Planning & Design Practice obtained planning and listed building consent last month for the conversion of part of a complex of curtilage listed barns near Ashbourne to dependent relative accommodation.
The newly created accommodation will enable two generations of the same family to live alongside one another in attractive Derbyshire countryside. The applications required careful space planning and sensitivity to the historic buildings given their listed status.
The Planning and Listed Building application was for the conversion of a double garage, utility room and snug to dependent relative accommodation, to house the elderly parents of the new owners of the property. The proposals would see the existing snug and utility rooms repurposed as a bedroom and bathroom respectively. The garage will become a living/kitchen area, with recessed glazed panels inserted into the existing door openings. A new internal wall will be constructed to separate the annex. Two conservation rooflights will be inserted into the roof.
The property is part of a traditional range of brick-built barns at a Derbyshire Farm, converted several years ago. The farmhouse itself is Grade II Listed, the barns curtilage Listed.
The impact of the physical works on the character and appearance of the curtilage Listed Buildings are relatively minor. There are few historic features internally (concrete floors, concrete block walling, modern timber roof), thus the relatively minor changes (new wall, raised floor, insulation, opening the roof space, kitchen unit and bathroom) can be accommodated without undue harm.
Obtaining planning permission can provide you with that dream home in the countryside or maybe the way of life you have always dreamt of.
It can also bring about significant gains and help to maximise the value of your rural property. However, development in the countryside is subject to strict planning controls which can make obtaining planning permission very difficult. We have vast experience of working on rural projects for homeowners, landowners and farmers in rural areas. If you have any questions about a rural planning project please do not hesitate to get in touch.
We were delighted to hear the news that Ashbourne Methodist Church were successful in gaining planning permission recently for a major redevelopment of their premises.
Local councillors voted unanimously to approve the plans, and made many supportive comments which recognised the significant community benefits that will come from the planned development.
The proposed development, named “The Link”, will provide a new community hub, allowing the church to better support the people of the Ashbourne area. The development involves providing a new entrance from Station Road that will provide access to all parts of the premises, unifying all the buildings into one complex and significantly improving access. The plan will also redevelop the main body of the church, providing a flexible space suitable for community events such as concerts, as well as for worship. Once Covid restrictions allow, of course!
Part of the proposed redevelopment of the site, will see the removal of the 1940s hut at the back of the site. The proposal is to build 10 low maintenance apartments on this town centre ‘brownfield’ site, including two apartments in the existing former caretaker’s cottage “Chapel House” and others newly built.
Jon Millhouse, Director at Planning Design, a Chartered Town Planner and a Full Member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, said, “We were delighted to hear that the Council voted unanimously to approve this scheme.
“We prepared a Planning and Heritage report to support the church’s Planning and Listed Building applications, and advised them through the application process. We wish the committee the best of luck with this extremely beneficial project.”
This is an exciting new chapter in the rich history of these Victorian buildings. The current church on Church Street was opened in 1880/81 as a Wesleyan Methodist Church.
As planning consultants and agents we have been working with the developers FW Harrison since 2011 to facilitate the largest single development site in the Derbyshire Dales. Work on this multi-million pound scheme will unlock land for employment and housing development, helping to drive the regeneration of Ashbourne.
Having first achieved outline planning permission in 2015 we obtained detailed consent for the link road and this led to a technical start being made on the road in 2019. Since then the county council submitted revised proposals for the roundabout and modifications to the link road and the developers submitted a fresh outline planning permission for the whole site which was agreed earlier this year.
The Airfield site will release up to 20ha of new industrial and commercial development. This will provide a major boost to the economy at a time when the economic performance of the Derbyshire Dales is being suppressed by Covid 19 lockdown restrictions. It should help to lower future unemployment rates in the Ashbourne area as it will allow the expansion of existing businesses located on the Airfield industrial estate, it will facilitate the creation of new businesses and attract new companies to the area.
The new link road will provide a second access onto Blenheim Road which will lower congestion on the Derby Road. It will provide a new high quality entrance to the town; the new road will be landscaped and will contain wide footpaths and a cycleway. A new bus service will be routed along the new road and the road and the commercial and industrial development will be drained to a large balancing pond which will also serve as an area for wildlife. The new development will reduce the potential for flooding from the Airfield and the new drainage features and landscaping will protect existing housing on the edge of the airfield from increased noise and disturbance.
