Mattingley Green and Mattingley West End Conservation Areas CHARACTER APPRAISAL AND MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS Date: 06.12.2012 Approved at Cabinet on 06.12.2012 HART DISTRICT COUNCIL Preface HART DISTRICT COUNCIL has agreed to adopt a comprehensive strategy for the conservation of its towns and villages which will seek to harness the various powers, organisations and resources available to positively promote conservation for the benefit of the District. The Council is required under section 71 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 to carry out periodic reviews of its conservation areas, ‘It shall be the duty of a local planning authority from time to time to formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of any parts of their area which are conservation areas’, 71., National Planning Policy Framework ( March 2012) recommends ‘that local planning authorities should ensure than an area justifies such status because of its special architectural or historic interest’, 127, p.30. To meet the above aims, Hart District Council has prepared this appraisal and proposals document in respect of the Mattingley Green and Mattingley West End Conservation Areas. The draft Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals Document was published for consultation in February 2004 and was considered at a public meeting of the Mattingley Parish Council held 2004. The comments received from that meeting and from other consultations were taken into account in finalising this document. The draft Conservation Area Appraisals and Management Document has been considered by Mattingley Parish Council in 2012, and have been approved at Council’s Cabinet meeting on Date: 06.12.2012 Head of Planning, Civic Offices, Harlington Way, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 4AE Tel 01252-622122 1 Contents Preface Page 1. Introduction 3 2. Location 4 3. History and Development of the Parish of Mattingley 5 4. Character Description 7 4.1 Mattingley Green Conservation Area 7 4.2 Mattingley West End Conservation Area 12 4.3 Landscape, Views and Open Spaces 15 4.4 Proposed Extension to Mattingley Green Conservation Area 15 5. Character Summary 16 6. Local Building Style and its Conservation 17 7. Issues 19 8. Implementation and Review 19 9. Planning Policies and Proposals 20 9.1 Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 20 9.2 Development Plan Policies 20 9.3 Mattingley Green and Mattingley West End Conservation Area Proposals 21 9.4 Obtaining Further Advice 22 10. Article 4 Directions 22 Bibliography of References 23 Appendix A – Publications and addresses for Further Advice 24 Appraisal Map 2 1. Introduction A conservation area is defined as “an area of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance”. The extent of the conservation areas is set by the local planning authority, which also has a duty to formulate and publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of such areas. Within conservation areas there are tighter development controls imposed by Government to ensure the special character is not harmed. The main additional controls are: Planning applications, which the local planning authority deems would affect the character of the conservation area, must be advertised to allow the general public to comment. Conservation Area Consent is required from the local planning authority for demolition of most buildings within a conservation area. Six weeks notice must be given to the local planning authority of the intention to lop, top, cut down or remove a tree within a conservation area. An Article 4 Direction made by the District Council in 1998 provides that most small alterations to dwelling houses, which might affect the character of the conservation area, need planning permission. Section 10 provides further details. Special consideration must be paid by the planning authority, in considering planning applications, to the desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of conservation areas. There are currently some 32 conservation areas in the District and the Council continues to consider whether further areas should be designated which meet the criteria above. The Government’s Nation Planning Policy Framework (MARCH 2012) refers to ‘local planning authorities should ensure that an area justifies such status because of its special architectural or historic interest, and that the concept of conservation is not devalued through the designation of areas that lack special interest’. It is proposed that this Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Proposals will now provide additional planning guidance to serve as a reference point when considering planning applications. The statement is based on an appraisal to establish the character of the conservation area, in order to assist owners, occupiers, officers, members of the Council and others in understanding just what is special about the area in architectural and historic terms. It also seeks to identify any elements that may be considered to be in need of improvement to better reflect the special nature of the area as a whole. Mattingley Green was first designated as a conservation area in 1978 and was revised in June 1988. Mattingley West End Conservation Area was designated June 1988. The areas covered are shown on the appraisal maps included at the end of the document. The details included in this document should not be taken as completely comprehensive and the omission of reference to any particular building, architectural detail, street-scene or view does not necessarily 3 imply that it is of no interest or value to the conservation area. 2 Location Mattingley Green is a rural village situated on the B3349 main road from Hook to Reading within the north western section of the Hart District. The surrounding villages are Rotherwick to the west and Heckfield to the north. The large expanse of Hazeley and its heathland is to the west and the much more extensive village of Hartley Wintney is to the south east. Local facilities are available at both Hartley Wintney and Hook which are each about 2 miles away. Reading and Basingstoke each about 10 miles, are the nearest major shopping towns. Main line stations are available to London Paddington from Reading and to London Waterloo from Hook and also Winchfield. The M4 motorway is accessible just to the south of Reading and the M3 has a junction at Hook. 3. History and Development of Mattingley Parish Ian Hewitt, in the Archaeological and Historical survey that he produced for Hampshire County Council in 1998 describes Mattingley as sprawling along a slight ridge at 68m above ordnance datum with houses thinly spread around the green but with a noticeable cluster at the northern end near the church. The Reading Road through the village is the main axis but there are minor narrow lanes running outwards to Hazeley in the north east, to Hartley Wintney along Dipley Road to the east and along Bottle Lane to the West End part of Mattingley to the west. In 1086 the village is called Matinglelge in the Domesday Book where it is noted as paying tax for one and a half hides. It is recorded as land for 3 ploughs, 8 villagers and 3 smallholders with 3 ploughs and just the one mill. The name had become Mattingele in 1242 whereas the Old English name Mattingaleah would have had the meaning of a wood (leah) associated with Matta. At the Domesday time Alfsi son of Brictsi is noted as holding the area from the King and Alric then held it from King Edward in freehold. In 1167 it was acquired by Revelendus, Lord of Mattingley who had three sons including Stephen de Mattingley. The mill at Mattingley was granted to the prior and convent of Merton by Stephen de Mattingley in 1206 and the mill concerned is believed to have stood near the clappers bridge until the 19th century. The form of the village is considered to derive from a composite church and manor house group with linked farmsteads and common edge developments. The order of the settlement is likely to have begun with the manorial buildings and farm buildings of Church Farm and the church itself. This would have been followed by additional cottages close to the church with common edge farmlet holdings enclosing the common on the east side of Mattingley Green. Even smaller squatter dwellings were then established at all four corners of the green at the entrances from the access tracks. The 1840 Tithe map indicates the funnel shape of the tracks around the common derived from the need to control the farm stock. The green and common areas would have been far less wooded than they are today and contained several ponds essential for the watering of the animals. 4 The church, which is not dedicated to a particular saint, is a 19th century restoration and extension of a late medieval timber framed structure which resembles a hall. Mattingley was a manor within the Parish of Heckfield and the church was probably a local chapel attached to the main St Michael’s Church at Heckfield which would explain its lack of dedication. Mattingley only became a separate Parish on its own in 1863. Bannister’s Farmhouse is considered to have marked the beginning of the common edge settlement which then extended around the green except for the west fringes where there remained enclosed fields. The Tithe map shows a series of plot shapes on the north-west side of the Reading Road which could indicate the presence of squatters cottages, clustered together, but this area is much altered today. A similar pattern is indicated on the south west side of Mattingley Green. On the eastern side of the green, the same 1840 map shows Mattingley House, Prior’s Farm and what is now the Leather Bottle public house.