Comment

Representation ID: 9663

Received: 26/07/2022

Respondent: Historic England

A small part of the Bedford Conservation Area lies within the site boundary, while other parts of the Conservation Area lie adjacent to the site. There are several grade II listed buildings nearby along Bromham Road. Any development of this site has the potential to impact upon these assets and their settings.
We note that a heritage appraisal has been prepared for the site. The appraisal raises some concerns about the capacity of the allocation and the likely density of any development having a negative impact on the heritage assets and their settings.
The appraisal discusses the need for careful siting, design and materials as well as the need for building heights to step down near the conservation area and heritage assets. These measures are currently not articulated in the policy. The policy should be amended to include these mitigation measures and further consideration should be given to the capacity of the site. We advise that the site capacity may need to be reduced.
We welcome the reference to heritage assets in criterion 1. However, we recommend changing the wording from ‘preserve…heritage assets’ to ‘Development should conserve or where appropriate enhance the significance of heritage assets (noting that significance may be harmed by development within the setting of an asset) including…’.