Historic England (Built Environment) response
EDEN WALK Planning application 15/13063
Summary
"We welcome your Council’s aspirations for delivering intensification in the town centre and recognise that a thriving town centre is essential for securing the success of a place economically and socially, and is also the best way of ensuring that heritage assets make a positive contribution now and in the future. However, this intensification should be based on a robust understanding of the unique and positive qualities already present, and how the historic environment plays a vital role in providing the sense of local identity...
Unjustified harm, not sustainable. We cannot support this.
We believe that the current proposals cause harm to the historic environment that has not been adequately justified. In that regard, the proposals are contrary to Government objections of the delivery of sustainable development and we therefore cannot support them.
We also note that the proposals do not meet the Council’s detailed guidance for development on this site."
We also note that the proposals do not meet the Council’s detailed guidance for development on this site."
Significant alterations are required
For this reason we would encourage the Council to negotiate significant alterations to overcome these concerns, and would welcome the opportunity to take part in these discussions.
Recommendation
"To be acceptable, very large developments should be in an appropriate location, of excellent design quality and should enhance the qualities of its immediate location and wider setting. Given its poor relationship to its historic context, and the harm it causes to the significance of a number of listed buildings, we believe the proposals in their current form fail to meet these tests. We acknowledge that efforts have been made to reduce the impact of taller elements of the scheme and to improve the public realm. However, we do not consider that these efforts go far enough to overcome the harm this scheme would cause."
Historic England's concerns
The adjacent Old Town Conservation Areas evocative collection of historic buildings makes Kingston one of the most significant town centres in London. The settings of a number of listed buildings or assets will be affected by the proposals:
The NPPF underlines that “heritage assets are irreplaceable, any harm or loss should require clear and convincing justification”. To date we do not consider that a convincing justification has been put forward. This is partially because the documentation does not acknowledge the harm that would be caused. The proposals would cause some harm to the significance of All Saints Church when viewed from Kingston Bridge, where the visual primacy and landmark character of the church tower would be reduced by the increase in new development and the decrease in the legibility of its silhouette. The proposals would have a major impact on the setting of the United Reformed Church and the former Post Office... The prominence of these listed buildings within the street contributes positively to their significance, and makes an important contribution to the overall character and appearance of the town centre, including the setting of the conservation area. The Eden Crescent building would completely dominate these listed buildings due to its height, bulk and proximity. The busy facades would overwhelm the historic buildings, greatly reducing the contribution their setting makes to their significance. |
The relocation of the memorial to a less prominent site within a redesigned garden reduces the significance of the grade II listed structure. The NPPF requires that harm to the historic environment requires clear and convincing justification and is necessary to achieve substantial public benefits that outweigh the harm. We accept that the proposals will deliver some urban design and public realm improvements, but we are not convinced that these are so significant as to outweigh the harm identified above. The Neville Yard Building considerably increases the size and visual impact of the existing car park structure. The efforts to mask this additional height with new materials are unable to overcome the harm that this causes in one of the principal views of All Saints Church. The efforts to break the Eden Crescent Building into three distinct elements are not successful in our opinion, as these are set above a 10 storey base. This base is excessively bulky and overbearing, and does not respond to local character and distinctiveness as required in paragraph 58. |
About Historic England
Historic England, formerly English Heritage, is the UK government's statutory adviser and a statutory consultee on all aspects of the historic environment and its heritage assets
Applications for planning permission are required to consult or notify Historic England where the development would affect the setting of a Grade I or Grade II listed building among other reasons.
Historic England's statutory remit is the impact of development proposals on the historic environment.
eden_walk_he_response_041215.pdf | |
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