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Conservation Area Society (SCAS)

Newsletter December 2013 Stoneygate

Extending Conservation Area Protection The creation of the Stoneygate Conservation Area on 28th September 1978 was a milestone, not only for the area itself but also for Leicester. Up to that point, conservation had been restricted to the historical core of the city itself (Castle Gardens, Cathedral Guildhall, Market Place, Town Hall Square), the New Walk and the outlying villages absorbed into the old borough at the end of the nineteenth century (Aylestone, Braunstone, Belgrave, Knighton and Old Humberstone). Stoneygate was the first residential suburban conservation area to be designated and it served as a model for those that followed. It took the combined efforts of many people to bring this about but the shape that the conservation area finally took owes a lot to our partner organisation, the Leicester Civic Society who, throughout the 1970s were fighting what now seem heroic battles to safeguard the city’s architectural heritage. They took a very practical interest in the planning process and in 1976 produced a detailed survey of properties which they believed warranted protection, perhaps by inclusion in the new Stoneygate Conservation Area.

SCAS Chair: David Oldershaw SCAS Website: www.stoneygateconservation.org

Newsletter: Nita Foale, Nick Knight Printed by: AVS-Print, University of Leicester

Photos courtesy of the Leicester Civic Society

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The conservation area that finally emerged in Stoneygate was much smaller than that envisaged by the Civic Society. The area of Clarendon Park between Welford Road and Queens Road, most of Ashfield and Holmfield Roads and Shirley Road were all excluded – as well as the `Portland’ enclave between Guilford Road and the City boundary. Several small additions were made to the area in 1989, 2000 and 2007 but its size and boundaries have remained virtually unchanged since its creation. The last few years have seen increasing interest in heritage and the City Council’s leadership is now committed to a vision in which Leicester’s past will make a major contribution to its future economic and cultural development. English Heritage’s 2007 publication `Suburbs and the Historic Environment’ has revisited the subject of suburban conservation in a refreshing new way. When the Leicester Civic Society told us that, after a gap of over thirty years, they had resumed their surveys of potential new conservation areas in south-east Leicester and intended to submit formal proposals to enlarge the Stoneygate Conservation Area, we offered our full support. The work has now been completed and we thought you would like to see what is being suggested. It is too extensive to be included in a single Newsletter so we are spreading it over this and the next issue. Full details are, of course, also available from the Civic Society directly.

The surveys were conducted by the Society in the summer of 2010 and most areas surveyed consist of high quality 1920s and 1930s housing, now slowly succumbing to the same pressures that threatened Victorian Stoneygate in the 1970s. The Civic Society identified the widespread use of replacement uPVC windows and doors as the major threat to the areas but there were others, including the development of small scale but intensive housing developments in back gardens on land until recently defined as `brownfield’.

The first two potential extensions to our conservation area are shown below:

SOUTH STONEYGATE

Extension : Southernhay Road

Avenue Gardens: All numbers. (Included by virtue of tree preservation orders only.) Southernhay Road: 32 to 40 even, 15 to 27 odd.

The easternmost and middle sections of Southernhay Road include an exceptionally fine collection of houses dating from the 1920s and 1930s. The survey found that the western boundary of the conservation area appeared to have been randomly drawn and that the houses to Nos 40 (even) and 27 (odd) were obvious inclusions. No.40 is particularly fine and is one of the best Art-Deco style houses in Stoneygate. Further west nearly all of the houses are post-war and of lesser quality. The proposed extension would leave the unexceptional 1970s development at Avenue

Gardens surrounded by the conservation area but this dilemma was resolved by agreeing to include its trees and not its houses. These are a noticeable feature of the area between Avenue Road, Southernhay Road and Beechcroft Road and their value is already recognised by several tree preservation orders.

