by Ray George
About a year ago, I sent a letter to residents seeking help to draft an Appraisal and Management Plan for this conservation area. I’m sorry to say that the road to hell being paved with good intentions, we didn’t get down to it. I was therefore surprised to recently receive a call from Kevin White, the Historic Environment Team Leader of the City Council, to say that he had drafted the document himself. He proposed to hold a public meeting in late March, with a six week consultation to follow. It would then go to the City’s Cabinet in May for approval.
What is driving this? In January 2010, the City Council adopted a Core Strategy of which the supporting text of policy CS14 said that ‘over the next three years, character appraisals will be conducted for all the Conservation Areas’.
Kevin White came to the last HCERA Committee meeting to present the Appraisal and Management Plan draft. Following this meeting, the Committee members looked carefully at this draft, the original Design Guidance and again at the new documents that have been produced for Oakmount Triangle and Portswood Residents’ Gardens. The Committee felt that the latter two documents were of a very high standard and reflected the importance of these areas and the need to manage them for the future. As the Appraisal and Management Plan for this Conservation Area will be in place for many years and be of long term importance to all current and future residents, the Committee would like to ensure it is of the same high standard as the those for Oakmount Triangle & Portswood Residents’ Gardens. This will obviously take some time to research and complete and therefore the Committee would like to defer the public consultation until our AGM, usually held at the end of September. The formal consultation period would then commence.
The draft Appraisal and Management Plan has been put on our website. We intend to add the comments and the suggested additions and amendments received from residents to this copy of the draft. Do please look at the draft and email your contribution to HCERA. The link to pages of the draft can be found at the bottom of page www.herbertcollins.co.uk/appraisal/
In the light of suggestions received, a revised draft will be prepared.
As well as the Appraisal and Management plan, there will also be a new Article 4 Direction which will go to public consultation at the same time. This is likely to be controversial. A change in the law since the Article 4 Direction in 1992 means that the Council can make some Article 4 Directions without having to get them confirmed by the Secretary of State. In 1992, the Secretary of State made substantial changes to the Article 4 Direction made by the Council.
We will be taking photographs around the estate to go into the booklet.