Ravensthorpe Village Design Statement Adopted February 2017 SUMMARY The Ravensthorpe Village Design Statement (VDS) was originally prepared in 1998 and adopted on 13 January 1999 as Supplementary Planning Guidance to work in conjunction with the Daventry District Council Local Plan. It has proved to be a useful resource and has contributed to a number of planning decisions. During 2014, Ravensthorpe Parish Council agreed that it would be appropriate to update the VDS to take account of changes in the village and in planning policies. This has provided an opportunity to revise the layout of the document to make it easier to use and reference. Following consultation within the village the text has been revised and reworded where appropriate to improve clarity or to reflect changes since 1999. The aim of the VDS is to raise awareness of design within Ravensthorpe and to produce a set of guidelines that will influence the form of future development and help to preserve the character of the village. VDS6.03f CONTENTS Introduction Page 2 Village Context Page 3 Historical Notes Population Landscape Setting Page 4 Views and Approaches Settlement Patterns Page 6 Characterisation Community and Commercial Facilities Page 9 Amenities and Employment Important public and private spaces Buildings Page 14 Types and Styles Local Materials Boundaries: Hedges Fences and Walls Highways and Infrastructure Page 16 Roads and Streets Parking and Lighting Footpaths, Bridleways and Cycleways Street Furniture, Utilities and Services Environmental Sustainability Page 18 APPENDICES Page 20 1 Area covered by Design Statement 2 Land Use around Ravensthorpe 3 Important Open Spaces and Views 4 Current Planning Policies 5 Listed Buildings 1 INTRODUCTION The Village Design Statement (VDS) describes Ravensthorpe as it is today and highlights the qualities Who should use valued by its residents. This updated document has been this guide? produced by a group of villagers in consultation with all households in Ravensthorpe, so that local knowledge, views • Property owners planning and ideas may contribute to improving the quality of our extensions and changes environment. In a village survey conducted in 2014, over • Developers and Builders half the households responded and more than 95% of respondents supported the preparation of an updated VDS • Ravensthorpe Parish for Ravensthorpe. An open meeting was held in May 2015 Council to present the draft VDS and seek comments. This was followed by a guided walk around the village to discuss the • Daventry District Council valued views and open spaces. During the revision process • Highways authorities drafts of the document were published on the Ravensthorpe Village Website seeking comments and suggestions which • Utilities companies have influenced the final document. This VDS is aimed at ensuring that our local distinctiveness and character is taken into consideration when local planning decisions are being taken. In this document, the term "Ravensthorpe" refers to the village of Ravensthorpe itself and the landscape surrounding it within the boundaries delineated on the map in Appendix 1. In general these follow the parish boundary but exclude the separate settlement of Coton. This document has been adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document by Daventry District Council. It will be a material consideration when considering any planning application in or near the parish and provides guidelines for future changes. Fig 1 St Denys Church 2 Fig 2 The Chequers Public House Fig 3 Thatched Post Office& Village Shop changes in the landscape. In1890 Ravensthorpe 1 VILLAGE CONTEXT Reservoir was constructed in the valley to the Ravensthorpe is a rural village situated in northeast of the village. northwest Northamptonshire, approximately The second half of the twentieth century saw a midway between Northampton and Rugby, eight fundamental change in Ravensthorpe's economy miles northeast of Daventry, and eleven miles which until then had been predominantly southeast of Market Harborough. agricultural and many changes to its building stock and local services, including the closure 1.1 Historical Notes and demolition of the village school and the former Baptist Chapel. There is an entry for 'Ravenstorp' in the Doomsday Book of 1086 which describes a population of 3 freemen, 4 villagers and 8 1.2 Population smallholders. The present Church dates from From a peak of 620 in 1821 the village 1290. The Font Bowl is older and may be from population had fallen to 315 by 1961. In 2015 an earlier Church on the site. Ravensthorpe has around 250 households and a Ravensthorpe retained the open field system until population of approximately 660. At the 2011 relatively late but enclosure in 1795 led to major census 19% were under 18 and 21% over 65. Fig 4 Enclosure map 1795 3 2 LANDSCAPE SETTING Ravensthorpe is situated in a Special Landscape Area on the fringe of the Guilsborough Ironstone Uplands, characterised by sweeping open views of wide valleys