Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan appendix C Local Distinctiveness SPD

Ringwood Local Distinctiveness Supplementary Planning Document

Adopted July 2013

Acknowledgements

New Forest District Council gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by all those who participated in the initial community workshop held on 9 March 2011, and those who have responded to consultations, taken an interest in this project and contributed additional material, photographs and suggestions. In particular we would like to thank:

• Hampshire County Council’s Landscape Planning team
• Ringwood Town Council
• The Ringwood Society
• New Forest District Councillors who have contributed to this project
• Chris Treleaven (former New Forest District Council Portfolio Holder)

This document has been produced by members of the Environmental Design, Policy and Development Control teams in New Forest District Council’s Planning and Transportation service. Copies may be obtained by downloading from www.newforest.gov.uk/planningpolicy or writing to New Forest District Council, Planning and Transportation, Appletree Court, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Hampshire SO43 7PA.

For further information please contact:
Richard Payne (Urban Designer) 023 8028 5345

Section 1

Introduction

1.1 This document has been published in order to help identify and protect the local character and distinctiveness of Ringwood. It provides guidance on how new development (including alterations or extensions to existing buildings) should be undertaken in the future, to ensure that it takes place in a way that protects local character and maintains the positive features that contribute to the particular area’s local distinctiveness. It applies to all new development – not just residential development. It is the latest in a series of ‘Local Distinctiveness’ guidance documents that New Forest District Council is preparing for the towns and main villages in its area.

1.2 This document is part of the Local Development Framework for New Forest District outside the National Park. It is a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which provides detailed guidance on the implementation of policies in the Local Plan. In particular it provides guidance to support the implementation of Local Plan Part 1: Core Strategy Policies CS2 and CS3 and Core Strategy objectives: Objective 1 - Special qualities, local distinctiveness and a high quality living environment, and Objective 6 - Towns, villages and built environment quality.

1.3 The Local Plan Part 2: Sites and Development Management sets out detailed planning policies and proposals to help implement the Core Strategy, including specific site allocations.

1.4 The guidance given in this document will be particularly relevant to those considering new development proposals within, or close to, the built-up area of Ringwood. The character area guidance in this document should help inform the necessary research into the context of individual sites. It is for the resident, the developer or the designer to investigate the more detailed character and special qualities of a place and how they can inform the design of new development based upon the information provided here.

1.5 The area to which this guidance relates is shown in Fig 2 (at the beginning of section 4). In considering individual character areas, an awareness of the wider rural context is required. With one exception, the boundaries of individual character areas all include sections where the town meets the surrounding countryside. These rural edges are of great importance, and need to be considered in the light of the New Forest District Council and New Forest National Park planning policies that apply to the adjoining countryside and National Park.

Policy background

1.6 Promoting high quality design and supporting local character and distinctiveness are strong themes embodied in planning policy at national and local level. Detailed policy references are given in Appendix 2 of this SPD.

1.7 Earlier concerns over the impact of some recent development trends on the character of parts of our towns and villages within New Forest District, led the Council to place a renewed emphasis on the importance of local environmental quality and local distinctiveness, as reflected in its adopted Core Strategy.

1.8 This guidance provides a detailed assessment of what gives the settlement of Ringwood its own unique character and identity, and offers guidance on an area by area basis to ensure that new development will respect local context and strengthen, rather than erode, valued local identity. Whilst there is an element of judgement inherent in the production of such a document, the content is based on first hand observation, analysis and assessment, informed professional judgement, and input from the local community at the project inception stage, through the course of the main technical work and during a consultation stage prior to adoption.

1.9 The guidance in this document expands on earlier design guidance published by the Council (‘Housing design, density and character’ SPD, NFDC, 2006), which sets out the principles and methodology the Council expects developers to follow in the design of their proposals, and the steps to be followed in understanding and responding to local context. The main headings in this document follow the same structure as that earlier SPD, and are also consistent with national design guidance as set out in ‘By Design’ (DETR & CABE, 2000).

Status of this Supplementary Planning Document

1.10 Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) are part of the Local Development Framework which provides the planning framework for the area. However, they are not subject to independent Examination and they do not form part of the statutory Development Plan. The guidance they give is a material consideration which will be taken into account in determining planning applications and appeals.

1.11 The guidance given in this document should be referred to and taken into account by those designing new development and making planning applications. It will be used by New Forest District Council officers and members to inform decisions on planning applications.

1.12 This document should also help in the preparation of ‘Design and Access Statements’, which must accompany the submission of some types of planning application.

1.13 Advice on preparing Design and Access Statements is also available in the Council’s ‘Housing design density and character’ SPD 2006: www.newforest.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5137.

1.14 Further guidance on the preparation of Design and Access Statements is available from the Design Council CABE at: www.cabe.org.uk/publications/design-and-access-statements

Purpose and scope of this document

1.15 Local distinctiveness is the essence of what makes a place special to us. It is the sum of landscape, wildlife, archaeology, history, traditions, buildings and crafts - everything that makes somewhere truly unique. Where we live and work is unique and whilst elements of its character may be similar to those elsewhere in the country, in combination such elements are uniquely valued as part of a local sense of place. Each and every street or plot of land will exhibit a blend of such elements, sometimes with obvious groups of characteristics appearing strongly, sometimes just a few underlying characteristics defining the area. This document seeks to explain that combination of characteristics which make Ringwood’s places special to those who live and work in the town.

1.16 Amongst the history and traditions, there are place names and building names which provide not only an important part of the sense of place but also a link to the past that is often vital to the continuity of that sense of place.

1.17 The purpose of this document is to improve the quality of new development and to assist in identifying the characteristics of a particular area that need to be appreciated in order to achieve this. Applied properly, the guidance in this document will not inhibit innovative design but will assist by identifying the elements that any design approach must respect.

1.18 Design that respects its context is not simply about conforming to what has gone before. However, those aspects of character which are not valued, or examples which undermine the distinct character of an area, should not be allowed to unduly influence new designs. All development sites represent an opportunity to improve on or consolidate the character and identity of a place through either innovative or traditional design solutions provided that they reinforce local character and distinctiveness. Where existing character is poor and unloved or identity is weak, the opportunity should be taken through good quality new design to initiate positive change in the area.

1.19 Occasionally opportunities arise to develop an area of land which lies at a transition point or alongside the boundary of one or other area such that there is ambiguity as to which elements of distinctiveness are most influential. In such cases, it will be important to consider appropriateness in terms of the whole context. In so doing, such things as connections, approaches to the site, wider views, and social expectations for an area should all be taken into account in order to realise the potential to repair or enhance an area of townscape which might otherwise appear rather weakly defined.

1.20 Section 2 begins by providing an overview of the context and historical evolution of the settlement of Ringwood. Key features that give the settlement its own locally distinct character are identified. Maps and photographs illustrate the town’s distinctiveness and the ways in which its historical development has influenced its present-day character.

1.21 Section 3 provides general design advice applicable across the town as a whole. This is presented as a table and is intended to be read in conjunction with the more detailed guidance given in Section 4.

1.22 In Section 4, a detailed analysis of the different character areas within the town is described, providing specific guidance relating to each area. This is presented: as illustrated text; as key defining elements of character and of Green Infrastructure (summarised in bullet form); in a guidance table augmenting that at Section 3 and finally an annotated map.

1.23 To sum up, this document enables local distinctiveness to be recognised, protected and enhanced when development proposals are considered. It is intended to provide a starting point in the design process by setting out a clear statement of the existing distinctive qualities of the place in question. Designers and applicants for planning permission should take these into account, both in their own more detailed analyses and in considering ways to enhance local distinctiveness. Early discussion with the local community and the Council’s Environmental Design team is encouraged to augment this guidance.

