Nottingham Civic Society

Environment Committee News Spring 2003

Wollaton Hall and Park Conservation Plan

Highfields User Group

Urban Design Team

Tall Buildings Strategy

Streetscape Guidelines

Members of the Environment Committee have recently been involved in a number of consultations and initiatives instigated by Nottingham City Council involving planning and conservation issues.

As members may know, there has been considerable concern regarding the condition of parts of Wollaton Hall and Park for a number of years. Conservation consultants and English Heritage have been involved in detailed studies of the condition of the Hall and Park and a Conservation Plan has been drawn up. A bid has now gone in to the regional Heritage Lottery Fund office (recently located to Nottingham) and it is hoped that this will be successful in enabling Phase 1 of the restoration work to be undertaken, including stabilizing the stone work, restoring the Camellia House and doing drainage and other repair work in the park to safeguard trees and such features as the ha-ha and the duck decoy. The Civic Society is represented on the Wollaton Park Users’ Group Committee, which meets with the HLF officers and NCC officers to discuss issues related to Wollaton.

The Society is similarly represented on the Highfields Users’ Group and here the current concerns centre to a considerable extent around the siting of the tram route planned to run to Beeston. Proposals have proved somewhat contentious as it is felt that they may detrimentally affect the activities in the Djanogly Arts Centre Recital Hall, the Tennis Centre and the Hockey Centre. Alternative siting of the tram tracks could affect amenities such as trees on University Boulevard.

As members will have read previously in the Newsletter, a new team of planning officers has joined the City to form its Urban Design Team. Already this team is contributing to the debate around design issues in Nottingham. The Urban Design manager regularly attends the monthly Urban Design Forum (a panel composed of architects, councillors, consultants and Civic Society representatives) where large, important or sensitive new developments are discussed with the architects and developers of the schemes. The Urban Design Team is also currently involved in two design guidance documents, the Tall Buildings Strategy and the Streetscape Guidelines.

The former aims to set out a policy for the design and siting of tall buildings in Nottingham, and was circulated among members of the Urban Design Forum for comment. The Strategy was discussed by the Society’s Environment Committee, who felt that many elements of the Strategy were very sound, including statements about the visual impact on the character of the City’s historic core and the impact physically in the form of shadowing and wind effects.

The Strategy did make clear that certain views, visual corridors and vistas must be respected. However the Environment Committee felt that the topography of the City needed more positive recognition – for instance the views across the City to the Council House, the Castle and St Mary’s from the North-East heights.

The Committee was also unwilling to accept an encircling “necklace” of tall buildings outside the inner ring road, preferring to see a development on the South-East side of the City leading down towards the river. We shall be interested to hear the City Councillors’ opinions on the tall buildings issue, particularly in view of English Heritage’s current comments on the Renzo Piano London Bridge Tower: a good building in the wrong place. English Heritage feel that views from North London of the dome of St Paul’s (which members will recall from our trip of three years ago) should be protected from being obscured or adversely affected by tall or massive buildings nearby.

The same argument must be made for views from North Nottingham of the Council House dome, the Castle and St Mary’s.

Once views such as these are lost, they are lost forever – and Nottingham has already lost too much. Our distinctive city centre with its surrounding hilly topography is to be celebrated, not compromised.

The City Council’s Streetscape Guidelines are currently being written by a team comprised of planners, traffic engineers, landscape designers and safety officers. The Society has provided a grant to aid this project, which deals with issues such as street layout, signage, pedestrian safety, landscaping, paving, cleansing systems and so on.

Earlier this year, as part of the City/Society partnership on this project, I accompanied the Streetscape team on a visit to London where we were shown the impressive Camden Boulevard scheme which has concentrated on making the streets more acceptable for their users and communities: new paving and signage, cleansing, washing, graffiti- and gum-removal and so on, done frequently and consistently. We were also shown the Kensington High Street project where, as well as regular “gum-busting” on the York stone paving slabs, the emphasis was on a new approach to pedestrian crossings, traffic management and lighting – at two heights on the same pole, one lamp at the top over the roadway and the other lower down over the pavement.

Both these projects have relevance to our Nottingham streetscape and environment, where some examples of this type of street lighting can already be found. It is encouraging to see that some aspects of Nottingham’s street care are improving; for instance the litterbins are much less messy, and “litter-picking” is ongoing. However fly posting and graffiti still present a challenge, which has to be met swiftly and unceasingly until the perpetrators become discouraged. Also, the problems created by the “late night economy” remain to be addressed. The clearing of the associated detritus falls upon the City’s cleansing section, already stretched, and funded by the City’s residents and businesses. It would be encouraging to see financial support forthcoming from the establishments, which benefit from the influx of late-night diners and clubbers. This would result not only in cleaner, safer (minus broken glass) more acceptable streets but also a more positive attitude towards these late-night establishments.

As is often pointed out, we have a vibrant city, with beautiful buildings and a strong history. We have a duty to respect and protect the City’s character by appropriate planning strategies and to enhance its environment by imaginative approaches to the design and management of streets and other public spaces.

Hilary Silvester

Vice Chair/Environment Secretary

April 2003