) which should be used to provide the planning framework for areas where significant change or conservation is needed. A key feature is the focus on implementation. They can be used in many ways such as: help deliver planned growth areas; stimulate regeneration; protect areas sensitive to change; resolve conflicting objectives in areas subject to development pressures; or focus the delivery of area based regeneration initiative.
Article 4 Direction A power available under the Town and Country Planning Act (General Permitted Development Order) 1995 allowing a planning authority to restrict ‘permitted development rights’. This extends planning control to certain kinds of development which do not normally require planning permission. Article 4 Directions are most commonly used in conservation areas. Article 4 (2) Directions can be introduced by a local planning authority without the approval by the Secretary of State.
Barrier An obstacle to movement.
Building elements Doors, windows, cornices and other features which contribute to the overall design of a building.
Building envelope guidelines Diagram(s) with dimensions showing the possible site and massing of a building.
Building line The line formed by the frontages of buildings along a street. The building line can be shown on a plan or section.
Bulk The combined effect of the arrangement, volume and shape of a building or group of buildings. Also called massing.
Call-in The Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Development can call in for his own decision any proposal which he regards as sufficiently important.
Character assessment/appraisal An area appraisal emphasising historical and cultural associations.
Community Strategy District, County and Unitary authorities have a duty to prepare community strategies under the Local Government Act 2000 in conjunction with other public, private and community sector organisations. Community Strategies should promote the economic, social and environmental well being of their areas and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. The intention is that Local Development Frameworks (see below) will provide the spatial expression to those elements of the Community Strategy that relate to the use and development of land.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 45
Conservation Area An area designated by a local authority under the Village and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as possessing special architectural or historical interest. The council will seek to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of such areas.
Conservation Area character appraisal A published document defining the special architectural or historic interest which warranted the area being designated.
Conservation Area Consent This is required from the Local Planning Authority on any proposal to demolish or substantially demolish an unlisted building in a Conservation Area.
Context The setting of a site or area.
Context (or site and area) appraisal A detailed analysis of the features of a site or area (including land uses, built and natural environment, and social and physical characteristics) which serves as the basis for an urban design framework, development brief, design guide or other policy or guidance.
Core Strategy This sets out the key elements of the planning framework for the area. It should comprise a vision and strategic objectives for the area, along with a spatial strategy, a number of core policies and a monitoring and implementation framework. Once adopted, all other Development Plan Documents must be in conformity with it.
Corporate strategy Any official expression of the overall aims of a local authority or other organisation.
Countryside design summary Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) prepared by a local authority to encourage a more regionally and locally based approach to design and planning.
Density The mass or floorspace of a building or buildings in relation to an area of land. Density can be expressed in terms of plot ratio (for commercial development); habitable rooms per hectare (for residential development); site coverage plus the number of floors or a maximum building height; space standards; or a combination of these.
Design audit An independent assessment of a design, carried out for a local authority by consultants, another local authority or some other agency.
Design brief Site-specific briefs or development briefs. Site-specific briefs are also called a variety of other names, including design briefs, planning briefs and development frameworks. There are no standard definitions or practices as to what these include. As design is now officially recognised as an integral part of planning, there is no need for separate planning and design briefs.
Design guide A document providing guidance on how development can be carried out in accordance with the design policies of a local authority or other organisation. Design guides are issued by some counties, by many district and unitary authorities.
Design policy Relates to the form and appearance of development, rather than the land use.
Design principle An expression of one of the basic design ideas at the heart of an urban design framework, design guide, development brief or design code. Each such planning tool should have its own set of design principles, adapted for the purpose from the body of knowledge about how design principles can help to create successful places.
Design statement A pre-application design statement is made by a developer to indicate the design principles on which a development proposal in progress is based. It enables the local authority to give an initial response to the main
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 46 issues raised by the proposal. A planning application design statement sets out the design principles that the planning applicant has adopted in relation to the site and its wider context, as required by PPG1.
Detailed planning application Seeks permission for all aspects (or all aspects not yet approved) of a development.
Development Statutorily defined under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as ‘the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operation in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any building or other land’. Most forms of development require planning permission.
Development brief A document, prepared by a district or unitary authority, a parish council, a developer, or jointly by both, providing guidance on how a site of significant size or sensitivity should be developed. Site-specific briefs are also called a variety of other names, including planning briefs, design briefs and development frameworks. There are no standard definitions or practice as to what these include. As design is now recognised as an integral part of planning, there is no need for separate planning and design briefs.
Development control The process through which a local authority determines whether (and with what conditions) a proposal for development should be granted planning permission.
Development form See form.
Development framework See development brief.