Section 2

Evolution and setting of the town: What makes Ringwood a special place

Distinctive landscape setting

Fig A Ringwood from the South

2.1 Ringwood has a unique and immediately recognisable setting. Located on the River Avon at the western edge of the New Forest, the town lies on beds of river sands and gravels, a little above the floodplain of the river. The landscape defines the location, the boundaries and much of the character of the town. To the west, the floodplain of the river forms the town’s boundary. The Avon, together with its valley, has its own unique character and is nationally recognised for its ecological value. The course of the river, together with its meandering tributaries and branches, creates a wide swathe of rich meadows only just below the level of the town. The land rises little by little, not simply as a gradual slope but more as a series of wide plateau terraces, one very slightly above the other. This can be seen clearly in the way the land east of Christchurch Road lies as flat fields a couple of metres above the road and the dwellings immediately to the west. Such occasional embankments appear at various points in the town, sometimes affecting the alignment of roads and edges of development (eg. south of Hightown Road, east of the Quomp and onto College Road). Sometimes embankments are crossed by roads and appear less sharply (eg. across Carvers sports ground), but nevertheless rise towards successive identifiable flat plains.

2.2 Most of the developed area of the town lies on these areas which are referred to as ‘River Terrace Farmlands’ in the New Forest District Landscape Character Assessment. The typical dwelling types and building materials dotted across this landscape, or predominating in the small clusters of settlement along the Upper Avon Valley, include timber beamed red brick cottages with thatch. Red brick, sometimes ornate Victorian, or white painted cottages with slate roofs are also common reminders of the area’s heritage. Even though the town has now enveloped this part of the landscape, such buildings or building groups still remain along the various routes that formerly connected farms and villages, and as such have become part of the rich mixture along those routes that remain. Such routes also keep other evidence of their rural past and characterise large parts of the town with their remnant farmland hedges and occasional field trees. These roads typically lack pavements (Fig 1 overleaf illustrates the landform and evolution of these lanes and roads).

2.3 The character of the town is thus constantly influenced by the underlying landscape - a landscape of very special habitats and ecology. Made up on beds of river valley gravel, the flat, fertile land offers both wide views of flat green space and persistent glimpses of greenery between the buildings. To the west lie the open floodplains and the various watercourses, ditches, drains and meadows that give both leisure access to the countryside and amenity through glimpses and views of the river valley beyond the town boundaries.

2.4 To the east lies the New Forest National Park. The land rises up through well wooded farmlands towards the ancient forest farmlands and the higher plateau of the New Forest heathlands. The higher land forms a constant backdrop to Ringwood. The belt of woods and pastures bordering the higher undulating plains of the open heathlands, forms a deep green margin to the landscape that characterises the horizon from much of the town, whether seen between buildings or as a wider distant view.

2.5 Arriving from the east at any time much before the end of the eighteenth century, travellers would have found their way down one of the lanes cut, through natural use, into the farmed forested slopes. After the high rolling heathlands of the New Forest, dropping downhill between small fields bounded by tree lined hedgerows and woodland, the traveller would find a stark contrast in the landscape. Wide open fields of flat river terrace stretched out a mile and a half to the west towards the town. The church tower and two tall mill buildings would have marked the horizon. There might even have been a silvery ribbon glimpse of river or in winter, some wide expanse of flooded meadow across the distant floodplain.

2.6 Immediately to the north, within the floodplain of the River Avon, lie a series of lakes (the Blashford Lakes) formed by recent gravel extraction, which together with the watercourse itself create a wide corridor of open water, wooded shores, wetland habitats and verdant agricultural land.

Fig B Ringwood - looking west from Smugglers Road, showing how the town nestles down into the low lying river terraces below the wooded slopes and higher plateau of countryside to the east. Only the two churches and occasional industrial rooftops interrupt the forest scenery.
Fig C Ringwood - looking east over the river floodplain from Castleman Trailway.

Relationship of the town to the surrounding countryside: rural to urban transitions

2.7 Although the east-west dual carriageway A31 trunk road harshly splits the town in two, it does for the most part respect the verdant nature of the approaches. This dual carriageway delivers the motorist immediately into the town centre via a wide car park that takes up the town’s original central green space. The visitor receives a very foreshortened impression of the transition via this approach, seeing nothing of the river valley or the forest lanes, and is delivered at a site where development largely presents its back to the arrival space (The Furlong). Recent development has sought to re-create a sense of place and promote activity that will offer a more inviting visitor experience, with a new community building (the ‘Gateway’), a new public square and the renovation of the historic Meeting House. There is the potential to further improve the car park environment to help restore The Furlong’s quality as a significant place of arrival.

2.8 There are major traffic routes arriving at Ringwood, from Salisbury and Fordingbridge to the north and from Christchurch to the south. These routes exhibit a gradual transition from the rural hinterland to routes with remnants of older rural development interspersed with a huge variety of infill, small estate development and oddly juxtaposed industrial developments together with highway paraphernalia. These two approaches to the town are dealt with as character areas in their own right (see Section 4, Character Areas 4 and 5).

2.9 Immediately to the north of the town are the Blashford Lakes, formed from gravel workings. They provide leisure opportunities and amenity as a backdrop to residential or industrial development, but only afford occasional views of open water. The distinctive qualities that the lakes lend to the town are dependent upon the ability to create views of the water from the communal and public realm, retaining and managing the waterside and wetland vegetation and tree belts as green amenity and backdrops to the settlement, and maintaining or enhancing these wetland and waterside habitats for wildlife.

2.10 Approaches across the forest from the east are dissipated through various lanes, many of which retain their pavement-free verges, occasional hedgerows and mixtures of housing usually accessed immediately off the lanes, via individual private drives.

2.11 The impact of transitions between urban and rural edge is of course not confined to views and impressions seen or experienced from the driving seat of a vehicle. Cyclists and walkers will have their own corresponding, albeit slightly differing, experiences.

2.12 The rural edge is particularly vulnerable where the settlement lies on the flat river terraces. To the north of the town, gravel extraction has created tree-lined lakes which contain the urban edge. To the east, the rising forest farmland makes a natural boundary north of the A31, but south of this the open farmland behind Eastfield Lane has a raw and unsympathetic edge of rear garden boundaries. The southern edge also has some abrupt boundaries where housing and industry lies stark along the field boundaries around the Crow Lane and Crow Arch Lane area. Finally the western edge offers views from the river floodplain which are vulnerable where intruded upon by occasional views of buildings. Any new development should respond sensitively to these rural edges, and where necessary help in restoring them. This must be through careful consideration of the landscape rather than simply screening with vegetation.

2.13 Ringwood offers some late 20th century examples of residential developments which do respect the distinctive rural to urban transition without compromising the surrounding rural landscapes. For example, the small development at Shires Close off Christchurch Road in the Moortown area is not intrusive on the rural fringe, and creates an appropriate urban scale and spatial coherence within its own boundaries. Similarly, the much larger lakeside development at Hightown Lake further east does not impact negatively on the highly valued (and ecologically designated) valley landscape.

2.14 The western perimeter of the town is naturally bounded by the River Avon but in view of the open aspect of this side of town, the rhythm, the density and the vertical proportions of the buildings forming this boundary, are of particular importance. Unfortunately, there are a few bulky and disproportionate buildings which now interfere with the views of the town across this river flood plain. Screening them with trees and hedgerows could at best provide only a partial solution as the natural vegetation of this landscape is deciduous. Trees planted too close to watercourses might also compromise their natural ecology. Further development within the town will need care to ensure that views across the river floodplain from the west are not compromised by inappropriately bulky or tall buildings.

2.15 The southern edge of the settlement near Crow Arch Lane is currently an abrupt halt in the wide and open landscape. There is an intensity to this edge (cut off physically from the countryside) which fails to create a sympathetic transition from the rural landscape. Simply offering screens and banks of trees here would be alien.

2.16 The A31 road-sign gantries, although a necessary part of the highway infrastructure, are unfortunately damaging to the character of the main east-west approaches to the town. It is important to ensure that these do not set a precedent whereby other, potentially avoidable roadside paraphernalia unnecessarily becomes a part of the landscape, simply because the road corridor might already be perceived as irreversibly spoiled. For instance, oversized buildings would be an obvious detriment but the cumulative effect of inappropriately sited advertisements, aerials, satellite dishes, illuminations, or poor boundary treatments could equally erode the distinctiveness of Ringwood.