40 Southernhay Road

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Extension: Elms Road

Elms Road: 36 to 72 even, 35 to 65 odd. South Knighton Road: No.154 As with Southernhay Road, the Civic Society survey queried the decision to abruptly terminate the conservation area midway down Elms Road. The final downhill stretch to Knighton Church Road is lined by fine interwar suburban housing with large front gardens on one side and on the other an unspoilt row of Edwardian terraces. Both are worthy of conservation area protection. There are

clear differences between these houses and the much grander late-Victorian properties like No15 (built by Stockdale Harrison for his own use) nearer the Ratcliffe Road junction but other houses outside this category were included in the conservation area in 1978 so the precise reasons for their exclusion are unclear. The intention may have been to include them in a new South Knighton Conservation Area at some indeterminate time in the future. Until one is created, however, inclusion in Stoneygate would seem to offer the best safeguard.

Building worthy of inclusion on the Local Interest List

Building worthy of inclusion in a conservation area

Building of lesser interest

Existing Tree Preservation Order

Existing Group Tree Preservation Order

Key to Maps

Satellite Dish Survey Awaiting Action Over several years we have repeatedly registered our concerns about the increasing number of unauthorised satellite dishes appearing on the publicly visible (usually front and side) elevations of Stoneygate properties and the negative impact that this was having on the Conservation Area. Under the Article 4 Direction, consent is required for this sort of dish installation but it is rarely obtained. Last year we had a meeting with senior planners to discuss enforcement options and agreed that, before adopting a strategy, SCAS would conduct a detailed survey in order to accurately define the scale of the problem and provide an evidence basis. It took longer than we intended but the survey was completed and handed to the City Council Planning Department this summer. We are now waiting for them to suggest ways in which we can take this forward.

Maps courtesy of Leicester Civic Society

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Queens Road—Not Losing the Plots In late October the Friends of Queens Road Allotments organised an event at the Knighton Parish Centre to celebrate the successful completion of their Heritage Lottery Funded project, `Not Lost the Plot’. SCAS Committee members Nick Knight and Nita Foale joined over 100 people of all ages who had been involved, directly or indirectly, with the project and it was a memorable evening with special tributes being made to the small but highly energetic group who piloted the project over nearly twelve months and an appropriately delicious selection of food & drink. The project’s aim was to raise awareness of the allotments and their valuable role in the local community through the stories of the individuals, couples and families who have worked them in the past and who use them today. You can download a free booklet from the Friends’ website which includes a fascinating insight into the original land ownership and the allotments’ history http://tinyurl.com/q7llpn9 A wonderfully atmospheric 26 minute film documenting a year on the allotments by local film-maker Bill Newsinger is also available to view on You Tube http://tinyurl.com/oajgljn

If you’re looking for a stocking-filler for someone with a sense of humour and an interest in North London bohemia, you might like Leicester-born Nina Stibbe’s account of her experiences in 1980s NW1 as a 20-year old nanny to the children of literary editor Mary-Kay Wilmers and her ex-husband, film director and fellow Leicester native, Stephen Frears. Based on letters written to her sister who was working in a Leicester nursing home at the time, `Love Nina: Despatches from Family Life’ is funny and observant and tells you as much about its likeable, ingenuous author as it does about her kind, unconventional employer, her ever-imaginative wards and the

cast of supporting celebrity characters (Alan Bennett lived across the road) whose literary and artistic reputations she was delightfully oblivious to. Extracts from the book and a `Daily Telegraph’ interview with Nina Stibbe are at http://tinyurl.com/obvejxy. Nina talks more about her local connections to the `Leicester Mercury’ at http://tinyurl.com/nbqjkyw.

