Callow Hall Archives - Planning Design Ltd

Trio of successes for PDP clients

28th November 202220th October 2021 by Gary Stringer

A trinity of Planning & Design Practice’s clients – Wildhive, Chevin Homes and Morley Hayes – are celebrating following recent awards successes.

Derbyshire hotel Callow Hall has been crowned the UK’s best place to stay by Sunday Times.

The first venture for Wildhive, a new boutique hospitality brand, the hotel is nestled in 35 acres of gardens, wild meadow and woodland. A Grade II listed Victorian country house that is perfectly situated at the gateway to the Peak District, the hotel has 15 individually designed bedrooms in the main house, two treehouses and 11 woodland Hives.

Since 2018 we have been commissioned by Wildhive to provide planning consultancy services on a number of exciting proposals for Callow Hall including the woodland Hives, a modern garden room extension; conversion of the coach house to a wellbeing centre and internal and external alterations to reconfigure and sympathetically modernise the main Callow Hall building.

Securing planning permission for the woodland Hives was particularly challenging as it is designated as ancient woodland, which gives it a very high degree of protection. As such, we had to ensure that any development did not harm the integrity or unique character of the woodland.

The application was initially hit by stiff opposition from a number of key consultees. However, we were always confident that the heritage concerns could be offset by the economic benefits of the proposal, which include attracting 8,175 overnight visitors per annum, and generating more than £1m in visitor expenditure across a range of sectors in the local economy.

At Chase Farm, having secured planning permission for the site in 2018 for Chevin Homes we’re delighted that their development has won ‘Residential Development of the Year’ at the East Midlands Business Link ‘Brick Awards’ 2021.

Chase Farm is a bespoke courtyard development of just eight truly unique homes situated on the edge of the Peak District at Ambergate, Derbyshire within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and was completed earlier this year.

This project was an exciting one for us to work on as it comprised of the redevelopment of a brownfield site with a derelict social club and carpark, two 19th century cottages and an agricultural barn. The whole site had been neglected for the last few years and the buildings were rapidly degrading.

PDP achieved full planning permission for 1 new detached dwelling on the footprint of the old social club, a terrace of 3 new dwellings, the restoration of the two cottages and the conversion of the barn to a dwelling.

And last but by no means least, our client Morley Hayes carried away two awards at the 13th Derby Food and Drink Awards, which took place on Monday 18 October. As well as being awarded the prestigious title of Overall Winner, the venue’s Roosters Bar and Restaurant was also successful in the Most Family Friendly category. A great double success for Morley Hayes, which is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Planning & Design Practice would like to offer sincere congratulations to all three companies on this well-deserved recognition.

Planning & Design Practice have a wealth of experience in designing and securing planning permission for commercial projects. For expert advice and a no- obligation consultation to discuss your own business, please get in touch.

Woodland wonders at Callow Hall

30th November 202223rd September 2020 by Gary Stringer

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.

Main image: Wild Hives_Blue Forest (UK) Limited

Callow Hall, where treetops glisten…

4th December 2019 by Gary Stringer

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.