Historic development of the town

2.17 Ringwood grew up as a small market town at the point where the main road between Southampton and Christchurch crossed the river. Despite some evidence of Bronze Age human activity in the area, there is no Roman or Anglo-Saxon archaeological evidence of a settlement. The Domesday survey indicates that it was a royal estate and recorded a church and mill. Ringwood remained a royal estate throughout mediaeval times and although the town was granted a market charter in 1226 it never became a borough, despite its wealth. For this reason, the historic core of Ringwood is not characterised by the burgage plots common in other mediaeval towns in this part of the country, although there may have been some planned reorganisation south of the high street. Certainly there are long narrow plots and, whatever their origins, planned plots around the mediaeval streets, built up from that period and later filled in and overlaid by other changes, are an essential part of the character of the town. These long narrow plots may simply have overlain field boundary divisions, a not untypical pattern in the immediate locality, prior to the Enclosure Act.

2.18 The town does have historic associations with the Monmouth rebellion and events after the Battle of Sedgemoor, but perhaps of greater relevance for our purposes are the activities involved in the day to day life of the town. The regular market made Ringwood the centre of commerce for the rural hinterlands bringing prosperity. Local industry during the post mediaeval period included the two mills, leather tanneries and cloth manufacture. Later on, brick making, building and brewing were major employers.

2.19 The present-day parish church (the Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) was largely rebuilt in the nineteenth century, but retains artefacts from its thirteenth century rebuild, and it is thought that a church has existed here since the time of the Domesday survey.

2.20 The main mediaeval townscape of High Street, West Street, Christchurch Road and Southampton Road remains almost intact - rebuilding and repair has retained the pattern of development. This natural growth and evolution of the ‘urban fabric’ gradually intensified, extending outwards as a pattern of ‘ribbon development’ along the main routes, defining the strong street patterns seen today.

Historic lanes and roads

2.21 The development of the town throughout the centuries, particularly since the arrival of motorised road transport, has inevitably meant that many historic roads and lanes have been widened or straightened to accommodate modern traffic. A number of older lanes remain throughout the town and many of these are valued as distinct features echoing the rural traditions and connections they still retain. There is an element of novelty and intrigue to these unexpected narrow lanes, which give the town a valuable individual character which underlies the characteristics of the more typical planned layouts popular in 20th century development.

Fig D Ringwood Town Centre

2.22 Particular historic roads and lanes exhibiting these characteristics (banks, verges, hedges, absence of pavement, field oaks and occasional cottages and boundary walls) are shown in Fig 1 and include:

• Old Salisbury Road and Gravel Lane – traditional routes from the north now running alongside, but well hidden from, the A338 and A31 interchange areas. They are tranquil and green, with only local access traffic.
• Linford Road – a traditional eastern exit from Poulner to Hangersley and the Forest beyond.
• Broadshard Lane – now part of the Poulner housing developments but nevertheless retaining a strong rural quality of established tree lines, housing set back from this narrow lane, and no pavements.
• Lanes linking Market Place/High Street/Christchurch Road to the Millstream/Bickerley area – particularly Lynes Lane, Deweys Lane and Coxstone Lane, still characterise the semi-rural historical context of the town.
• Star Lane – a much used pedestrian route between Market Place and the (1990s) Furlong Shopping Centre – a link between old and new with adjacent buildings of the same history.
• Quomp.
• Southampton Road - once the turnpike and the original vehicular route into Ringwood from the east, now superseded as a trunk road by the new A31.

Fig E Old Salisbury Road Fig F Linford Road

2.23 The railway arrived to link Ringwood with Southampton in 1847 and with Christchurch in 1862 and the population of the town has increased fairly steadily since then. The town expanded mainly to the east, to take in the various farm groups and isolated cottages as far as Poulner and Lane End Farm in the east, just beyond Moortown in the south, and with a ribbon of development stretching along the Salisbury road to the edge of Blashford in the north. One of the most significant influences on the character of the town is the way it has been laid out east of the historic centre. In the period immediately following the coming of the railway, in contrast to other towns, this area saw the building of relatively few additional roads for speculative development. Where they do exist they follow the routes of links made post-enclosure and often perform the function of linking up the farm lanes or occasionally straightening sections of them. Hightown Road, Parsonage Barn Lane, Crow Arch Lane, Cloughs Road and Broadshard Lane provided these connections and, unusually for planned streets, they only occasionally included paved footpaths and continue to retain a strong rural character expressed through their verges, hedgerows and occasional cottages.

2.24 This laying out of roads created opportunities for speculative suburban development along an unusually spread-out network of routes. For that reason, the extent of the town seems to have broadened as a patchwork of planned pockets of houses interspersed with fields, rather than the more typically ordered spreading of suburbia into the wider countryside. For example, a group of 1950s semis might lie between a fragment of Edwardian gridiron pattern streets on one side and late twentieth century cul-de-sac development on the other.

Fig G Map of development stages from late 19th century to World War II. Yellow indicates developed areas up to 1893; orange shows developed areas up to 1898; brown is up to 1910 and pink (and the base map) shows what was developed up to 1947.

2.25 Townscape typologies are explained in Appendix 1 but this more sporadic pattern of development has meant that many of the characteristics of connected gridiron streets common to Victorian or Edwardian planned towns are curtailed into short sections, appearing here as single streets, and similarly the 1950s semis might not appear on typical looping loose grid networks but just along part of one street or one single loop.

More recent evolution

2.26 This filling out of the gaps has continued, sometimes recycling pockets of land where industry or buildings have become obsolete, so that the over-riding characteristic of many parts of Ringwood is its closely interspersed mix of commerce and housing and its marked variety of ages and styles. Of course this does not mean that ‘anything goes’ in terms of new development. Each element of the patchwork has its own characteristics, which may be defined by space, scale and the connections and activity associated with the streets and places. It would be a mistake to dilute the characteristics of the place by wrongly assuming that because a ‘mixture’ has worked in the past, then anything will do. Any new development will have some impact and will influence the quality of the place. If change is allowed to erode the qualities of the neighbourhood that are valued by the local community, the area will no longer be so well looked after or positively perceived by its inhabitants. In the long term the cumulative effects of such change can cause neighbourhoods to fail.

2.27 Some new roads or relatively recent realignments have broken down parts of the town’s fabric. However, this spread-out patchwork has at least allowed roads such as the main A31 Ringwood bypass (which removed the mill and vicarage from the mediaeval core) and Mansfield Road to be built with relatively little of the wholesale demolition of neighbourhoods too often seen in the histories of other towns.

2.28 The main change within the town, driven by the need to support increasingly intense visitor and commercial uses, has been to realign the road coming from the south (Christchurch Road) where the mediaeval and post-mediaeval streets were unable to cope efficiently with modern traffic. A relatively unbuilt quarter of the town centre enabled Mansfield Road to be built as a link road relieving the centre of its through-traffic at relatively little cost to the town’s fabric. Unfortunately this has left connections and remnants of odd shaped parcels of land with sweeping engineered curves at odds with the traditional pattern of the town centre. There is now a distinct mismatch between buildings and streetscape, so the experience along parts of this route suggests that in this particular instance variety is not so much a positive attribute of the town but is more indicative of a lack of coherence.

2.29 There is a danger that once a highway and its paraphernalia of signage and commercial pressures (to ‘hook’ passing trade) has reduced, diluted or destroyed locally distinct characteristics, that this is taken as a precedent for allowing continued impoverishment of the environment. If there were, for example, a characteristic historic farmhouse alongside a busy road, this would offer a great opportunity to reinforce the positive qualities of the town, and would warrant the strongest protection from pressures that might diminish its quality, rather than allowing it to succumb to the highway pressures and to lose the essential qualities that made it attractive and an asset to the character of its neighbourhood.

