The Future of Addingham

Revised October 2007

Planning Applications - Addingham is under Craven Ward

The Parish Plan

Work is underway to develop a plan for the furure of the village. See www.parishplan.addingham.info for details. This plan is to replace The Village Design Statement (see below).

The New Medical Centre

A new Medical Centre is to be built on the site of the Scout Hut behind the Memorial Hall. This is required because the present doctor's surgery is too small and cannot be modified to provide satisfactory disabled access. The plans have been approved and are on display in the Memorial Hall foyer and the surgery. The Parish Council have also got permission to build a new scout hut and sports hall (The Community Pavilion)on the site of the present football pavillion, together with a new 5-a-side, all weather, pitch.

The building of the medical centre is now finally due to start February 2008 for completion later in the year.

Low Mill

Wook is now underway to convert Low Mill into residential use. The development will consist of 35 units in the mill building and new build of 22 houses and 6 apartments. 17 units will be reserved for local buyers at 'affordable' prices.
The conversion of the mill building will involve increasing its height but many of the surrounding buildings have been removed and the area will be landscaped. There will be an area with public access and the area alongside the goit will be maintained as a nature reserve.

The Addingham Motel

The fenced off area adjacent to the cricket ground on Ilkley Road has had planning approval for a motel since 1995. The approval was renewed in 2000 and prolonged indefinitley when some work was done before this extension expired.
Revised plans were recently approved but there is no sign of building work commencing. The Parish Council received a grant to tidy the area and renew the fence..

The Wharfedale Trail

SUSTRANS, which is developing the national network of cycleways, has proposed that the line of the old railway be made into a cycleway and footpath from Addingham to Bolton Abbey station.
The proposal has met with support from many residents but others, and the Parish Council, are concerned about the increased parking problems which might result. A public consultation process is underway in Addingham, Ilkley and Bolton Abbey to assess public support for the plan. See www.wharfedaletrail.co.uk and www.thewharfedaletrail.co.uk for details.

 

Unitary Development Plan

Addingham is part of Bradford Metropolitan District and its future development will be subject to B.M.D.C. Planning Policy, which is defined in the Unitary Development Plan (UDP). The Council has published its revised plan.

The revisions were generally welcomed by the Civic Society and Parish Council, particularly the revision to define the whole of Manor Garth as 'Village Open Space' rather than (in part) as building land. It is also proposed that the Playing Field area of the former First School site be kept green, that building on Acre Field (also known as Wharfe Park, behind the Sawmill) should be postponed for a number of years, and that Southfield (between Main Street and the By-Pass) should remain Green Belt. Follow link above for details of the revised UDP.

Conservation Area

The Addingham Conservation area is currently being assessed and there was a public consultation 'workshop' held in early August. The Council have published their draft ammendments to the Area and the details of this can be seen HERE.

Village Design Statement

The Village Design Statement was drawn up by a team of villagers and deposited with Bradford Council for acceptance. Unfortunately this has not been done and now the policy has changed which requires that the document be re-written as a Village Plan. The Parish Council are getting a new team together to do this (See above).

NOTE:- This page is a summary of the Guidelines in the VDS.

The village of Addingham is special. It has a distinctiveness and character which its inhabitants value and want to see protected. This character is derived from a mix of factors and influences -physical, social and economic: the village's origins and evolution over time, the pattern of development, its setting in the landscape, building styles and materials, its residents and strong sense of community .The village has evolved over a long period, and no one can expect it to remain totally static in the future; indeed, this would be undesirable. However, recent years have seen changes, particularly large-scale housing estate developments, which have brought the village to a critical point, More suburban-style growth would transform Addingham from the present diverse, vibrant village community to a dormitory suburb with the older village as a subsidiary appendage. It is essential therefore that any future developments are small in scale, providing primarily for local needs and sensitively designed to be in keeping with the character of the village. Design Statement (VDS) has been prepared.

The aims of the VDS are:-
I. to raise awareness of the character of Addingham
2. to identify key features and qualities which contribute to the village character and which must be taken into account in assessing new development proposals
3. to encourage best practice in the planning and design of new proposals
4. to suggest areas and features which need protection or improvement in order to enhance the amenity of the village.