Christmas Present with a Local Flavour

The warm, sunny weather attracted a large number of visitors to the Leicester Transport Heritage Trust’s open day at the Stoneygate Tramshed on Sunday September 8th. The event gave people the chance to see inside the place (usually for the first time), to enjoy a number of transport-related exhibits from the LTHT’s collection and to chat with committee members about their plans to convert the tramshed into a transport heritage centre. It also featured a fascinating display of illustrated storyboards documenting the history of passenger transport on Leicester’s roads from the 1700s to the present day (which is available in book form, priced £5 from the LTHT). Thanks to Chris Jinks and his colleagues for providing us with a SCAS

stand and such a warm welcome and sharing their delicious home-made cake. You can find out more about LTHT at their website http://www.ltht.org.uk/index.htm

Stoneygate Tramshed Open Day

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Leicester Victorian Society Lecture Programme: - 2014

Tuesday 7th January at 7.30pm The Deserving and Undeserving Malcolm Elliott

Malcolm Elliott is a distinguished local author and lecturer and a past President of the

Leicester Victorian Society. He studied Economic History at the University of Nottingham and

obtained his PhD for a thesis on the Leicester Board of Health.

Thursday 6th February at 7.30pm Hansom and the ‘Pork Pie’ Chapel Neil Crutchley

Neil is a writer and lecturer on music and local history. He was the Leicester Mercury music

critic for 30 years and has recently published The History of Leicester Symphony Orchestra, the First Ninety Years. This Lecture will be preceded by the AGM of the Leicester Group

Tuesday 4th March, 7.30pm Writing a Year – 1859 Professor Gail Marshall

The year 1859 produced a number of definitive Victorian literary works, from A Tale of Two

Cities and On the Origin of Species to George Eliot’s Adam Bede. How did it feel to read

these texts before they became `classics’ and before the term `Victorian’ even existed? Gail

Marshall is Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leicester. Her books include

Actresses on the Victorian Stage (1998), Victorian Fiction (2002), Shakespeare & Victorian

Women (2009.

Tuesday 1st April, 7.30pm The Fall and Rise of Victorian Architecture Professor Gavin

Stamp, MA, PhD, Hon FRIAS, Hon FRIBA, FSA

A look at the changing fortunes of Victorian architecture from its early dismissal as ‘hideous

Victorian’ to its re-evaluation by the likes of John Betjeman and Nikolaus Pevsner and the

foundation of the Victorian Society in 1958. Gavin Stamp is an architectural historian whose

recent books include Lost Victorian Britain and The Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

Lectures take place in the Small Hall (Room 3) or the Hansom Hall of The Leicester Adult Education

College, Wellington Street. Non-members are welcome. Cost is £2.50 per person.

Leicester Arts & Museums Christmas Events

Kingfisher Chorale: A Boy Was Born Christmas fayre from mediaeval carols through to close harmony arrangements. The programme

pays homage to Benjamin Britten, with performances of four of his carols. Join the choir with a glass of mulled wine in front of a roaring fire.

There’s no better way to celebrate the music of Christmas. Tickets: Adults: £9.00 / Concessions £7.50 Bookings 0116 253 2569.

Spirits of Christmas

Friday 20 December 7pm, The Guildhall It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a roaring fire and a seasonal ghost story or two. Our popular event features stories with a Christmas theme and the ideal spine-tingling treat in the run up to the

festivities. Chill out with some chilling tales! Always a favourite, so book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets: £7.00 /£6.50 Bookings 0116 253 2569.

A Mediaeval Christmas Sunday 22 December 11am - 3pm, The Guildhall

Enjoy a magical Medieval Christmas for all the family in the unique surroundings of the Guildhall. Meet Old Father time and learn how we would have spent a medieval

Christmas. Throughout the day there will be crafts and trails; mince pies and hot drinks will also be available! £2.50 for activities. 0116 253 2569

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Planning Matters (September to December 2013) The Mayfield Road roundabout is, in effect, one of two main `gateways’ into Stoneygate and few passing motorists and cyclists will fail to be impressed by the distinctive art-deco detailing and Welsh slate roof of the cottage-style property at 2

Victoria Park Road which overlooks it. Built in the 1930s, it had been neglected for some time before being substantially refurbished by its current owners in 2007. Original Crittall windows were replaced and repaired, masonry was re-rendered, a boundary wall and gates were added and the front garden was attractively landscaped. An application has now been made to insert six rooflights into the roofslopes facing Victoria Park Road and London Road, presumably in connection with a planned attic conversion. We believe that so many would have a negative visual impact and undermine the impressively sensitive work already done. We hope that the owners can be persuaded to modify their plans.