What makes Ringwood a special place: a summary

1. A distinctive landscape setting, with easy access to the countryside, particularly to the New Forest and Avon Valley. Many areas of the town have open views or glimpsed views between buildings connecting the observer to this landscape. The landform to the east offers a backdrop of forest edge where the land rises markedly from the flat river plain. To the west and throughout the town the river terraces and flood plain itself offer wide open views, influenced by the unique habitat and special characteristics of the valley of the River Avon, including its flood plain meadows and tributaries.
2. History and tradition in building forms: a historic market town centre with a strong variety of traditional buildings, serving commercial, residential or community purposes. A patchwork of development encompassing pockets of heritage value throughout the later suburban neighbourhoods.
3. History and tradition in street forms: a network of traditional lanes and roads without pavements largely retaining their rural character, on the approaches to the town and within it. People often still share the space with traffic, which calls for special care to be taken in making road and street improvement and in the way new development addresses and creates accesses onto such streets.
4. A mixed and relatively modest scale, density and form of building that respects the wider valley setting, combined with a rural social context. There are recent developments giving a feeling of openness and “spatial comfort”, rather than oppressive and bulky built forms, that provide positive examples for both residential (e.g. around Hightown Lake) and employment uses (e.g. Headlands Business Park). Equally there are good examples of recent development which respects the intimate rhythms and containment of the town’s more urban streets (see figs 1.8 and 1.9).

2.30 Ringwood is fortunate in having a number of unique environments and notable features that help create its own identity. These are covered in more detail in the relevant individual character area descriptions (see Section 4) and include:

• The mediaeval town centre (see Character Area 1)
• The Bickerley and environs (see Character Areas 1 and 2)
• The shopping centre (see Character Area 1)
• Blashford Lakes on the northern edge of the town (see Character Area 4)

Integration of modern employment uses within the fabric of the town

2.31 People’s working lifestyles and environments are as important as their homes when considering the impacts and contributions developments make to the distinct character of the town. Business parks and industrial estates have traditionally been set aside from residential areas to reduce conflicts of such things as noise, smell and disparity of building sizes. Of equal importance has been the segregation of commercial and industrial traffic. This has sometimes led to a reduced care for the environments they create or the impacts they have upon the wider town. Ringwood is nothing if not mixed. Industrial uses may be found cheek by jowl with the smallest of cottage dwellings and the ability to work in the same town as that in which one lives is no mean advantage. Such juxtapositions require special care, so that the employment use not only functions well for itself but also avoids restricting neighbouring uses and enjoyment of property. Care must also be taken to ensure that the insertions of such widely varying functions do not detract from the overall characteristics and distinctive qualities of the place.

2.32 Business parks are an integral part of the built landscape of the town and should not be consigned to an “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” approach. In view of planned additions to (and renewal of) the employment areas within Ringwood, it is worth appraising the success or otherwise of the existing sites in terms of their local landscape and townscape impact. Qualities that are evident within existing sites can help inform appropriate design decisions on future employment sites. The inset box on the following page highlights attributes and issues raised by Ringwood’s business parks.

Fig H Hightown Industrial Estate Fig I Parkside Industrial Estate
Fig J Headlands Business Park. The buildings are generally simple with shallow pitched roofs and predominantly brick walls. Secure areas are subtle and the usual proliferation of palisade fences is avoided in preference for a simple open plan landscape of car parking and predominantly natural planting.

Overview

2.33 Ringwood is a desirable place to live and a town whose economy depends to a significant degree on maintaining its attractiveness to visitors. For both these reasons it is imperative that new development respects those characteristics that make the town and its constituent neighbourhoods desirable.

2.34 This document is intended to help ensure that new development proposals are informed by an understanding of locally important characteristics, and how they should be respected in designing new buildings, places, streets and spaces.

Section 3

Ringwood – guidance for the whole settlement

3.1 This section provides guidance that applies to development proposals anywhere in Ringwood. The guidance for each individual character area that follows in Section 4 is additional to the guidance given in Section 3.

3.2 All roads will be considered as ‘streets’ for the purpose of applying the Central Government guidance on the design of residential streets given in ‘Manual for Streets’ (CLG/DfT 2007).

3.3 This section should be read in conjunction with the character area plans and the townscape type descriptions given in Appendix 1. The notations in the box below set out important contextual elements as shown on each of the character area plans.

Elements of character and identity – Guidance Illustration

Section 4: The Character Area Guidance

The character areas on Ringwood

4.0.1 There are nine character areas, as shown in Figure 2.

4.0.2 For each area a description, supported by an annotated plan introduces and outlines what is distinctive and of local significance, and where there might be opportunities for improvement. For each area the Key Defining Elements of local character and the key aspects of Green Infrastructure that should be embraced in new development are listed. Finally there is a checklist of guidance that identifies any additional design considerations relating to that individual area, over and above that already covered by the whole town guidance in Section 3.

4.0.3 There are often subtle or small-scale variations in character within individual streets and within individual clusters of buildings, as well as broad variations across the whole town. The scale at which this guidance looks at local character is necessarily limited to relatively broad areas exhibiting clear differences in character. The areas identified are:

1. Town Centre
2. The Victorian/Edwardian Quarter
3. Gravel Lane
4. The Northern Approach
5. The Southern Approach
6. Crow and Hightown
7. Parsonage Barn and East Fields
8. North Ringwood
9. Poulner and the Rural Edge

4.0.4 Whichever part of the country you are in, recognizable and distinct patterns of urban development (townscape character types) can be identified. The main townscape character types occurring in this area have been identified and are set out in Appendix 1. These were used to inform the identification of the character areas within Ringwood and should be read in association with the general design advice in Section 3 and the individual character area guidance that follows.

Character Area 1 - Town Centre

Fig 1.1 Ringwood Town Centre (April 2011)

4.1.1 Ringwood town centre is a rich and varied place with historic charm, busy shops, pleasant parks, streets and spaces. The photographs below illustrate just some of the iconic views that characterise the town centre.

A medieval town centre

4.1.2 This is the area of town regarded as the most significant in identifying the character of Ringwood and which emphasises its historical roots as a country market town. The strengths (and weaknesses) of this locally vital area are well-described in the New Forest District Council Conservation Area Appraisal (2003). It is important that new development not only respects the historic appearance of these buildings, streets and structures, but that where the actual physical fabric of such elements of the town (buildings or structures which may or may not be statutorily protected) still exist, they should be retained and restored wherever possible. It is not good enough to retain simply a façade, or copy a style, if historic fabric is lost in the process.

Fig 1.3 Market Day in Ringwood
Fig 1.2 Jubilee lamp; Parish Church; Meeting House; Millstream from Danny Cracknell Pocket Park; Grain Store; The Old Cottage, West Street; Furlong Shopping Centre; the War Memorial.

4.1.3 The centre of Ringwood is characterised by its ribbon development. Buildings cluster together, tightly enclosing the earliest central streets and the market place at the heart of the town. Many buildings are listed, and there are many more which are not but which together present a deeply historic character and appearance. That appearance is based upon the collective impression created by roofscape, street enclosure and traditional proportions combined with traditional materials, craftsmanship and a mixture of uses and activities best suited to a very walkable town. Scale is sometimes mixed, but (with only a few exceptions) within certain parameters is always limited to those building forms that are, or could be, created with the use of traditional technologies i.e. shallow plan depth, or double piled with pitched roofs where the plan is deeper.

4.1.4 The centre is that of a typically English rural market town, with generally two-storey buildings and only occasionally a taller building marking a civic use or significant location. Very occasionally a building steps beyond these parameters of scale but this is not usually successful, such buildings tending to undermine, rather than support the qualities that make up the local distinctiveness of Ringwood.

4.1.5 The traditional centre comprises West Street, Market Place and High Street but the characteristics described above are carried east along sections of Christchurch Road and Southampton Road. Terraced rows of shops enclose the street around Friday’s Cross in uneven curves but as the streets leave this end of the medieval centre, the building line becomes very subtly more relaxed with some stepping in and out creating spaces for shops to show their wares or simply accommodating more orthogonal internal shop floors.