The VDS has been prepared by a group of village residents, drawing on local knowledge, survey work, written sources, and specialist advice. This includes (1) the results of a comprehensive Village Survey carried out in early 2000, with a 70% response rate, (2) comments from residents at exhibition displays held throughout the village and (3) consultation with other groups of residents who assisted with specific parts of the exercise. More details are contained in Appendix I. It is hoped that it will be adopted and used by Bradford MDC as Supplementary Planning Guidance and in their review of the current Unitary Development Plan, and by developers, architects, housebuilders, utility companies and other bodies involved with development and change in the village in future years. It will also be of use to Addingham Parish Council, Addingham Civic Society, other village groups, and local residents and businesses wishing to comment on development proposals. This Village Design Statement was considered and endorsed by Addingham Parish Council at their meeting on 16 May 200 I.

Note: (i) Alongside many of the recommendations in the VDS there are references in brackets to policies contained in the existing Unitary Development Plan (UDP) adopted in 1998 (currently under review), which the guidelines here complement or strongly reinforce; (ii) In the Green Spaces and Footpaths section, figures in brackets refer to footnotes in which sources of quotations are identified.

Key features of Addingham's historical legacy
1. Visual harmony within the built environment. This has been compromised by some twentieth-century building, but there are some examples of good practice to be followed in the future.
2. The persistence of a wide range of old features, including structures such as bridges, and natural features such as hedges, trees and ponds.
3. A relatively stable population size. Although the population is larger now than ever before, Addingham still has the feel of a village.
4. A socially mixed population who have traditionally lived in mixed social groups.
5. Homes and places of work in close proximity.
6. A complex and constantly changing relationship with lines of communication through the valley.

3. Landscape setting and Rural surroundings
1. The landscape setting should be respected, especially in the context of any new proposals for wind turbines, power lines or telecommunications installations. In particular the long horizontal line of Rombald's Moor should not be further interrupted (UDP EN14 and EN33B).
2. Barn conversions should follow the very successful model of Paradise Laithe. Traditional roofing materials should be used and there should be no strap-pointing on the walls. Windows should use original openings, and windows fitted into the former barn doorways should be set back and simply glazed. Chimneys should be ,
avoided (UDP EN4; UDP EN5).
3. Conversions should not open the way to additional new building and residential curtilage (UDP EN4, 5.26). 4. Businesses and leisure activities should make sensitive use of existing buildings, where possible. In particular, light pollution should be avoided, as should incursions by heavy lorries into narrow village lanes (UDP EN4, UDP ENI4, UDP ENI9).
5. Traditional field patterns and boundaries should be preserved (UDP ENI6).
6. Caravan sites should be small and well camouflaged by trees (UDP E9).

4. Green Spaces and Footpaths
1. The traditional- linear shape of the village should be retained. Existing areas of open land, particularly the "Sailor" fields and Towngate fields, must be protected from new development (UDP ENI7).
2. Green entrances to the village, including Parish Council land in Sildsen Road, should be retained.
3. Holly Garth should be formally acknowledged by Bradford Council as having the same status as Village Greenspace (UDP ENI7, 5.99; UDP ENI8).
4. Both the alternation of built-up and open aspects from the Main Street and the contrast between the built environment and greenspace should be preserved.
5. The footpath which runs southward from behind and to the east of the Sailorshould be recognised as part of
a green corridor, and the footpath between the Sawmill field and Bolton Road should be reinstated.
6. New developments should be linked to the footpath network if possible.
7. The Milestones Statement requires authorities to consult with local partners (walkers farmers etc.) about rights of way. It is vital that Addingham's high-quality footpath network continues to be well defined, well maintained and well publicised in the long term and remains a healthy and valued amenity for all sections of the community.