Amended proposals to convert the Victorian family home at 71

Clarendon Park Road into two high-quality apartments have been approved. Situated between East and Central Avenues, the house is one of a block of five substantial properties, most of which have benefitted from significant refurbishment in recent years. Side and rear extensions, sympathetic alterations to the garage and garden landscaping will see major improvements to the rear of the house but plans for a rear balcony which would have compromised the amenity of neighbours had to be dropped. There will be no visible changes to the front. We would not normally welcome the subdivision of a family home but in this case the house has been used as an HMO for many years and there are few realistic prospects of future family occupation. This sensitive scheme represents a significant improvement and we hope to see it imitated elsewhere.

Knighton Park Road has the distinction of being the first side road to be laid out in Stoneygate. It dates from the 1860s and was constructed on land originally occupied by a grand house built for John Biggs, whose statue we all know well. The last house to be built was 7 Knighton Park Road, a large but very

ordinary post-war property whose new owners have made substantial changes. Their efforts to create a family home more in keeping with its surroundings are both understandable and admirable and we are pleased that they have dropped proposals to install front railings that would have introduced an inappropriate `stockade’ effect. With the exception of the two houses at the London Road end (now both converted into flats), the front boundaries in Knighton Park Road are virtually all dwarf walls topped by shrubbery or hedging. This provides a unifying element in the streetscene and complements – in a subtle, understated way – the grandeur of an avenue that was originally designed to provide Stoneygate’s smartest carriageway. Why do we go on so about front boundary walls? Why do we make a fuss about developers (almost always private landlords) who fail to observe front garden landscaping conditions attached to planning permission? Take a look at 330a London Road and you’ll see why. If the shrubs and trees that the developer agreed to retain and replant along the front boundary had actually materialised, yellow wheelie bins could be kept on the property and out of sight As it is, they simply clutter the pavement and blight the street scene for most of the week.

330a London Road

2 Victoria Park Road

71 Clarendon Park Road

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Tesco’s announcement that it intends to open an Express store in the old Barclays’ Bank building on the corner of Clarendon Park Road and Queens Road has been greeted with substantial local opposition. A Facebook page opposing the scheme has attracted more than 1,200 supporters, more than 150 residents, traders and students attended a protest meeting at the Friends’ Meeting House and the Action Group formed as a result staged a public meeting at the Brice Memorial Hall which was similarly well attended.

Its spokeswoman, Dr Ruth Young, made the case against in a `First Person’ column in the `Leicester Mercury’ http://tinyurl.com/onv8apr Opponents fear the loss of the small, independent businesses and neighbourliness that give the Queens Road shops their distinctiveness. They worry that, once established, the store will seek to expand and create a car park on neighbouring premises which, if granted planning consent, would draw in large amounts of extra traffic and irreversibly change the area. Tesco, for its part, argues that the new outlet will increase consumer choice, attract new shoppers, create jobs and reuse an empty and neglected historical building.

Current rules allow the former bank to be used as a supermarket without further planning permission and it is hard to see on what grounds consent for signs, refrigeration units and an alcohol licence could be refused. Lobbying by customers and councillors prevented the Post Office from closing ten years ago and it may succeed in persuading the building’s owners to withhold the lease in this case but if it doesn’t and the store goes ahead, the power is still in local hands. The most effective way of ensuring that Tesco (or any other similar operator) isn’t allowed to threaten Clarendon Park’s delicate retail eco-system is for residents and visitors alike to think carefully before shopping with them.