Fig 1.4 Looking towards High Street, the varied and uneven curve of terrace enclosing Friday’s Cross.

4.1.6 Buildings are predominantly two-storey with pitched roofs running parallel to the street. Behind the main streets, they are typically subservient masses following mediaeval field patterns where they existed. Partially based on mediaeval field patterns along these town centre streets, the plot widths vary but nevertheless fall within reasonably tight parameters. They thus create a distinctive rhythm to the streets. This is displayed through subtle changes to building facades and the skyline. Taller buildings are the exception but occasionally rising to three storeys need not undermine the dominating rhythm of the plot divisions, but rather tends to emphasise it provided that such height remains only very occasional. However, it is particularly important to appreciate the tradition of shallow depths with such exceptions as they are clearly visible.

4.1.7 Many, though not all, replacements of older buildings successfully adhere to the characteristics of scale and mass described above so that for the most part, the buildings support the identity of the centre. Over the years, new developments have attempted to emulate historic styles. Successful examples are faithful to the architectural principles of their chosen cue adopting authentic proportions and materials. Farther out along Southampton Road are, however, examples that undermine the distinctive character either through failing to take on the proportions or mass of the styles they try to emulate or by attempting to add a contemporary flavour without reference to the elements of building form that define the character of streets in the centre of the town.

Fig 1.5 Sketched birds-eye diagram showing the parallel roof ridges and subservient forms to the rear which are usually within the medieval plot patterns.

Fig 1.6 Sketch diagram illustrating the typical rhythms and relatively consistent key dimensions (see guidance table) along the town centre streets
Fig 1.7 An occasional three storey building supports the rhythm of the street provided it retains the traditional depth.

Fig 1.8 High Street and Friday’s Cross. This diagram illustrates how a recent replacement building (taking up the two central plot widths) re-emphasises the street’s rhythm, supporting the key elements of scale and appearance that are distinctive of Ringwood’s town centre
Fig 1.9 This example of recent development, just east of Fridays Cross, respects the scale and skyline of the town centre. It is easy to appreciate traditional detailing but this works because the proportions are respectful of those of the town centre (with the possible exception of the chimneys). It illustrates the predominantly two storey domestic scale as well as the typically: parallel ridges; portrait windows; subtle skyline changes; rhythms created primarily by plot widths; and secondary rhythms created by fenestration of the town centre. Notice that: the three-storey house offers a two-and-a-half-storey façade with dormers; the two and a half storey house has dormers receding behind the plane of the façade.

4.1.8 Examples which adhere strongly to a heritage style can easily support the character provided that they display authentic proportions and materials. This becomes less successful where important elements of character are ignored whether the style is historic or contemporary. Farther out along Southampton Road are several examples that undermine the distinctive character either through failing to take on the proportions or mass of the styles they seek to emulate, or by attempting to create their own identity without reference to the elements of building form that define the character of streets in this part of the town.

4.1.9 The first example considered here is that of the old Woolworths building and its larger neighbour, built to allow a widening of the street in the nineteen thirties and forties.

4.1.10 This striking terrace of shops (on Southampton Road - see Fig 1.10) is an example of early twentieth century façadism, offering an importance to the shopping street with proportions and rhythms referring back to classical architecture. However, whilst it respects the street rhythms within the façade, the symmetry, repetition and especially the wide flat roof makes the building appear as one, far wider than typical and with a skyline which is immediately at odds with the town. Such striking features can offer variety and a pleasing richness to the street but in this case, subsequent development nearby has not even respected the underlying rhythms that characterise the town centre but rather taken this exception as a cue to creating something entirely different – namely, over-wide flat-roofed façades with drab window patterns and, at street level, over-wide shop windows.

Fig 1.10 The classically proportioned, neo-Georgian façade creates a striking feature at the junction of Southampton Road and Mansfield Road. The building is rich in detail and rhythms of its own but is at odds with the skyline because, whilst the rhythms of its façade echo the shop fronts, the width at three-storey is incongruous.
Fig 1.11 The subsequently developed and rather drab run of shops alongside sadly fails to respect the rhythms along the street either through plot division or fenestration pattern (they set up powerful rhythms all of their own). With no roof visible, despite being two-storey, this is equally at odds with the skyline.

4.1.11 A second example lies beyond the severing effect of Mansfield Road. Historically the compact building of the town centre did not reach this far but each replacement development has intensified the amount of building along the street. Mostly this is done in similar scale with dimensions that are respectful of the town centre buildings. Numbers 46-52 Southampton Road is an example that picks up some of the key defining elements of the street, but then negates the effect by over development beyond those key characteristics. Firstly in the symmetry of the three frontage elements bound together to appear as one very wide form, and secondly by dwarfing the frontage building with oversized development behind. ‘Heritage styling’ fails in this instance because proportions are neither respectful of the street characteristics nor faithful to the proportions and dimensions of the historic period the style seeks to emulate.

Fig 1.12 Farther out along Southampton Road where the commercial centre gives way to residential dwellings, this example gives a passing nod to its context whilst inserting a three storey block which is so vastly at odds with the town that it could be anywhere.

Fig 1.13a Diagram showing how new development could have picked up upon the rhythms and scale of adjacent buildings on Southampton Road with some additional development behind.
Fig 1.13b Analytical diagram illustrating where the actual building offers some respect to the context but adds elements that then ignore the very issues of scale and mass that informed the design at the outset. It will be important when considering new development in the area, that these key defining elements of character are recognised and the more outlandish elements of such buildings as this are not used as cues or precedent for further development at inappropriate scale.

The Close

4.1.12 Behind the continuous terraces of Christchurch Road and the southern end of Southampton Road lies an area of the town centre which has become rather mixed. Community buildings in the form of a church (Roman Catholic), a medical centre and fire station lie next to houses and bungalows. The church is something of a landmark, the others provide nothing in the way of distinctive architecture or quality in their setting being at odds with their neighbours especially in terms of scale and mass.

4.1.13 The Close is a well-used pedestrian route connecting schools and residential areas straight to the heart of the town. The quality of this link to Southampton Road as well as that leading to Christchurch Road need to be improved with any new development always maximising surveillance through active and pleasant frontage to enhance the walking experience of these links.

4.1.14 Somewhat cut off in modern times by the Mansfield Road link, development and change has not, as yet, provided a distinctive edge to that route so the opportunity to provide significant tree planting and a good quality edge on any developments here needs to be taken.

Fig 1.14 The Roman Catholic Church. The striking (and somewhat Mediterranean) clarity of its architecture and the green-edged setting are important contributions to the character of The Close.

A crossing place

4.1.15 The main A31 trunk road impinges greatly upon the very heart of the town but it should be recalled that this route is the raison-d’etre for the town’s existence at the crossing point of the River Avon. It offers a powerful first impression of the town through the long distance views of church tower (the Parish Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) and river valley as one comes down from the higher ground and close up views within the valley itself. It is vital to the impression that Ringwood gives, that the clarity of its historic and rural character should not be undermined through deterioration of views from the road. Features such as advertisements, lighting, over-dominant highway paraphernalia, overly massive building (especially roof) forms or even inappropriate screening can have a cumulative impact especially where the highway environment has a tendency to be seen as an already ‘lost cause’.

North east quarter

4.1.16 The north east quarter of the town centre is somewhat vehicle dominated. The Furlong, which remained an open green field until the 1970s, has been converted to car parking. The old cattle market and rear plots of the old commercial centre which once faced the mediaeval Market Place have now been amalgamated to offer a more modern shopping experience within collections of modern buildings. This development has been designed to accommodate the remnants of historical walls and buildings. Because these are largely inviting, successful and pleasant additions to the town, the supermarkets are intrinsically ‘knitted’ into the town’s fabric, which has ensured that the town centre has retained a vibrancy and vitality lost in many similar sized towns. However, the connections have altered the ‘gravitational pull’ in the town such that people are drawn away from the traditional heart – Market Place.