There is planning permission for 367 houses and in Phase II of the development a further area of housing and community facilities is proposed as part of the Adopted Local Plan adding up to 1200 new homes. This is in line with sustainable development principles and will provide homes close to work, schools and neighbourhood shopping and community facilities. With good public transport and a network of footpaths and cycle ways, the extension of Ashbourne will create a balanced sustainable community. New areas of open space will be provided with play areas and areas for outdoor sports and recreation. There will be a choice in the modes of transport and the development will not rely on the private car. The Airfield presents a major opportunity for the District to accommodate new development sustainably, with housing for the whole community, from apartments and bungalows for the elderly to large family homes. There will be mixed tenure with the housing to rent as well as homes to buy. There will be affordable housing, some of which may be developed by the Council’s housing arm.
The opening up of the airfield site through the construction of the new roundabout and the link road is very exciting and is an important milestone in realising the vision for the site. This is a shared vision of the County and District authorities and by the developers and their consultants. All sides have worked hard to get this project off the ground and in these uncertain times the start of this key project is to be warmly welcomed.
Jonathan Jenkin, Managing Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd
Planning & Design have a wealth of experience in designing and securing planning permission for commercial projects. We have the required skills to design both small and large scale schemes in-house and tailor the design to the client’s unique specifications.
Unsure of your site’s potential? Contact us on 01332 347371 for a no obligation consultation, we are able to provide our professional opinion on the planning potential of your property from the outset.
PDP has successfully secured planning permission for an exciting new development of 11 ‘Wildhive’ woodland cabins at Callow Hall just outside the Derbyshire market town of Ashbourne, writes Richard Pigott, Director at Planning & Design Practice Ltd.
We wrote last December about a number of proposals we have been working on at Callow Hall, a well-established Grade II listed country house hotel providing luxury accommodation for tourism and business. The site was acquired by Wildhive in 2018 but with the clear understanding that the existing 16 bed hotel is simply not viable without a greater number of bed spaces.
Since 2018 we have been commissioned by Wildhive to provide planning consultancy services on a number of exciting proposals for Callow Hall including:
Conversion of the Grade II listed former stables/coach house building to 4 holiday suites;
Creation of a new car park to the east of the access drive;
New garden room extension; and
Internal and external alterations to reconfigure and sympathetically modernise the main Callow Hall building.
However. perhaps the most exciting but also the most contentious element was the proposal to create 11 woodland cabins or “Wildhives” within the woodland adjacent to the hall. The application was initially hit by stiff opposition from a number of key consultees. We were always confident that the heritage concerns could be offset by the economic benefits of the proposal but the wood’s formal designation as ancient woodland led to objections from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, the Woodland Trust and council’s the Trees and Landscape Officer as they all felt the scheme would harm the woodland.
At this juncture, we recommended that the clients commission Sylvan Consulting, the country’s only specialist ancient woodland consultancy, a bi-disciplinary collaboration covering arboriculture and biodiversity. They have an unrivalled track record of success in respect of ancient woodland, veteran trees and historic landscapes.
Sylvan’s detailed site analysis found that despite Callow Wood’s ancient woodland designation, it contains very few veteran trees and is relatively biodiverse‐poor. Two of its most significant problems arise from its attributes as a small and relatively isolated wood. Added to this are the problems of uncontrolled and prolific rabbit activity; and lack of beneficial management. Sylvan concluded that any negative impacts within the woodland would be significantly outweighed by a package of mitigation measures including beneficial woodland management; rabbit control; tree and hedgerow planting, and management changes, to create and enhance connectivity to Mapleton Road Wood (another area of ancient woodland lying a short distance to the west). The result will be a larger area of woodland that is greater than the sum of its parts, thus enhancing Callow Wood as well.
The objectors, however, were not convinced and the planning officer recommended that the planning committee should refuse the application.
However, local councillors took a different view and went against officer recommendation. Councillor Sir Richard Fitz-Herbert of the Dovedale and Parwich ward advocated that councillors vote against the officer’s recommendation to turn down the scheme. He said “It represents to me a huge investment in Derbyshire Dales, a huge investment in Ashbourne and a huge investment into our area and to tourism businesses in the Peak District.
He continued, “While it is ancient woodland, I think certainly as far as the Derbyshire Dales goes, that the benefits of this development will outweigh any particular harm and there are lots of mitigating points done by the applicants in this way.”
As well as securing the future of the hotel, the economic and social benefits of the scheme, as set out in the Economic Footprint Report, will include:
Attracting 8,175 overnight visitors per annum, generating more than £1m in visitor expenditure across a range of sectors in the local economy
40 Full-Time Equivalent jobs (allowing for economic multiplier impacts);
Generating demand for local suppliers, with £400,000 per annum spent with businesses in Ashbourne, rising to £650,000 across Derbyshire Dales; and
This multi million pound investment also amounts to a massive vote of confidence in Ashbourne and the Derbyshire Dales as we deal with the effects of Covid-19.
