Darwen Town Centre Conservation Area Supplementary Planning Document Adopted August 2013 Part I Darwen Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal August 2013 1 2 Contents Part I Conservation Area Appraisal 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 Location and setting 9 3.0 Historical Development and Archaeology 10 4.0 Character and relationship of Spaces 18 5.0 Open Spaces Views and Vistas 23 6.0 Historic Buildings and features 26 7.0 Issues Threats and Opportunities 38 8.0 Suggested boundary Changes 43 Part II Management Plan 45 Part III Guidelines for Development. 57 3 4 1. Introduction. The Darwen Town Centre Conservation Area was designated in 1996 and extended in May 2005. Darwen is a Victorian working town with dignified stone buildings and terraced dwellings in a dramatic setting in the West Pennine landscape. Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is legally obliged to protect and enhance each of its Conservation Areas under Section 69 of the Town and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and conservation Areas) Act 1990 and to review from time to time its conservation area designations and consider any new areas, and under section 71 of this act to formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of these areas. This document is called a ‘Conservation Area Character Appraisal’ and has been produced following a study of the Darwen Town Centre Conservation Area. The study identifies the area’s special interest, sets out a brief summary of its historical development and archaeological significance, identifies important buildings and features, and also considers issues and threats to the area’s character and significance. It also establishes the ‘significance’ of the area which applicants and the Planning Authority are required to understand and how development Figure 1 Turrets of Belgrave Chapel proposals will impact on the significance of the area. A Management Plan and Guidelines for Development are included in Parts II and III. They will inform the preservation and enhancement of the conservation area in accordance with the Borough’s statutory duties. This character appraisal has been prepared in accordance with English Heritage guidance on the production of Conservation Area character appraisals. It provides more detail than policies set out in the Local Plan, and will be used as a material consideration by the Council when making decisions on applications for Planning Permission, Listed Building Consent and Conservation Area Consent. It is also hoped that it will inform the people who live, work and build in Darwen and help them appreciate the town’s historical and architectural significance. 5 Whilst every effort has been made to highlight those features that contribute to an areas character the appraisal is not intended to be fully inclusive and any omission of any particular feature must not be taken to imply that there is no visual or historic interest to the conservation area. 1.1 Planning Policy Context. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)’ sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how they are expected to be applied. The Council is required to prepare a positive strategy for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment in their Local Plan. In doing so should take into account the desirability of sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets and putting them to viable uses consistent with their conservation; the wider social, cultural, economic, and environmental benefits that the conservation of the historic environment can bring; the desirability of new development making a positive contribution to local character and distinctiveness; and opportunities to draw on the contribution made by the historic environment to the character of place. When considering the impact of a proposed development Local Planning Authorities should weigh the harm or loss to significance against the Figure 2 Column detail to tram shelters public benefits of a proposal (policies 133 and 134, NPPF). Policy 141 of the NPPF requires Local Planning Authorities to make information about the significance of the historic environment publicly accessible. Publishing this character appraisal will comply with this requirement. The Core Strategy for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is the Local Strategic Planning Policy Document for the Borough and requires in Policy CS17 for new development to identify and take opportunities to integrate and promote the Borough’s cultural assets. More detailed policies relevant to development management decisions are set out in the saved policies from Blackburn with Darwen Borough Local Plan. 6 1.2 Summary of Special Interest and Heritage Significance. Darwen is located in a deep river valley of the Pennines and is characterised by stone terraced housing and a distinctive Victorian architectural heritage surrounded by moorland. On either side of the valley steeply sloping hills surround the town creating a dramatic setting for the buildings. Long views are terminated by distant hilltops punctuated in westerly views by Jubilee Tower and to the south by India Mill chimney. The development of the textile industry in the late 18th and 19th centuries saw the rapid expansion of the town in this period. Mill development followed the line of the river for water power. Coal mining, quarrying for sandstone and papermaking were other important industries. The coming of the railway further stimulated growth. By the end of the 19th century, Darwen had become a busy industrialised town surrounded by terraced workers’ housing. A range of public buildings had been built, the most important being the Town Hall in 1882. A focal point was established at the junction of Market Street, Bridge Street and Church Street known as the Circus and fronted by imposing banks and a hotel. Linked with this the Market Square contained the Municipal buildings. The addition of public parks and a tram link to Blackburn for which the terminus shelters of 1902 still survive completed the Victorian town. Many mills survived into the twentieth and twenty first centuries but have become redundant, and many others have been demolished leaving gap sites. The recently completed Townscape Heritage Initiative has successfully restored twenty five buildings in the commercial core and a complementary scheme in the St Peters’ Housing area carried out significant facelift improvements to heritage standards. The construction of the new leisure centre and Darwen Figure 3 Imposing bank building on the Circus Aldridge Community Academy at the edge of the Conservation Area have added imposing new landmarks, but the town essentially retains its distinct Victorian character. 7 Figure 4 Location of Darwen Conservation Area 8 2. Location and Setting. Darwen lies four miles south of Blackburn and is positioned to the upper end of the valley formed by the River Darwen. The urban area has countryside to the east, west and south with upland moors between it and the Manchester conurbation. The valley is typical of the deeply entrenched valley bottoms of the Pennines with development spreading along the valley sides below the moorland tops. The conservation area is centred on the junction of the main route from Blackburn to Bolton and an east west route leading to Hoddlesden. The town developed on the banks of the river Darwen which lies to the east of the Blackburn to Bolton route (A666), with the built up area making use of the narrow space between the hills either side of the river valley. The River Darwen is culverted for a significant proportion of the route through the town. The hills on the western side are steeper and more rugged in appearance than those to the east, rising to their highest point on Darwen Moor. As Figure 5 View of moorland from Conservation Area a consequence the gentler slopes on the eastern side of the valley were able to facilitate more development. The conservation area comprises the commercial core of the town with the railway line forming the eastern boundary. Sudell Road forms the southern boundary and the northern boundary follows a small section of Union Street and then continues behind properties in Duckworth Street. The western boundary weaves behind the Leisure Centre and the primary school and then incorporates Belgrave Chapel prior to joining Bolton Road. The conservation area comprises two distinct areas, the eastern terraced dwellings and grid iron streets of the St Peters area, and the remainder of the commercial core incorporating the market and town hall, the shopping streets of Duckworth Street and Bridge Street, and the terraced street of mixed commercial uses of Railway Road. The area includes the three listed churches St Peter, Belgrave Chapel and the former Wesleyan Chapel on Railway Road, Figure 6 The Circus at junction of Bolton Road and Market also listed are two tram shelters on Bolton Road. Street 9 3. Historical Development and Archaeology. The name Darwen is of British origin and derived from ‘Derventju’ meaning ‘river where the oak trees grow’. It was later applied to the settlement that was established on the banks of the river where it flows through a narrow cleft through the moors. The name evolved and is first recorded as Derewent in 1208. ( Source: Darwen Historic Town Assessment 2005) 3.1 Roman and Medieval Roots There is little prehistoric activity in the area other than a bronze age barrow which was investigated during the construction of Ashleigh, a mid nineteenth century villa built in the grounds of Low Hill Figure 7 View of church Street in 1879 (photo from house to the west of Bolton Road (Source: Darwen Historic Town Assessment 2005). Three well preserved Darwen Library) intact collared urns were recovered from the burial and are on display in Darwen library. There is little evidence of Roman settlement, or any post Roman or early medieval settlement within the defined urban area of Darwen, although a Roman road was established to link Manchester and Ribchester.