5. Flora and Fauna
1. The variety of habitats to be found within Addingham's boundaries should be maintained (UDP ENI5, 5.94a; UDP ENI6).
2. All rare plant habitats should be protected from development (UDP ENI6).
3. Wildlife areas and corridors should be protected and enhanced, especially along becks, where further culverting would be detrimental to flora and fauna (UDP ENS; UDP EN27, 5.130).
4. There should be a serious assessment of the possibility of reinstating the mill pond near the Sawmill.
5. It is essential to ensure that Conservation Area trees or those covered by a TPO should not be affected by the type of indirect damage which may result from alterations to highways or the building of roads connected with developments (UDP EN27A, 5.131b and 5.131c; EN27B).
6. Tree planting should be undertaken on the open spaces in Old Station Way and possibly School Lane. Residents should be encouraged by the Civic Society to identify other areas which would be enhanced by the planting of trees.
7. There should be planting schemes for every new development using only local species such as bird cherry, aspen, crab apple, with ilex and hawthorn for hedging. It is important that there are also some large native trees; ash and oak are the most traditional (UDP EN27 A; UDP EN27B).
8. Replacement trees should be planted near valued large trees before the older ones reach the ends of their lives so that there is not a long gap while the new trees grow (UDP EN27 A; UDP EN27B).

6. The Built Environment
1. Traffic
1.1 New developments should ensure that traffic access does not endanger the public (e.g. the children at the Primary School), while preserving lanes in the village and on the Moorside from highway "improvements" which turn them from country lanes into roads with suburban-style islands (UDP TP7 13.46 & 13.47).
1.2 Local residents should be consulted, firstly on the need for traffic calming, and secondly on the most appropriate methods. If traffic calming methods are introduced, they need to be both effective and visually unobtrusive (UDP TP7 13.46 & 13.47).

2. Sites
2.1 In any future development care should be taken to reflect the pattern of the village in terms of layout and scale; the village tradition of socially mixed and small-scale groups of housing should be maintained; and there should be provision for affordable homes for local people. On a large site there should be a variety of sizes of homes; and the site should be broken down into discrete areas to avoid urban sprawl (UDP EN27).
2.2 All new developments should be designed to take account of natural contours (UDP EN27).
2.3 Three-storey buildings should be erected only where they do not obstruct residents' views of hills and mature trees and do not overlook existing houses (UDP EN27).

3. Styles
3.1 New buildings should not slavishly imitate traditional ones, and pastiche features should be avoided. Styles of building should be plain, with no fussy gables or projecting balconies and minimal decorative detail. This applies to buildings outside as well as inside the Conservation Area (UDP EN27).
3.2 Roof pitches should be kept low, no more than 45 degrees (UDP EN27).
3.3 Because window shapes are varied in old buildings, with predominantly low, horizontally proportioned windows in the oldest houses but tall, wide-sashed windows later, much variety can be tolerated in new buildings. However, the proportions of the windows should be in keeping with the proportions of the building (UDP EN20; UDP EN23).

4. Building and maintenance materials
4.1 Brick and pebble-dash should not be used at all.
4.2 In the Conservation Area natural materials for walls, doors and door frames and windows should be used, and external woodwork should not be stained. Some types of coursed reconstituted stone are acceptable elsewhere, but Bradford Council should take great care to ensure that the samples provided by developers of materials they intend to use give a clear impression of the finished effect.
4.3 Within the Conservation Area heads, sills and jambs should be of local stone, and windows and doors of wood. Roof coverings should be of stone nags or, failing that, of a suitable slate.
4.4 Good practice guidance for repairs and alterations to traditional buildings in the Conservation Area (listed and non-listed) should be made available to property owners. It should direct residents to Bradford Council's Supplementary Planning Guidance on Dormer Windows which recommends that they should be avoided or at least constructed with pitched roofs (UDP EN23 and UDP EN27).
4.5 Bradford Council should ensure that owners of key Conservation Area listed buildings are encouraged and
supported to restore, if necessary, and keep them in good condition.

5. Edges and boundaries
5.1 It should be ensured that native broad leaved trees and suitable hedges are planted in order to soften the edges of all development sites.
5.2 Boundaries between plots should include stone walls and hedges. Fences should not be used in the Conservation Area; elsewhere they should be kept low, i.e. no more than four feet high.

