LANCASTER DISTRICT LAND ALLOCATIONS DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENT LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT OF EMERGING SITE OPTIONS Grab Lane, Lancaster November 2012 LANCASTER DISTRICT LAND ALLOCATIONS DPD LANDSCAPE ASSESSMENT OF EMERGING SITE OPTIONS Grab Lane, Lancaster Contents page Preface 1 Site Location and Context 1 2 Landscape Character 2 3 Landscape Value 4 4 Potential for Development 7 5 Sensitivity of the Grab Lane site to changes 7 arising from its potential development 6 Potential for Mitigation 8 Figures: Figure B1: Plan: The existing character of the Grab Lane site Figure B2: Photographic views Figure B3: Plan: Potential for Mitigation Appendix: (separate volume) The Project Brief Woolerton Dodwell November 2012 PREFACE i. This report by Woolerton Dodwell was commissioned by Lancaster City Council. It provides a landscape assessment of the Grab Lane site, which is located on the eastern fringes of Lancaster, adjacent to the M6 motorway. The purpose of the landscape assessment is to help inform Lancaster City Council’s consideration of future growth options and ultimately the allocation of sites in the Land Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) which forms part of the Local Development Framework (LDF) for Lancaster District. ii. The Grab Lane site is one of a number of emerging site options identified by Lancaster City Council as strategic due to their size and location, and which if developed would have significant implications for the District both in terms of meeting future development needs and also in terms of potential impacts. iii. Landscape assessments have been prepared for the City Council for the following five strategic site options: • Bailrigg, Lancaster • Whinney Carr, Lancaster • Grab Lane, Lancaster • Carnforth South • Heysham Energy Coast iv. A further element of Woolerton Dodwell’s commission involved a review of areas within Lancaster District identified under ‘saved’ Local Plan Policy E31 as Key Urban Landscape. The policy states that these areas will be conserved and important natural features safeguarded, and that development in such areas will only be permitted where it preserves the open nature of the area and the character and appearance of its surroundings. The purpose of the review was to help inform consideration of the continued appropriateness of the Key Urban Landscape allocation in the Land Allocations DPD. The review was undertaken in two stages and is the subject of separate reports. Woolerton Dodwell November 2012 GRAB LANE STRATEGIC SITE OPTION (SHLAA 320) Landscape Assessment SITE LOCATION AND CONTEXT 1.1 The Grab Lane site is located on the eastern edge of Lancaster and comprises approximately 32 hectares of farmland. It lies immediately to the west of the M6 motorway and extends westward to a minor watercourse, Burrow Beck. Quernmore Road and existing residential development define the northern extent of the site and Wyresdale Road forms its southern boundary. Grab Lane subdivides the site, separating a flat low-lying area to the west from land that generally rises eastward towards the M6 motorway. This minor road runs NE – SW between Quernmore Road and Wyresdale Road, Apart from the adopted roads, there is no public access to the site. A farmstead, ‘Oatlands’ lies within the site, adjacent to and east of Grab Lane. It comprises a traditional stone farmhouse with a range of outbuildings including a large modern agricultural shed. 1.2 The site is designated Key Urban Landscape (saved Local Plan policy E31) and Woodland Opportunity Area (saved Local Plan policy E27). Quernmore Road and Wyresdale Road are designated Access Corridors under saved Local Plan policy E47. National Grid’s high-pressure natural gas underground pipeline runs along the eastern margins of the site, parallel to the M6 motorway. 1.3 Rushy unimproved grassland and wet carr woodland (Fenham Carr, a County Biological Heritage Site) abut the western site boundary and extend to Fenham Carr Road where four detached houses are located with views across the site towards the south-east. Beyond Fenham Carr Road, land rises steeply to form the east-facing wooded slopes of a low ridge (109m AOD) on which Williamson Park and the distinctive Ashton Memorial (Grade I Listed) are located. The ridge screens and separates the Grab Lane site from the main urban area of Lancaster. 1.4 To the north of the Grab Lane site are Standen Gate and Standen Park, recent residential developments of detached, semi-detached and terraced properties, together with three storey flats. There is also a ribbon of post-war semi-detached houses along Quernmore Road. On the north side of Quernmore Road is the former Lancaster Moor Hospital (Grade II Listed Building) where outline planning permission has been granted for the conversion of the former hospital into apartments and houses and for 440 new build homes in the grounds. Developer partners for the site were announced in November 2012. 