4.1.17 One of the defining characteristics of Ringwood is the many narrow paths and alleys which link the main mediaeval market place and central street through to these newer shopping centres and car park to the north and particularly to the south, where they pass through a more mixed use area towards the Millstream, River Avon and Bickerley Common.

The shopping experience

4.1.18 The shopping experience of Ringwood is part of its distinct character. A mixture of shop sizes and types fill the diverse historic core of the town. While the original streets remain open to traffic, the pedestrian realm is considerably more permeable with narrow alleyways and small squares enabling a very sociable living, shopping and visitor experience. It will be important to always protect and enhance the character of links to the market place.

4.1.19 The Furlong - a 1990s development on the old cattle market site, has become a focal point for informal socialising and relaxation. Plate glass shop fronts with wooden cladding are part of a new contemporary café culture and street life which, by respecting the distinctive building forms of the town, can thrive in a symbiotic (mutually advantageous) relationship with historic elements of the town centre. Buildings in scale with such older buildings as the grain store, reinvigorate new uses in historic buildings and underpin a local distinctiveness for the shopping core. It will be important to continue to respect the traditional and historic forms and use of locally typical materials in any additions or alterations.

4.1.20 Behind the Meeting House, another square offers shelter under heavy timber arcading, echoing the medieval roots of the town and giving an opportunity for shops such as a traditional greengrocers to thrive alongside a modern supermarket.

4.1.21 In both places, tying in the contemporary lifestyle generated by supermarket shopping as an intrinsic part of the town’s urban fabric, its connections and spaces has been to the great advantage of Ringwood both in terms of the viability of its pedestrian streets and regenerating uses for older buildings. Such examples of respecting the past whilst embracing the new are what make the town centre experience distinctive.

4.1.22 It is important to retain the variety of size and type of shop whilst respecting heritage through careful shop front design, which should appear as intrinsic to the whole building form, complementing details and materials. Shop frontages should not impinge upon pedestrian connections or legibility of streets and spaces but rather seek to enhance the vitality and activity of the public realm through good design. More information is available in the Council’s adopted Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) ‘Shopfront Design Guide’.

The Bickerley

4.1.23 The wide green space of Bickerley Common (the Bickerley), which is a designated ‘village green’, is a highly valued public space accommodating the annual fair and giving breathing space close to the town centre. The disused railway embankment forms a footpath and vantage point from which one can enjoy open views across the river floodplain. Three distinct groups of dwellings lie on the other side of the green from the town.

Fig 1.15 Bickerley Terrace – red brick detailing, chimneys and articulatedskyline combine with the setting to create a memorable landmark

4.1.24 Bickerley Terrace with its impressive forest of chimneys and rich detailing and brickwork is one of the most memorable sights in Ringwood. This is due in no small part to the setting. Close by, five pairs of red brick cottages face a gravel lane which runs down towards the millstream. Such an oddly urban insertion beside the stream nevertheless has some charm in the brick detailing and consistent forms unspoilt by roof alteration. The open plan dwellings behind these are largely secluded from view and contribute no positive characteristic to the townscape beyond that of the tree groups which screen their presence.

Fig 1.16 Bickerley Common

4.1.25 The northern edge of the Bickerley is lined with a variety of dwellings orientated to oversee the activity of the green, offering important natural surveillance and a sense of comfortable security. Many of these dwellings have gardens which soften the margin - their colour and greenery contributing to the quality of the space. The retention of garden settings as a green margin and the visual connections between dwellings and the open space are important here and must be retained. Screening off these frontages for reasons of privacy or building up the gaps (thus hardening the edge and skyline) would be detrimental to the character.

4.1.26 Leading up to the north and north west are various paths, roads and drives which access the town and the maze of buildings which lie behind the main streets. Each winding alley (or ‘snicket’) holds surprises of gardens, overhanging trees, oddly shaped cottages or buildings and features steeped in heritage. The variety of uses ensures a close-knit fabric which is always busy. Built up over many years this is the sort of townscape where mixed use is seen to succeed, residents live in close neighbourliness with workplaces of various sorts, from small offices to workshops, retail and services. Car parks squeezed between the uses enable a sense of calm business.

4.1.27 These winding paths and snickets referred to above connect vehicle access points, yards and streets up to a variety of historic and modern buildings accommodating residential uses and small businesses in seemingly equal number. Each route is marked on the plan and each has its own character. Three examples of such routes are given below, but each is important and collectively they define the character of much of the town centre away from the central streets.

4.1.28 Kingsbury’s Lane for example connects up to Gooseberry Lane and Fridays Court past a collection of older cottages, some with front gardens and through either an intimate and small scale contemporary shopping court or a narrow path backing the Conservative Club car park. The Gooseberry Lane connection is now uninviting due to lack of maintenance, misleading signage and poor quality boundaries and surfaces. Fridays Court in contrast has created an inviting route with a development that embraced the external environment through its design.

4.1.29 Dewey’s Lane is an example which allows the pedestrian to arrive on High Street opposite Meeting House Lane via a high quality group of recently built houses, through yards and under an arch through seemingly private spaces. Gardens and trees mix with the dwellings off Dewey’s Lane but the path almost peters out completely through private yards so that the surveillance of buildings close by and the activity of other walkers accessing the dwellings or businesses is all that tells the visitor they may proceed.

4.1.30 Strides Lane is different again, being more open, with one or two remnants of historic employment remaining before the yards and car parks give way to dwellings with gardens where the path goes south towards the recently laid out Danny Cracknell Pocket Park - a tranquil green destination on the edge of the millstream.

Fig 1.17 Kingsbury’s Lane
Fig 1.18 Strides Lane

4.1.31 This whole section of town between the Bickerley and High Street is thus a mixture that creates quiet activity and movement throughout the day. Interspersed with private garden and car park there is a balance between green amenity, historic charm and active use that is maintained by a constant recycling of the land. Replacement and additions to the built environment must not lose sight of that balance if the success of this part of town is to continue. The pathways must remain inviting, the garden spaces must remain large enough to accommodate trees in reasonable number and the buildings must respect the parameters of scale and mass that define the distinctive character of this townscape.

Other green spaces

4.1.32 On the edge of the town centre there are three further tranquil green spaces each of markedly different character: Silver Jubilee Gardens, the new Gateway Square and its partner at the opposite corner of the Furlong and the War Memorial garden

West Street and Silver Jubilee Gardens

4.1.33 West of the Market Place, the closely built up street continues with a sharply diminishing sense of commerce. A deep sense of history as one passes Monmouth’s place of custody and thatched building ‘The Old Cottage’, onto the rebuilt bridge over the millstream is now less about town centre and trade and more underlain by the green and shady riverside tranquillity of the Avon landscape. Silver Jubilee Gardens offers a shady spot to watch both the main river and the millstream rushing through. Views from the river crossing pick up some traditional rural forms of dwellings along The Bridges (a lane), and the historic significance of the (listed) Fish Inn where the road emerges onto the A31 is an important signal to passing traffic that beyond the highway paraphernalia is Ringwood, a historic and rural market town. The care of this particular listed building is thus extremely important to the impression of our town given to passers-by.

The Furlong

4.1.34 Until the 1970s, this was a green field where the drovers route (Gravel Lane –see Character Area 3) once would have arrived at the market. A car park since the seventies, this is now the arrival point for many with bus and taxi’s stopping and now the recent development of ‘The Gateway’, a community hub for information, local council business and a public square at the meeting of the ways. A cluster of plane trees shades the square. Opposite is the fascinating Meeting House backing onto a busy shopping court at Pedlars Walk and directly adjoining, to the east, is The Furlong Shopping Centre, taking its name from the neighbouring piece of land.

4.1.35 The outer edges of the Furlong itself are lined with trees and a small park – a simple grass space with large trees, somewhat removed from popular circulation. Re-establishing and enhancing the diagonal path, tree and hedge lines along the old drovers’ route would better link the amenities of this relaxing area with the new gateway square.