Development Plan Document (DPD) The relevant plan-making authority prepares Development Plan Documents. They are spatial planning documents and subject to independent examination. There will be a right for those making representations seeking change to be heard at an independent examination. The Development Plan Documents which local planning authorities must prepare include the following elements: Core Strategy; Site specific allocations of land; Area Action Plans (where needed); and Proposals Map (with inset maps, where necessary).
Elevation Diagrammatic drawing of any of a building’s facades.
Enclosure The creation of a sense of defined space by its surrounding buildings.
Energy efficiency The result of minimising the use of energy through the way in which buildings are constructed and arranged on site.
English Heritage This is the Government’s statutory adviser on scheduled monuments, listed buildings and all issues relating to the historic environment.
Environmental assessment A process, involving the systematic review of a proposed development, which leads to an environmental statement. Information is presented in a form which provides a focus for public scrutiny and enables the development’s likely effects (and the scope for modifying or mitigating them) to be evaluated before a planning decision is given.
Fenestration The arrangement of windows on a facade.
Form The layout (structure and urban grain), density, scale (height and massing), appearance (materials and details) and landscape of development.
General Permitted Development Order (GPDO) The GPDO grants permission for certain defined classes of development, mainly of a minor character. The most commonly used class permits a wide range of small extensions or alterations to dwelling houses.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 47
Grain See urban grain.
Height The height of a building can be expressed in terms of a maximum number of floors; a maximum height of parapet or ridge; a maximum overall height; any of these maximum heights in combination with a maximum number of floors; a ratio of building height to street or space width; height relative to particular landmarks or background buildings; or strategic views.
Human scale Development is of a human scale if its size, position and details relate to passers-by in a way that makes them feel comfortable rather than intimidated.
In-curtilage parking Parking within a building’s site boundary, rather than on a public street or space.
Interpretation Explaining the historical, economic, social and cultural background to a building or place.
Image The overall visual impact of a place.
Infill development Building on a relatively small site between existing buildings.
Issues & Options Report To encourage people in the local community to become involved at an early stage in the Local Development Framework process, by inviting responses to a range of key issues affecting development and land use.
Landmark A building or structure that stands out from the background buildings.
Landscape The appearance of land, including its shape, form, colours and elements, the way these (including those of streets) components combine in a way that is distinctive to particular localities, the way they are perceived, and an area’s cultural and historical associations. Landscape character can be expressed through landscape appraisal, and maps or plans.
Layout The way buildings, routes and open spaces are placed in relation to each other.
Layout structure The framework or hierarchy of routes that connect in the local area and at wider scales.
Legibility The degree to which a place can be easily understood by its users and the clarity of the image it presents to the wider world.
Listed building The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is required to compile lists of buildings of special architectural or historic interest. Listed Buildings are graded according to their importance. Grade I buildings are of national importance, Grade II* have some national significance, and Grade II buildings (which form the majority of listed buildings) tend to be of more local importance. A listed building should not be demolished, extended or altered in a way that affects its character as a listed building without permission (‘listed building consent’).
Listed Building Consent This is required for any works of demolition, extension or alteration which would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest.
Live edge Provided by a building or other feature whose use is directly accessible from the street or space which it faces; the opposite effect to a blank wall.
Local Agenda 21 Local authority programme identifying what sustainable development means at local level.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 48 Local Development Framework (LDF) This is the term given to the portfolio of Local Development Documents (see below) which will provide the framework for delivering the spatial planning strategy for the area.
Local Development Document (LDD) Local Development Documents are those documents that together make up the Local Development Framework. They comprise of Development Plan Documents (see above), Supplementary Planning Documents (see below) and the Statement of Community Involvement (see below).
Local Development Scheme (LDS) This is the project plan for a three period for the production of all documents which it is intended will comprise the Local Development Framework. It identifies each Local Development Document (see above) stating which are to be Development Plan Documents (see above) and which are to be Supplementary Planning Documents (see below), and establishes a timetable for preparing each.
Local distinctiveness The positive features of a place and its communities which contribute to its special character and sense of place.
Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) Non statutory, non-executive body bringing together representatives of the public, private and voluntary sectors. The LSP is responsible for preparing and monitoring the implementation of the Community Strategy.
Local Plan Produced by districts and unitary authorities, ‘old style’ local plans set out detailed policies and specific proposals for the development and use of land, and guide most day-to-day planning decisions. Design policies in a local plan set the framework for a local authority’s design control and guidance.
Massing The combined effect of the arrangement, volume and shape of a building or group of buildings. Also called bulk.
Material consideration A consideration that must be taken into account, where relevant, in a decision on a planning application. They include policies and guidance, and all the fundamental factors involved in land-use planning (including the form and appearance of buildings).
