C O N T E X T 1 0 9 : M A Y 2 0 0 9 37 Crispin Edwards is conservation officer with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. with much larger buildings screened from the road on amalgamated plots. The two appeals refused prior to the designation of the conservation area upheld the council’s protection of the aesthetic values of the area. However, the two appeals since designation were also refused solely on aesthetic grounds. The inspectors placed no value on Normanhurst or on the survival of an original undivided plot with intact original specification boundary walls. This took place even though these physical features of the area clearly have historical and evidential value as manifestations of the original specifications, which created the spacious aesthetic character that the inspectors have protected. Because Conservation Principles has been widely endorsed within the sector, the heritage values model of significance can provide a basis for consistent application of legislation and for research. This conservation area is an unusual example because the aesthetic value of its layout and the setting of buildings are mainly of special interest in so far as they represent historical values. The results from more ‘typical’ conservation areas, such as heterogeneous town and village centres, would provide a better understanding of the importance of these issues and their wider applicability. Character assessments are now recommended in the guidance on the management and appraisal of conservation areas. Since occasional review of an authority’s designated areas is a statutory duty, many conservation areas are likely in coming years to have their character redefined on the basis of current guidance. This guidance now recognises a value set that has considerable overlap with residents’ values. By strengthening conservation areas’ original purpose of protecting local distinctiveness, this might ease the tension between their continuing designation and the perceived dilution of special interest. The draft heritage protection bill retains the requirement for local authorities to consider designating conservation areas. The requirement remains for ‘special architectural or historic interest’. There is no new definition of this. Instead, new detailed selection criteria will be prepared for local designations. In order to affect planning decisions these criteria will need to be much clearer on the extent to which public perceptions of value are valid, both in defining special interest and in the future management of areas through the planning process. The factor determining the scope of conservation area protection is the interpretation of policy and guidance by decision makers such as development control officers and planning inspectors. Even though in this example all four public inquiries rejected the appeals, planning inspectors’ values were more closely matched to those of applicants than any other stakeholders. Although there is widespread agreement that heritage defines local identity, the evidence of this example suggests that there is much less agreement that local identity defines heritage. If heritage is to become genuinely socially inclusive, the clearer guidance recommended above will be essential. The two most recent judgements state that the reason for dismissing the contribution of Normanhurst to the conservation area is the application of English Heritage Guidance on Conservation Area Appraisals. A list is included of 10 tests for whether an unlisted building in a conservation area contributes to the character of the area. However, there is a proviso that the tests need only be applied if the building’s ‘historic form and values have not been seriously eroded by unsympathetic alteration’.12 The inspectors concluded, against the advice of the conservation professionals, that this was the case. A further article in a future issue of Context will consider the implications of these decisions more fully. Houses set well back in plots with public views of private green space. Surviving boundaries have evidential and historical value as part of the original development specifications. Public views of private gardens formed part of Brooks’ original intentions for the area’s aesthetic character.
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