We look forward to seeing the re invigoration and transformation of Callow Hall come to fruition as they look to re-open in the spring of 2021, incorporating the Wildhive cabins.
Planning & Design Practice finally received planning permission for a bungalow within a Conservation area in Derbyshire.
The location is about 4 miles from Wirksworth and 6 miles from Ashbourne. The whole of Kirk Ireton is designated as a Conservation area.
It has been a long process with the local authority on this project due to many legislative constraints to overcome.
The existing site is approx. 1000m2 and currently forms part of the extensive garden associated with the Beehive property.
An outline was previously submitted for this site back in 2015. This was refused as the local authority had concerns over the size of the proposed bungalow in comparison to the size of the plot, the proximity to the neighbouring property and that the form of the proposed was out of keeping of the character and appearance of Kirk Ireton.
Since the 2015 refusal there were extensive consultations with the local authority following two other appeal decisions in the village. These two appeal decisions allowed for a few key points, which were;
Affirmed that the village is suitable to accommodate additional housing
Kirk Ireton is a sustainable settlement
Modern developments are acceptable on the edge of the village without harm to the Conservation area
Consequently, these appeals led to a change in attitude of the local authority who agreed that the development of this site would be acceptable in principle. The council laid out how they felt this site should be developed, which led to how the approved scheme took shape.
The approved scheme is a single storey l-shaped bungalow using natural coursed gritstone and Staffordshire blue clay tiles. The scheme has also been designed to provide a future proof layout incorporating fully accessible features for the client. The council’s guided pre-application response for a property that has an agricultural barn/stables have been taken on-board by Planning & Design’s approved scheme.
Callow Hall is a well-established Grade II listed country house hotel providing luxury accommodation for tourism and business from its location just outside Ashbourne. However, the existing hotel currently has just 16 bedrooms which restricts its ability to hold larger functions/conferences and, consequently, affects its overall viability. The Hive Hotel Group bought the site about 18 months ago and have publicly stated that their ambition to preserve the character of the property and protect the natural environment which surrounds it.
For the past year PDP have been commissioned by Hive to provide planning consultancy services on a number of exciting proposals for Callow Hall including:
Conversion of the Grade II listed former stables/coach house building to 4 holiday suites working alongside Childs Sulzmann Architects. This application was approved in September 2019 and work to discharge the conditions is ongoing.
Minor internal and external alterations to the main Callow Hall building working alongside Tate Harmer Architects. Planning consent was obtained in July 2019.
Creation of a new car park to the east of the access drive working alongside Childs Sulzmann Architects. Planning permission was granted in November 2019.
Applications are also pending for a garden room extension to the west of the main building and, most excitingly of all, the erection of 11 treehouses in the wood to the west of the main hall. This is particular challenging as it is designated as ancient woodland, which gives it a very high degree of protection. As such we need to ensure that we don’t do anything to harm the integrity or unique character of the woodland.
All of these applications have had their challenges and have required the input of numerous 3rd party consultants including heritage specialists, tree consultants, ecologists, structural engineers and landscape architects. Part of our job has been to advise on what is required, coordinate the documents and liaise with Derbyshire Dales District Council who we have good working relations with. We look forward to obtaining consent for the remaining 2 applications and seeing Callow Hall to being to prosper again in 2020.
Planning & Design have secured planning consent for a rear extension to form a swimming pool at a former farmhouse on the outskirts of Ashbourne. We had the pleasure of returning to a former client’s property to design them a new swimming pool for their property. The property, a former farmhouse, was in desperate need of attention when our clients first bought the property and the previous owner even had a sheep living in the house. It has since undergone a huge transformation to a glorious restored farmhouse with internal alterations and extensions to bring the dwelling up to modern living standards.
The clients were keen to position a swimming pool with changing area and plant room at the rear of the house in the curtilage of the farmhouse. The pool was designed with a green sedum roof and a parapet brick wall so that the building would read as a walled garden when approaching the site. The change in levels across the site also assisted in making the building subservient to the existing dwelling. Large glazed doors were incorporated to enable ease of access from the patio and lawn garden into the swimming pool and timber shutters were proposed to help deal with summer overheating and privacy concerns.
Development in the countryside is subject to strict planning controls which can make obtaining planning permission very difficult. Planning & Design have vast experience of working on rural projects for homeowners, landowners and farmers in rural areas including rural housing development, barn conversions and planning agricultural dwellings and occupancy conditions.
If you have any questions about a rural planning project please do not hesitate to get in touch.