In Brief: 234 London Road, rear of Ripon Street - 3x 2-bed dwellings; demolition of garages REFUSED 20 Elms Road - Change of use from halls of residence to 9x self-contained flats (8x 2-bed, 1x 1-bed); rear dormers; alterations & increase in roof height; parking (amended plans) CONDITIONALLY APPROVED 4 Burlington Road - Replacement windows and doors, cladding and alterations to front, side and rear of house CONDITIONALLY APPROVED 7 Stanley Road, Eastfield Hall - Change of use from halls of residence to residential nursing home (9-beds) CONDITIONALLY APPROVED 16 Southernhay Road - Rooflights to front & rear; rear dormer extension CONDITIONALLY APPROVED 292 London Road, Barron House - Works to 1 tree TREE PRESERVATION ORDER

Ashleigh Clinic 24-26 Stoneygate Road - Works to 1 TPO-protected tree WITHDRAWN 28 Springfield Road - Replacement front windows, front alterations CONDITIONALLY APPROVED 1A Elmfield Avenue, The Samaritans - Replacement windows at front, sides and rear of office CONDITIONALLY APPROVED

Breach of Woodland Tree Preservation Order Fined

The `Leicester Mercury’ recently reported that a Nuneaton-based businessman had been fined £2,000, ordered to pay £4,000 costs and instructed to reinstate trees, shrubs and other plants which he had systematically removed from land protected by a Woodland Tree Preservation Order.

The land, part of a former 10-acre pumping station site in Rushey Mead, is the city's only riverside woodland, an important local wildlife habitat and has high amenity value, being clearly visible from nearby public places. Once cleared and levelled, its new owner had intended to use it as a commercial storage area.

Stoneygate only has one such designated woodland (on the corner of Ratcliffe and London Roads) but, like the many protected trees, it makes a significant contribution to visual amenity and helps promote biodiversity. The robust action taken by the City Council in this case is very encouraging.

Tesco in Clarendon Park: Every Little Helps?

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Committee News We are enjoying sunning ourselves in the reflected glory of SCAS committee member Neil Crutchley who was presented with an Honoured Citizen Award by Leicester Lord Mayor, Councillor Mustafa Kamal in a formal ceremony at the Town Hall in November.

Born and educated in Leicester, Neil combined a daytime career in the Museums & Libraries Service with a passion for classical music and an interest in local history which saw him produce hundreds of concert reviews as the `Leicester Mercury’s ’ music writer between 1984 and 2012 and almost as many contributions to its `Mr Leicester’ page. He was a member of staff at Leicester's Goldsmith music and drama library from 1971 to 1997, choirmaster at Harrison Road Methodist Church and lecturer in music appreciation at Leicester Adult Education College. Neil is currently a committee member of the Leicester Branch of the Victorian Society and President of Leicester Recorded Music Society. He has recently published a revised and beautifully illustrated edition of his book `The History of Leicester Symphony Orchestra, the First Ninety Years.’ which we highly recommend .

Following the gentle reminder letter from our Chairman in November, a small late surge of renewals means that we will end 2013 with membership at another all-time high. It wasn’t so long ago that we were celebrating membership reaching 150 households. We are now in a position where we can realistically aim to increase this to 200. What more encouraging way for the Society to approach Christmas and the New Year? Thank you all. Following suggestions made at the AGM and elsewhere, we have a number of New Year Resolutions; to upgrade the website and make it easier to add news and other items more regularly; to upload full colour versions of all past newsletters; to organise more social events for members and finally, to continue to work actively with other like-minded groups on your behalf.

Membership News

Nearly 40% of members have chosen to pay their SCAS membership by standing order and, if you haven’t yet, there is still time to take advantage of our treasurer’s introductory offer. Set up a standing order start-ing on April 1st 2014 and you will be fixing the cost of your membership at £5; insulating yourself against any future price rises! Simply complete the form accompanying this newsletter, send the top section to your bank or building society and the bottom section to Jenny, our membership secretary. If you prefer to set up the SO online or by phone, you can, of course, do that; just please remember to let Jenny know that you’ve done it. And please ask for annual payments to be made on April 1st .

Save Yourself Fuss & Money—Pay by Standing Order

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year

to all our Readers