6. Street furniture and signage
6.1 Street furniture should be unobtrusive and appropriate to a rural area, not to city streets. It should not constitute an obstruction on the village's narrow pavements.
6.2 Street lighting should be installed where people's safety is at issue, e.g. in front of the school. It should be on hooded posts.
6.3 Illuminated shop signs, especially internal ones, are inappropriate.
6.4 If possible, telephone wires should be located underground. Where pavements are dug up for the installation of wires, cables and pipes, they should be properly resurfaced, not patched.
6.5 Railings should be unobtrusive and made of materials appropriate to their setting. Ideally wrought iron or wood should be used in the Conservation Area.

7. Development Sites
1. Highway improvement would be required to deal with the problems of access and the number of houses
should be limited by the road safety implications.
2. The development should be mixed in terms of the number of bedrooms and types of house. It should be broken into small rows and groupings, preferably round green spaces, rather than being modelled on a more sprawling suburban estate. Some areas of green space should be left for fauna and wild flowers.
3. Views from houses on the south side of Bark Lane of mature trees in the village centre and of Rombald's Moor should be preserved. Ideally, the slope should be kept free of building as a landscape feature. If building is permitted at this end of the site, it should be integrated with the slope not perched on top of it. The Bark Lane residents' right to light should not be compromised.
4. Roof pitches should be kept low to echo the horizontal line of the Sawmill building and of Rombald's Moor. 5. Because of the size of this site, there is scope for the building of innovative, well-designed, energy-efficient modern buildings.

7.1 Manor Garth
1. The implications for nearby houses and houses further down the beck of building on this flood land should be thoroughly examined.
2. Any development should not be detrimental to flora and fauna in and along the beck. There should be no requirement to culvert the becks, and care should be taken not to damage the roots of trees, especially protected ones, along the margins of the water. In particular the positions of trees on planning applications should be carefully checked (UDP EN27, 5.130; UDP EN27 A).
3. The attractive view of The Rookery from the footpath across the Garth should be retained {UDP EN2l). 4. The view of Beamsley Beacon from the houses on Bolton Road and Main Street should be retained (UDP EN2l; UDP EN27).
5. There should be small ensembles of buildings in keeping with The Rookery, Kilner's Croft and Cragg View (UDP EN27).
6. New buildings should be of a height and style appropriate to their surroundings. In practice this means that there should be no three-storey buildings or buildings higher than those in The Rookery. There should be no dormer windows. All windows should be low, horizontally proportioned and similar in size to those in The Rookery and to the smaller windows in Kilner's Croft (UDP EN23; UDP EN27).
7. The buildings should be of gritstone and the roofs of stone flags {UDP EN23).
8. The boundary between the road across the Garth and the section being maintained for agriculture should take the form of a hedge, not a stone wall. This would soften the line of the road, be less intrusive than a wall, and be more in keeping with the traditional means of enclosure on the Garth {UDP EN23).

8. Social and Economic Issues in Addingham
I. Businesses appropriate in scale should be encouraged. They should address the reuse of existing buildings as
well as providing employment for local people (UDP 8).
2. Further development in the village should be directed towards the creation of more services and leisure facilities to provide a better quality of infrastructure for the recent growth of the settlement. In particular, the feasibility of using at least part of the old First School site for a community facility should be explored.
3. Tourism should be encouraged, supported by the provision of small-scale accommodation such as small guesthouses and bed and breakfast accommodation, currently in short supply.

9. CONCLUSION
As we look forward to consultations leading to a new UDP, we hope that this VDS will help to ensure that future development in Addingham will make use of examples of good practice to be found in the village, and that mistakes made in the past will be avoided or rectified.
The residents of Addingham hope for housing and work opportunities which will meet local needs, sustaining a community balanced in terms of age, of income groups, and of commuters and village-based workers. We value the role played by Bradford MDC in establishing the Conservation Area and in suggesting the concept of a "green corridor". We look forward to a still more robust protection of the characteristic features of the village, especially the green spaces which interpenetrate the built environment. We hope that future development will be designed to a village scale, that the tradition of socially mixed housing will be retained, that the need for affordable housing will be addressed and that there will be a thorough assessment of the impact of any proposed development on the infrastructure, especially on roads and on the need for village facilities. We hope, too, that building materials, styles, and street furniture will be harmonious with their natural and built surroundings as were Joshua Breare's eighteenth-century workplaces and homes.