The Coventry Society reported on the proposals for two new conservation areas in March. Plans for new Conservation Areas for Earlsdon and Brownshill Green were put out to public consultation on 23rd March. The consultation on the Appraisals, Management Plans and Article 4 Directions for both Conservation Areas closes today (4th May).
Earlsdon
The Society had participated in the preparatory work on the Earlsdon Conservation Area back in 2016. The Society is fully supportive of the proposals and the contents of the formal documents. Our response was as follows:
“As Coventry’s civic society, we are keen to support the proposal by Coventry City Council to declare a Conservation Area for Earlsdon.
“We believe that Earlsdon has a particular identity in the city as a late Victorian/Edwardian suburb that has remained largely intact. It is our view that Conservation Area status offers the best way of it staying that way.
“Alongside members of the Earlsdon Research Group, our members helped conduct the field work for the Conservation appraisal back in 2016 and we are pleased to see that particular attention has been paid to that work and to our views of what is worth preserving in Earlsdon.
“It is a matter of surprise to the Coventry Society that a Conservation Area for Earlsdon wasn’t declared a long time ago and we are delighted to see that that omission is being rectified now.”
Brownshill Green
The Society had not been involved in the preparation of the Brownshill Green documents, although some of the photos in the Appraisal were provided by one of our members.
We support the designation of the Conservation Area and acknowledge the careful analysis that has gone into the Appraisal.
However, we believe that the fields opposite the White Lion PH should be included within the boundary of the Conservation Area to give proper protection to this important green element of the Conservation Area, particularly in the light of the council’s plans to develop a housing scheme to the south.
We also made minor comments pointing out the omission of one of the negative elements in the environment (the overhead power lines} and suggesting the inclusion of two historic Coventry boundary posts on Hawkes Mill Lane and Wall Hill Road in the description of historic features.
We also pointed out some minor typographic errors.
We also support the content of the Management Plan and suggested the inclusion of an action to improve the signposting of the public footpaths from the main roads. We observed that that several footpaths from Wall Hill Road and Hawkes Mill Lane do not have finger posts and are quite well hidden. To support the interpretation of the area, the installation of finger posts would assist those not familiar with the area.
With regard to the Article 4 Direction we commented that we were surprised at the limited aspiration of the proposed Direction. The Conservation Area Appraisal identifies a number of interesting old buildings which are either only locally listed or have no protection at all. Bringing these buildings under planning control would be in the interests of the Conservation Area management. We asked the council to consider whether the Order might be extended to include other permitted developments that would otherwise not be controlled.