1.5 The M6 motorway forms the site’s eastern boundary, passing it principally on low embankment or at grade. Tree cover established intermittently on the motorway embankments and reserves interrupts, in places, the views that are available westward across the site towards Lancaster. To the east of the M6 land continues to rise towards the fells of the Forest of Bowland AONB. To the south of the site a range of established commercial uses are located on the south side of Wyresdale Road, including Woolerton Dodwell 1 November 2012 Lancaster Leisure Park, Lancaster Auction Centre, a meat processing facility, marquee hire centre and a small hotel, together with a tract of grazing land and significant tree cover. LANDSCAPE CHARACTER Existing Landscape Character Assessments ° National Landscape Character 1 - Character Area 31: Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary ° Lancashire Landscape Character Assessment 2 – Character type 13 Drumlin Field ° Lancashire Landscape Character Assessment – Character area 13c Docker-Kellet-Lancaster ° Lancashire Historic Landscape Character Assessment 3 – Character type: Post-Mediaeval Enclosure 1.6 Descriptions contained in National Character Area 31: Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary help to establish a broad overview of the landscapes in this part of Lancashire. One of its ‘key characteristics’ is described as: ° Broad, relatively flat lowlands enclosed by steeply sloping escarpments which open out dramatically into the undulating landscape of the coastal strip with substantial drumlin features. 1.7 The Lancashire Landscape Character Assessment (LLCA) presents a county-wide classification of landscape character based on mapping at 1:50000 scale. It classifies the whole of the Grab Lane site as Landscape Character type 13: ‘Drumlin Field’ The type is generally characterised by a rolling landscape of elongated hillocks – drumlins - that were deposited as boulder clay by retreating ice sheets. The drumlins are variable in form but typically have relatively steep sides and broad rounded tops, and form a distinctive ‘basket of eggs’ landscape of discrete hillocks separated by lower-lying land. The drumlins have a relatively consistent orientation; those in ‘Drumlin Field’ are aligned roughly north-east - south-west and this gives the landscape a distinctive grain. The drumlins vary in height; within the character type as a whole, 100m and 200m AOD is typical although at Grab Lane the drumlin is a little lower. The Grab Lane site has a transitional location at the western and southern margins of the character type, close to its boundary with the more elevated ‘Farmed Ridges’ landscape type to the east. 1.8 At a more local level, the Grab Lane strategic site encompasses the western side slopes and gently undulating top of a drumlin together with much of a relatively flat low-lying area at the foot of the drumlin that separates the drumlin from the Williamson Park ridge to the west. The flat low-lying area is crossed by the Burrow Beck watercourse which runs north-east - south-west along the western boundary of the site. Two sub-areas are identified within the Grab Lane site: a western area of generally flat valley floor farmland and an eastern area of rolling drumlin farmland. 1 Countryside Character Volume 1: North West England Area 31 Morecambe Coast and Lune Estuary (Countryside Agency 1998) 2 A Landscape Strategy for Lancashire: Landscape Character Assessment (Lancashire County Council 2000) 3 Lancashire Historic Landscape Character Map (Lancashire County Council 2000) available at mario.lancashire.gov.uk Woolerton Dodwell 2 November 2012 Valley floor farmland: Key characteristics: ° Generally flat or gently undulating land that forms the south-eastern part of the valley floor of Burrow Beck (adjacent watercourse). The land is crossed by two minor watercourses that drain into Burrow Beck. ° The valley floor is confined between and overlooked by the drumlin and by the Williamson Park ridge to the north-west. It lies to the north-west of a drumlin, below a pronounced break in slope, above which land rises to form the side slopes of the drumlin in the eastern part of the site. ° Open farmland in mixed agricultural use that contains few landscape elements apart from occasional trees along roadside boundaries and adjacent to housing that contribute to landscape colour and texture and provide some limited opportunities for wildlife. ° The historic pattern of field enclosure (pre-1850) on the west side of Grab Lane is only weakly defined by post-and wire fencing that has limited physical and visual presence. Stone walls enclose roadside field boundaries fields on the east side of Grab Lane. ° A cluster of built development comprising the ‘Oatlands’ farmstead and outbuildings including a large agricultural shed. Rolling drumlin farmland: Key characteristics : ° Sloping land that rises to form the characteristically rounded western side slopes and broader undulating top of a drumlin landform. The eastern side of the drumlin merges into rising land of the ‘Farmed Ridges’ landscape type to the east. ° The drumlin forms a characteristic elongated hillock that rises to 83m AOD at its northern end and is overlooked from more elevated land to the east.