4.1.36 Such an amenity might not only serve to improve the town’s attractiveness to visitors but if a holistic review of traffic through The Furlong were to be undertaken, this could improve pedestrian priority. The new square has been designed with the potential to facilitate direct access towards Market Place, down Meeting House Lane. Should the opportunity arise, the old drovers’ route might once again draw people through to the market place, ensuring the viable future of the historic core for years to come.

War Memorial Garden

4.1.37 The town’s war memorial sits in an attractive public garden at the south eastern edge of the centre. The imposing presence of Greyfriars overlooks the gardens and the impact of green and trees on the opposite side of Mansfield Road are important contributions to the character of the space.

Fig 1.19 Greyfriars

Key defining elements

• Historic built environment
• Central streets well defined by built form
• Backland often defined by historic field patterns and usually subservient mass of buildings
• Consistent scale of building and strong rhythms along the main streets
• Simple pitched roof forms of clay tile or slate, usually parallel to streets
• Winding paths, alleyways and snickets
• Mixture of uses interspersed with dwellings, gardens and trees (all linked by the narrow lanes and alleys connecting back to the central streets)

Green Infrastructure

• Trees and garden spaces within the area north east of the Bickerley
• The natural vegetation and habitats of the river’s banks, the open green of the Bickerley and the railway embankments
• The more manicured landscapes of Silver Jubilee Gardens, the churchyard and War Memorial Gardens
• Tree-lined paths through car parks
• The Gateway Square (potentially linked to Furlong ‘East’ Park)

Town Centre Character Area Guidance

The following guidance illustrates how new change and development might be achieved in a way that maintains and enhances the character and distinctiveness of this part of Ringwood. It identifies how any new development should be designed to respond to its context and the key defining features of this area.

This guidance supplements that already set out in Section 3

Character Area 2 - The Victorian/Edwardian Quarter

4.2.1 Within easy walking distance of the town centre is an area where residential development often sits cheek by jowl with small employment and community uses. Much of the area had been built out during the Victorian/Edwardian eras with a slower steady development of the remaining green land through the first half of last century. Later development occurred as infilling, particularly of the long gardens that reach down towards the Bickerley. Carvers Recreation Ground and the Bickerley itself remain as open green spaces.

4.2.2 It is no surprise then that the predominant character is one defined by its heritage, Christchurch Road and Coxstone Lane having a variety of traditional buildings, a number of which are thatched. Meanwhile the section of Hightown Road which lies within this character area exhibits a sense of arrival and urbanity with its early Victorian terrace buildings enclosing its edge as it curves to meet Christchurch Road.

4.2.3 Behind these earlier buildings, the patterns of the gardens and orchards have set the layouts for later development which filled out the areas with predominantly red brick houses around the turn of last century.

4.2.4 It is fairly easy to see similarities within small clusters of dwellings or streets in this character area. The following text illustrates the various characteristics of each. These are referred to on the plan.

Fig 2.1 Landmarks - the Trinity United Church and alms houses

Coxstone Lane

4.2.5 Coxstone Lane contains a charming, secretive cluster of thatched cottages hidden amongst and behind some terraced, semi and detached brick houses of the late 20th century. The higgledy-piggledy layouts are thrown into sharp contrast against the more regimented front and rear gardens and consistent lines of the later buildings. Each cottage is protected by statutory listing. It is nevertheless important to consider the whole street, its rural qualities of hedge and picket fence boundaries, its lack of pavement and the small but all-important garden spaces that surround these (the remains of a far more extensive setting that traditionally such buildings would have had). The later buildings themselves offer green margins and a functional simplicity that allows such dwellings, and indeed those of Christchurch Road (shown), a distinctiveness and it is vital that these green margins should not be lost to hard standing, and that the consistency of lines, forms and materials should remain faithful to their original unadorned design philosophy.

Fig 2.2 Thatched cottage on Coxstone Lane and nearby 1960s terrace facing Christchurch Road

Nursery Road

4.2.6 Nursery Road contains a line of red brick dwellings, mostly in pairs. These exhibit a consistency of roof form and decorative buff brickwork features. Chimneys also with decorative brickwork.

4.2.7 Recent infill and replacement building at Towngate Mews has brought a strong sense of enclosure and surveillance to the street. A new curved building together with the neighbouring front garden space helps to enclose a wider greener street space in sympathy with the existing quality. The street space itself allows for dwarf walls that provide sufficient segregation for personalisation and decorative planting.

Fig 2.3 Impressive set of consistent dwellings on Nursery Road

Hightown Road

4.2.8 The section of Hightown Road that runs into this character area is characterised by a collection of older buildings forming a curved terrace which encloses the street. The tight rhythm along this terrace, together with the rich decoration and variety in materials and architectural detail, offers a powerful hint of what is to be found in the town centre; this is where the Victorian and Edwardian developers optimised the street façade with their buildings to create their own version of the much older town centre streets. Not so commercial this far from the centre, occasional shops are mixed with residential and other uses. The garages are particularly distinctive with an architectural integrity dating from the early twentieth century, displaying clearly their functional quality.

Fig 2.4 Historic terrace and some of the rich detailing on Hightown Road
Fig 2.5 The distinctive garage buildings on Hightown Road

Woodstock Lane

4.2.9 Between the Quomp and Christchurch Road, three dwelling groups create a delightful consistency along Woodstock Lane. The terrace of jettied and tile-hung cottages; a later (but still early 20th century) group of four hipped brick pairs (presumably a continuation, though disconnected, of the Nursery Road group); and round a corner similarly unspoilt but later twin semi-detached pairs (this time with upper floors rendered). The lane itself has a rather special character, due in part of course to the retained architectural integrity of these building groups along the south east side but also as a result of the surfacing, the absence of road markings or grade separation. The tiny front garden margin, common to all these dwellings and consistent even in the later suburban types, nonetheless contributes considerable greenery and a comfortable setting for the terraced cottages. The opposite (west) side of the street is contained by rear gardens behind walls with building infilling only as occasional bungalow development. Some gardens have been converted to car parks but it is the permanence of walled containment and the far more open aspect afforded by gaps between buildings together with the deeper spaces on the south east side that allows light, greenery and a sense of tranquillity to pervade this lane. Any further development in these rear plots must respect the special characteristics of Woodstock Lane, retaining gaps, trees, low permanent quality boundaries and keeping roof lines low and unimposing.

Fig 2.6 Three delightfully unspoilt sets of dwellings on Woodstock Lane

4.2.10 The Quomp (the name of which may derive from the old Roman term for camp) is a street which follows a step rise in the land. The lower side contains some jettied and tile hung terrace groups similar to those on Woodstock Lane. The higher level has a simple rhythm set up by the half rendered mid-twentieth century houses each remaining faithful to its designed form. To either end of the street, there are significant historic buildings: the alms houses with their striking skyline at one end, and the terraced cottages hard against the street at the opposite end. The white building shown is jettied (perhaps unfortunately) only to suit the highway requirements for a sight line in order to enable nearby development. Happily, the building remains. Its location is a striking part of the character of this street.

4.2.11 To the north of the Quomp, College Road rises towards Carvers Recreation Ground (although there is no physical connection). Each dwelling or pair of semi-detached dwellings has a different form. A variety of materials and details creates a richness that echoes that of the various gardens that adorn the front of each dwelling and thus a rich margin that makes the road appear extremely green. It is the underlying consistencies here that allow that richness to engender a distinct character. Characteristics include a shared road surface with no pavement, contained between low garden walls, and green boundary definition between each plot and at least some garden planting running across each plot frontage. The massing and proportions of buildings are relatively consistent with the set-back and gaps between, offering each its setting. There is a predominance of red brick and the proportions of portrait windows, bays, chimneys etc define the character.

4.2.12 Towards the top of the road, the buildings are of a later period and set aside some of the consistencies, but the all-important garden frontage remains. The scale, the mass, and the gaps between buildings respect the rest of the road. The proportion of front gardens retained as grass or planting is important and under threat. Most frontages, where altered, have been sensitively designed to accommodate cars within the garden setting. It is important to retain a predominantly walled frontage along each plot front and some greenery along the plot boundaries.

