THE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF CATHEDRAL CITIES AND HISTORIC TOWNS for English Heritage by Green Balance with David Burton-Pye October 2014 1 NHPP 2A1 & 6B1: The Sustainable Growth of Cathedral Cities and Historic Towns English Heritage reference: Project 6911 Author Job Title Organisation Contact details Richard Bate Partner Green Balance [email protected] tel.: 01732 811456 David Burton-Pye (Sole trader) [email protected] tel.: 01902 743950 Acknowledgements: Amongst the large number of individuals who gave their time to enable this report to be completed, the authors wish to thank particularly: Helen Homard who was subcontracted to approach the local planning authorities for the fifty historic towns analysed in Chapter 2, and successfully obtained a high response rate and much useful data; The project steering group of English Heritage staff who oversaw the direction of the work and made useful suggestions, especially Charles Wagner (Head of Planning and Urban Advice) and Tim Brennan (Senior Regeneration Adviser) who made frequent contributions to keep the work flowing; The interviewees for the project, named in Appendix 1, who kindly spent a considerable time responding to our questions by telephone (for the 20 towns reviewed for their planning approaches in chapter 3) or face-to-face (for the 8 case study cities); Consultees who responded with suggestions for the methodologies worthy of study and places where particular principles had been applied; and Seminar attendees on 28th July 2014 who contributed comments on the draft report. Front cover illustrations: Methodologies for reconciling growth with heritage Oxford: Cambridge: View cones Urban intensification Lichfield: Historic Characterisation Cambridge: Chester: Cambourne new settlement Design response to historic environment Green Balance Providence Cottage Upper Green Road Shipbourne Kent TN11 9PL Tel./fax.: 01732 811456 Email: [email protected] Web: www.greenbalance.co.uk The sustainable growth of cathedral cities and historic towns by Green Balance with David Burton-Pye 2 Table of Contents Page Summary 3 1. The Project 5 Aims and objectives Background Report structure 2. Development anticipated in 50 historic towns 9 Research method Housing development Retail development Commercial development Infrastructure development Conclusions 3. Plan-making for historic settlements 24 Background Making the planning system work for heritage Methodology The evidence base on the heritage character and setting of the selected towns Local Plan policies on the heritage character and setting of the selected towns Core Strategy policies on the heritage character and setting of the selected towns The effects of the transition to Core Strategy policies The impact of the National Planning Policy Framework Variation in local authority commitment to towns’ heritage character and setting Conclusions 4. Methodologies for reconciling growth with historic settlements 46 Introduction Historic characterisation including historic landscape characterisation Skylines Urban intensification Urban extensions New settlements Urban containment World Heritage Site Conclusion 5. Overview of the eight case study cities 59 Introduction Case study summaries Review of significant heritage issues as they apply in all case study cities Cross-cutting heritage issues in the case study cities Commentary Recommendations 84 Appendix 1 Interviewees 88 Appendix 2 Consultees on methodologies 92 Appendices 3-10 Case Study Cities: Bath, Cambridge, Chester, Durham, Lichfield, Oxford, Salisbury, Winchester 93 The sustainable growth of cathedral cities and historic towns by Green Balance with David Burton-Pye 3 SUMMARY This report investigates the effectiveness of local plan-making in protecting England’s heritage at the scale of the character and setting of smaller cathedral cities and historic towns. It explores how current policy and practice address potential tensions between meeting local development needs and giving proper weight to conserving the special qualities of historic settlements. The first of three principal topics reviewed is the scale of development anticipated in historic towns. A web-based study of fifty historic towns covered by up-to-date development plans was supplemented by interviews with development management staff in their local planning authorities. The data identified show that only modest development is expected in most smaller settlements (under 35,000 population). Otherwise there is no relationship between the size of historic towns and the scale of proposed housing, retail, commercial or infrastructure development. This applies both to development anticipated in the short term (measured by unimplemented permissions) and in the next 5-7 years (measured by commitments in adopted Core Strategies). The majority of planned housing and commercial development, which is particularly space-consuming, is expected on greenfield sites, broadly equating with urban expansion rather than land recycling. No reliable differences are apparent between historic towns in different regions. The heritage interest in towns does not appear to be a determining feature in shaping the type, quantity or location of new development. The second aspect of the research is a review of the weight given to whole historic towns in the plan-making process and to these policies in practice. Twenty historic towns are examined, each covered by Core Strategies adopted since the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework in March 2012. All relevant heritage policy documents were studied, all Development Plan Documents and their Sustainability Appraisals, and the saved policies from earlier development plans. Telephone interviews were then conducted with the local authority Conservation Officer for each town and with an experienced representative of the leading voluntary sector body in each town concerned with heritage and planning issues. The findings show that policies in most towns are supported by an adequate or good heritage evidence base and that policies in most former Local Plans provide some basis for heritage planning at the whole town scale. However, new Core Strategies contain insufficiently detailed heritage policies to ensure satisfactory outcomes in relation to other policy pressures, though many do mention the protection of the settings and characters of historic towns. Local policies, such as Area Action Plans, can provide more detailed heritage policies where development is planned in a heritage setting, though experience in taking up the opportunities is variable. Sustainability Appraisals also vary greatly in quality, often failing to provide sufficient conclusions or recommendations to capitalise on the evaluation work. Few Core Strategies had more than limited impact on local heritage strategy: continuity from past practice was prevalent. Likewise, the impact of the National Planning Policy Framework had been modest, with noticeable rebalancing between growth and heritage only in one case. The sustainable growth of cathedral cities and historic towns by Green Balance with David Burton-Pye 4 The key finding across the twenty towns is that the cultural approach of councillors to heritage is critical. The economic wellbeing of towns is councillors’ primary concern everywhere, though this is interpreted differently from place to place. Councillors could take views ranging from heritage being beneficial to a town’s distinctiveness and economy to it representing a burden and a drag on investment. Attitudes affect the numbers of conservation staff employed, evidence commissioned, policies adopted and decisions taken, all reflecting the relative priority given to heritage. In practice, heritage considerations are having some impact on the scale of development promoted through plan-making at historic towns, but this is secondary to the determination of both central and local government to provide the necessary homes, jobs and facilities needed by a rising number of households. There is some relationship between good heritage policies and good heritage outcomes, but the weight given to heritage policies varies: some policies may be aspirational, whereas in other authorities voluntary organisations successfully spurred councils to take existing heritage policies more seriously. Good heritage policies are necessary, but neither an end in themselves nor sufficient to secure positive results for historic towns. The principal topic studied in most detail was the third: a report on the methodologies used for reconciling growth with the interests of historic settlements, concentrating on good practice examples illustrating the methodologies available. Whether these are heritage evaluation tools or established planning tools, to be useful they must be adapted to apply at the urban scale within the land use planning system. They are not exclusive, and in many towns and cities more than one is in use. Nine methodologies were chosen and reviewed in their practical application in eight cities. Each methodology is reviewed briefly, explaining its principles, how it functions, selected documents which review it, and examples of places where it has been applied. Greater detail is reserved for the case studies, each presented as appendices to the report, covering the following methodologies in the chosen cities: – World Heritage Site in Bath; – both urban intensification and new settlements in Cambridge; – design response to the historic environment in Chester; – Green Belt in Durham; – historic