and distant hilltop settlements. Ravensthorpe is classified as a 'Restricted Infill Village' in the saved Local Plan. Glacial Sand & Gravel Glacial Boulder Clay Northampton Sand (g5) Upper Lias Mudstone (g3) Fig 6 Geology around Ravensthorpe Around the village there are a few small Fig 5 Open country North from Guilsborough Road collections of barns and byres of the local orange-red brick under tile or slate roofs. Although no longer in active use their size, design The village occupies a ridge, which is and texture provide pleasing reference points demarcated by the valleys of the Washbrook to within the landscape. the south and Coton Brook to the north. These meet one mile east of the village and form much To the north east of the village Ravensthorpe of the parish boundary. This provides a well- Reservoir is a prominent feature of the local drained site on an outcrop of Northamptonshire landscape. The road to Guilsborough crosses Sand close to the spring line above underlying the reservoir on a hedged causeway and Upper Lias clay. provides access to the reservoir nature reserve and the hamlet of Coton. To the northwest, parts of the outcrop are overlain by glacial deposits including sands, gravels and The copses around the reservoir and the many clays. The local geology is reflected in the older trees in the hedges give the landscape a wooded building fabric of warm-hued brown sandstone appearance. Much of this dates from the 1795 and cob (mud). Enclosure of the formerly open fields. The Enclosure hedges are important features of 2.1 Views and Approaches the local landscape . In the past these were kept The hilltop tower of St Denys church is prominent thick and stout by traditional laying methods. in many views toward Ravensthorpe although numerous trees screen much of the village. From the village there are attractive views out over a mix of arable farming and pasture, largely devoid of visually intrusive man-made structures. These, together with some valued views within the village, are numbered 1 to 9 in blue on the map in Appendix 3 The sense of proximity to the countryside is a highly valued attribute of the village and contributes to its rural character. Fig 7 Church tower from NE 4 Fig 8 View of Ravensthorpe across reservoir and Top Ardles Wood The approach roads to the village have had avenues of trees for most of the last two centuries: Dutch Elm disease has destroyed many trees on the approach from Guilsborough but intact avenues remain on the West and East Haddon roads. Top Ardles Wood, a public area planted by villagers and the Woodland Trust to mark the millennium, connects the northeast corner of the village to the reservoir basin, with diverse native tree species and views from the village to the reservoir through wide "rides". Fig 9 West Haddon Road with avenue of trees Fig 10 Ravensthorpe from the Reservoir Fig 11 Ravensthorpe from SE LANDSCAPE GUIDELINES L1 Any development on the approach roads should avoid damaging the visual integrity of the avenues of mature hedgerow trees. Replacement of damaged or diseased trees should be encouraged L2 Listed important views within the village, and into the countryside should be protected L3 Where new agricultural buildings are necessary in open countryside they should be located and designed to minimise their visual impact L4 Proposals involving large intrusive structures such as wind turbines and solar panel arrays should demonstrate overwhelming benefits to the community to balance the loss of social and environmental amenity 5 3 SETTLEMENT PATTERNS The aerial views and map of Ravensthorpe show the contrasting patterns of development and reflect the different periods of building. Early development was concentrated around the church and along the High Street which forms part of the east/west route from Long Buckby to Brixworth. The northern boundary of the village was formed by a lane called Backside (now Guilsborough Road) which enclosed open fields in the centre of the village. The village was almost entirely agricultural with most buildings being farmhouses, associated cottages and Fig 12 Cottages at junction of Church Hill & Coton Road agricultural buildings. Older buildings are generally sited either directly onto the street or to match local styles and much of the newer set back slightly, with a boundary wall between housing has been laid out as cul-de-sacs on house and pavement. Access is frequently to the former fields, allotments and orchards. side and behind, with outbuildings along the edge of plots and in some cases the buildings are set end on to the street. 3.1 Characterisation The village can be viewed as two distinct areas: (i) the more densely settled older parts of the village comprising the High Street, Church Hill, parts of the Guilsborough Road, Teeton Road and The Hollow. (ii) other areas of the village - most of Guilsborough Road, West Haddon Road, East Haddon Road, Scott Close, Little Lane, Bettycroft Close, Church Gardens, The Orchards and Dairy Field and Court.