Mixed uses A mix of complementary uses within a building, on a site or within a particular area. ‘Horizontal’ mixed uses are side by side, usually in different buildings. ‘Vertical’ mixed uses are on different floors of the same building.
Mobility The ability of people to move round an area, including careers of young children, older people, people with mobility or sensory impairments, or those encumbered with luggage or shopping. Mobility can be expressed in policy and guidance in terms of compliance with statutory standards, and can be illustrated on plans.
Movement People and vehicles going to and passing through buildings, places and spaces. The movement network can be shown on plans, by space syntax analysis, by highway designations, by figure and ground diagrams, through data on origins and destinations or pedestrian flows, by desire lines, by details of public transport services, by walk bands or by details of cycle routes.
Natural surveillance (or supervision) The discouragement to wrong-doing by the presence of passers-by or the ability of people to see out of windows. Also known as passive surveillance (or supervision).
Outline planning application Permission for a limited range of matters relating to a proposed development, identifying others as reserved matters. Parking standards are usually expressed as the number of parking spaces per dwelling or in relation to office floorspace. They should include cycle parking and disabled parking. In certain developments no parking or only visitor parking will be required.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 49 Passive surveillance (or supervision) The discouragement to wrong-doing by the presence of passers-by or the ability of people to see out of windows. Also known as natural surveillance (or supervision).
Performance criterion (pl. criteria) A means of assessing the extent to which a development achieves a particular functional requirement (such as maintaining privacy). This compares with a standard, which specifies more precisely how a development is to be designed (by setting out minimum distances between buildings, for example). The art of urban design lies in balancing principles which may conflict with one another. Standards demand to be met, and may be too inflexible to be of use in achieving a balance. Performance criteria, on the other hand, make no prior assumptions about the means of achieving a balance.
Permeability The degree to which an area has a variety of pleasant, convenient and safe routes through it.
Perspective Drawing showing the view from a particular point as it would be seen by the human eye.
Plan Drawing or diagram showing the layout of a building, buildings or spaces.
Planning system The arrangements by which central and local government carries out its statutory responsibility to regulate the development and use of land in the public interest.
Planning condition A condition imposed with a planning permission. A condition can make it possible to grant a planning application which would otherwise be refused.
Planning obligation A binding legal agreement between a local authority and a developer, or unilaterally by a developer, for the purpose of restricting or regulating a development or the use of land, under Section 106 of the Village and Country Planning Act 1990. Such Section 106 agreements are usually made in connection with the granting of planning permission, and may be used to enhance development proposals. They can ‘enable a property owner or overcome obstacles which would otherwise prevent planning permission from being granted’ (PPG1).
Planning permission Formal approval, usually by a local authority, often with conditions, allowing a proposed development to proceed. Full permissions are usually valid for five years. Outline permissions, where details are reserved for subsequent approval, are valid for three years.
Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs) Government guidance on general and specific aspects of planning policy to be taken into account in formulating development plan policies and in making planning decisions.
Plot ratio A measurement of density expressed as gross floor area divided by the net site area.
Proactive development control Any process by which a local authority works with planning applicants to improve the quality of development proposals as early as possible in period before a planning application is submitted.
Preferred Options Report This will set out policy issues, including alternative approaches where appropriate, for all the main subject areas, including possible site allocations.
Proposals Map The function of the Proposals Map is to illustrate the policies and proposals in the Development Plan Documents (see above). It will be an Ordnance Survey based map at a scale which allows the policies and proposals to be illustrated clearly in map form.
Public art Permanent or temporary physical works created, selected or supervised by artists or craft workers for a building or site in a location visible to the general public, whether part of the building or free-standing. Public art includes sculpture, street furniture, paving, railings and signs.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 50 Public realm The parts of a village, village or city (whether publicly or privately owned) that are available, without charge, for everyone to use or see, including streets, squares and parks.
Quality audit A review of its management of the design and planning process by a local authority or other organisation.
Regional planning guidance The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions issues regional planning guidance as a broad but mandatory framework for structure plans and unitary development plans. Guidance normally follows the advice given to the Secretary of State by a regional planning conference, formed by unitary authorities and by county councils with representatives of their district councils. The more recent regional planning guidance notes (RPGs) cover design, among other planning issues. Some RPGs emphasise regionally important design issues to which local authorities should respond, while others set out a strategic framework for design policy.
Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) - Document produced at the regional level which will set the context for LDFs and form part of the statutory plan
Reserved matters Identified in an outline planning application as to be included in a later detailed planning application.
Road Vehicle or vehicle and pedestrian route without a significant amount of pedestrian activity generated by adjoining buildings and public spaces. Compare street.
