Impact on Colwall Conservation Area

Your Concerns Count

he Colwall Conservation Area is a Designated Heritage Asset, protected by law. The Council is required to consider the preservation or enhancement of its character and appearance.

The Conservation Officer has confirmed the proposals would “not entirely preserve the character and appearance of the Conservation Area”.

In a further October 2023 representation the Landscape Officer said

“There will be a permanent change in the character of Old Church Road due to the introduction of the suburban style vehicle access, trimming of hedgerows for visibility splays, and the new proposed footway. This will have the appearance of widening the corridor, reducing the current strong rural character.

The site itself will have a major negative change due to the loss of open agricultural land replaced with the introduction of housing and associated infrastructure.”

A copy of the Conservation Area Designation Document can be found here. This document was not used (or even read) during the development of the Colwall NDP, or when this planning application was submitted.

For a map of the Conservation Area visit here.

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Why are we building in a conservation area when there are other options available?

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The application

Visit www.herefordshire.gov.uk and search for application no. 230457.

Commenting on this application through has closed as the application has been decided.

A village poll on this application took place on Wednesday 14th June '23. The poll was requested at a recent parish meeting by a large number of local residents who were asked: “Do you oppose the development of a new housing estate on the Grovesend Field site in the Conservation Area off Old Church Road?”

The poll is not binding but was held to get a clear understanding of the views of the village. There was an emphatic answer with 92% voting against the proposed development. For full poll results please see here

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Herefordshire’s own adopted 2007 Character Statement refers to Grovesend Field as ‘an intrinsic element of this part of the village (making) a significant contribution to the character and appearance of the area’. It identifies views across the development site and the ‘full importance’ (of this and other open spaces) in views from Jubilee Drive.

The Colwall Conservation Area is a Designated Heritage Asset, protected by law. The Council is required to consider the preservation or enhancement of its character and appearance¹.

The planning application refers to consultations with the Council’s Conservation Officer, but not the adopted Character Statement, nor any attempt to measure the impact of the proposals against that baseline assessment. The presumption that harm from the development can be mediated by the development is, in law, wrong².

A grant of consent on that basis, noting that the Conservation Officer has confirmed the proposals would ‘not entirely preserve the character and appearance of the Conservation Area’, would be capable of challenge in the High Court³. Plainly, the erection of 36 houses cannot ‘preserve’ the character and appearance of a field included in the Conservation Area because of the views and openness it allows.

(1) Section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.

(2) Set out in Lakeland and affirmed in Barnwell (Court of Appeal) the consideration as to the effect of a proposal upon a Conservation Area ‘must be regarded as having considerable importance and weight’ and that if a proposal would fail to preserve or enhance a Conservation Area there is a ‘strong presumption that permission should not be granted unless desirable on the grounds of some public interest’. No public interest argument has been advanced.

(3) As provided by Section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.