Road hierarchy Categorisation of roads by function and intended traffic management treatment.
Route A road, footpath or cycleway (or a series of them) linking one place to another.
Safety The relative absence of threats, real or imagined, to people.
Scale The size of a building in relation to its surroundings, or the size of parts of a building or its details, particularly in relation to the size of a person. Scale can be expressed in relation to surrounding buildings, or in terms of a maximum length of frontage or facade, maximum dimensions of a street block, the type of development (terraced houses, for example), or a ratio of building height to street or space width.
Secretary of State The Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions is responsible to Parliament for operating the planning system at national level. The Secretary of State’s responsibilities include issuing national policy guidance, exercising the power to call in and decide on planning applications of major importance, and making decisions (with the Planning Inspectorate) on planning appeals. Several of the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions’ planning policy guidance notes (PPGs), circulars and design bulletins advise on matters of design and conservation.
Section Drawing showing a slice through a building or site.
Section 106 agreement See planning obligation.
Security The relative absence of threat to property.
Settlement pattern The distinctive way that the roads, paths and buildings are laid but in a particular place.
Sight line The line of sight from a travelling vehicle. Sight lines will help to determine how fast vehicles are likely to move and how safe other road users are likely to be.
Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) This will set out the standards which the plan-making authority intend to achieve in relation to involving the community in the preparation, alteration and continuing review of all Local
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 51 Development Documents (see above) and in significant development control decisions, and also how the local planning authority intends to achieve those standards. The Statement of Community Involvement will not be a Development Plan Document (see above) but will be subject to independent examination. A consultation statement showing how the local planning authority has complied with its Statement of Community Involvement will be required for all Local Development Documents. (see above).
Strategic view The line of sight from a particular point to an important landmark or skyline.
Street A public space used as a pedestrian or pedestrian and vehicle route (with pavements or shared surfaces) on to which buildings or public spaces open. Compare road.
Street furniture Structures in and adjacent to the highway which contribute to the street scene, such as bus shelters, litter bins, seating, lighting and signs.
Streetscape The appearance of a street.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) – A formal process which analyses and evaluates the environmental effects of a plan or programme.
Structure Plan - "Old style" strategic plan produced by a county council, providing the strategic policy framework for planning and development control locally (though not in unitary authorities). They are based on projections of future need and demand, particularly for housing, employment and shopping, and they describe the needs for transport, schools and services. A structure plan may set out a strategic framework to guide design policies in local plans. A local plan must conform to the relevant structure plan.
Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) Additional advice provided by a local authority on a particular topic, related to and expanding on policies in a development plan. SPD includes urban design frameworks, development briefs, design guides and village design statements. It should be consistent with the plan (and cross-referenced to the relevant policy or proposal), prepared in consultation with the public, and formally approved by the council. SPD status gives guidance additional weight as a material consideration in the planning process.
Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) - "Old style" planning guidance adopted by Council
Surveillance The discouragement to wrong-doing by the presence of passers-by or the ability of people to see out of windows.
Sustainability Appraisal (SA) A formal process which analyses and evaluates the environmental, social and economic impacts of a plan or programme.
Sustainable development Minimises its impact locally, regionally and globally, and on future generations. Defined by the Brundtland Commission (1987, and quoted in PPG1) as ‘Development which meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to achieve their own needs and aspirations’. The World Conservation Union (1991) defines sustainable development as ‘Improving the quality of life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems’. See local agenda 21.
Telecommunications equipment Equipment (including satellite dishes) relating to any form of communication by electrical wire, optical cable or radio signals.
Teleworking People working at home using information technology. See home-working.
Topography A description or representation of artificial or natural features on or of the ground.
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 52
Villagescape The visual appearance of streets.
Tree preservation order (TPO) Made by the local authority under the Village and Country Planning Act 1990 to protect trees of importance for amenity, landscape and nature conservation.
Urban design The art of making places. Urban design involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings, spaces and landscapes, in villages, villages and cities, and the establishment of frameworks and processes which facilitate successful development.
Urban grain The pattern of the arrangement and size of buildings and their plots in a settlement; and the degree to which an area’s pattern of street-blocks and street junctions is respectively small and frequent, or large and infrequent.
Vernacular The way in which ordinary buildings were built before local styles, techniques and materials were superseded by imports.
View What is visible from a particular point. Compare vista.
Vista A narrow view past a series of landmarks. Compare view.
Visual clutter The uncoordinated arrangement of street furniture, signs and other features.
Walk band A line on a map or plan showing the furthest distance that can be walked from a particular point at an average pace in a certain time (usually five or ten minutes).
Chacewater Conservation Area Management Plan – March 2010 53