4.2.13 The Victorian school building is shown as an important building in the Ringwood Conservation Area Appraisal, but it was not built in isolation. There is a grid of streets associated with it that has provided a community to support the school for over a century. Outside the conservation area, alterations have been allowed to erode some of the qualities of consistency and architectural integrity that characterise this group of streets. However, there remains enough of the underlying character to provide an immediate sense of neighbourhood and an impression of coherence, age and quality.

4.2.14 The section of Christchurch Road which runs through this character area displays a series of building groups which contain the street. Some are obviously of historical significance and charm in their own right. Many are all the more distinctive because they work together with others to create either a strong façade to the street or a charming and harmonious grouping through commonality of materials or details.

4.2.15 The Trinity United Church is a significant landmark here and on the skyline in distant views. The Salvation Army façade illustrates the variety the street contains. The line of buildings which are set back, from the former council offices to Towngate Mews, has an important margin of garden space that sets off the historic forms opposite and creates a green pleasant setting to display this set of matching brick and buff stone villas.

4.2.16 Bickerley Courts and Gardens: This lane marks the boundary between character areas. Views of the church spires are only part of the interest. It is a rich and varied back lane that looks over historic redbrick outhouses, past trees, hedges and historic features towards a final framed vista focussing on the war memorial centred in its garden setting.

4.2.17 Carvers Recreation Ground: Consisting of open sports pitches, as a swathe of grass for sports use, the recreation ground serves as a gap separating the town centre from the later suburban east of the town. A strip of trees and hedge partially screens the rear of an adjoining industrial area. Paths allow limited routes and access while chain link fence and utilitarian boundaries do nothing to make the space inviting as an amenity. Undoubtedly a vital sports resource, there are opportunities here to offer a combination of green amenity and pleasant connections between neighbourhoods. There is a lack of amenity or character which is exacerbated by the neighbouring buildings and boundaries where they provide a poor edge to the north and east sides. Sympathetic planting and well designed buildings offering natural surveillance would improve the space. Skyline and horizon are important considerations in the design of any new neighbouring development.

4.2.18 The Bickerley: The wide green space of the Bickerley is a highly valued public space accommodating the annual fair and giving breathing space close to the town centre.

4.2.19 The northern edge of the Bickerley is fringed by either striking groups of older red brick dwellings or pleasing front garden margins. Most dwellings have gardens which soften the margin and their colour and greenery contributes to the quality of the space while their orientation oversees the activity of the green, providing natural surveillance and a sense of comfortable security. The retention of garden settings and the visual connections between dwellings and the open space is important here and must be retained. Screening off these frontages for reasons of privacy or building up the gaps (thus hardening the edge and skyline) would be detrimental to the character.

4.2.20 The disused railway embankment forms a footpath and vantage point from which one can enjoy open views across the river floodplain. The railway embankment is the focus of various improvements and changes which invite walkers from the town and elsewhere. A new section of the flood meadows beyond has recently been opened up for the benefit of the community. It is perhaps unfortunate that having cleared the bankside vegetation to allow open views, the well intentioned replanting has included exotic species which in time will appear somewhat alien along this part of the horizon of the river valley landscape. Replacement with native species, appropriate to the local landscape would improve biodiversity as well as helping to repair the rural edge.

Key defining elements

• Historic built environment
• Forms, detail and materials of Victorian and Edwardian houses
• Small pockets of connected (gridiron) type planned streets – their rhythms and repetition, their garden frontages and gaps

Green Infrastructure

• Trees and greenspace between Christchurch Road and The Bickerley
• Bickerley and the railway route
• Carvers Recreation Ground
• Cumulative groups of front gardens creating green margins (as described in the text: Christchurch Road, Woodstock Lane, College Road, Bickerley Road)

The Victorian/Edwardian Quarter Character Area Guidance

The following guidance illustrates how new change and development might be achieved in a way that maintains and enhances the character and distinctiveness of this part of Ringwood. It identifies how any new development should be designed to respond to its context and the key defining features of this area.

This guidance supplements that already set out in Section 3

Appendix 1: Townscape types

The ‘townscape character’ types of residential developments found within New Forest District’s main settlements are described briefly below. These were used to inform the identification of the character areas within Ringwood and should be read in association with the general design advice in Section 3 and the individual Character Area Guidance in Section 4.

Remnant of Early Settlement:

Historic settlement; vernacular buildings and street patterns exist as evidence of early organised settlement.

Isolated Farmstead:

Farm groups; farmhouse and related farm buildings dating from seventeenth or eighteenth century. Probably associated with a country estate or manor originally but often becoming independent following the fragmentation of manorial land.

The Farm group will vary in original pattern, subsequent evolution and then the survival of individual buildings with the present form resulting from a protracted process of piecemeal addition followed by absorption into the urban landscape.

Eighteenth Century Country Estate:

Principal house, home farm and other associated buildings together with a designed landscape.

The Classical Urban House:

Mid seventeenth century to mid nineteenth century property in a variety of guises throughout the period but characteristically displaying symmetry, vertical windows and the use of classical details particularly mouldings but also in ironwork to boundary railings and balconies.

Dwellings in urban areas are evident in the form of repeated buildings of the same or similar form resulting typically in the “Georgian Terrace” marked by the typical characteristics identified above with brick or/and stucco facades. This type sets up a strong rhythm along a street and will dominate the immediate area. Buildings tend to be set just back from the pavement with a narrow frontage set behind railings or low walls with railings.

Individual buildings are found, typically as former “Merchants Houses” or early civic buildings in the commercial core of a historic urban settlement. The majority will now have a commercial use, at least at ground floor, with upper storeys being sub let as flats or having a less intensive, storage use or indeed in a number of cases being left empty. Buildings are with few exceptions set at the back edge of the pavement.

Mid nineteenth century Victorian “Workers House”:

Usually terraces or semi-detached two-storey “redbrick” dwellings either at back edge of pavement or street or with small front gardens enclosed by strong boundary of low, brick wall or low, brick wall with cast iron railings on top. Where these occur in large numbers, they are usually laid out along streets connected as a gridiron such that they enclose their rear yards within simple ‘perimeter blocks’, so called because their facades, front doors (and best sides – the front room reserved for visitors) all wrap the perimeter. The buildings themselves were often quite plain with simple facades and little decoration and almost always constructed in red brick in contrast to the earlier stucco and highly decorative brickwork of grander Victorian houses.

Late nineteenth century and early twentieth century connected streets (gridiron):

Patterns of mid nineteenth workers’ houses evolved especially in more affluent areas into streets of terraces or semi detached houses on regimented grids with modest rear gardens and often a small margin of garden to the front. They continued to be laid out along gridiron streets enclosing perimeter blocks such that rear gardens are away from general public view and access.

Late nineteenth century Victorian/Edwardian/Arts and Crafts Suburban Speculative:

The first suburban development type of large, individual dwellings built in generous plots of land set out in a planned manner on a grid of generous roads often avenues with street trees. The buildings sit within their gardens, not specifically addressing the street, with pedestrian gate and often the later addition of vehicular access, manoeuvring space and twentieth century garage. Architecturally these houses exhibit similar characteristics to the “High Victorian” era with enriched detail and a symmetry of form both in the overall shape of the house and in the smaller parts of them. Bay windows in varying form are a distinctive feature with corner bays topped with a steeple roof being a common feature that is evident in the translation of the style into the urban terraced housing of this period where it is found at street corners for emphasis. Rooflines are broken by gables and have steep roof pitches, 60° being normal in the larger, more prosperous houses.

Forest Cottage:

A small, rural dwelling linked to a smallholding or commoning rights. These span a number of periods and vary in appearance according to the period in which they were built. Older surviving examples being of timber frame construction, two or three bays, single storey or single storey plus attic and with commonly thatch to the roof. Subsequent construction sees the introduction of cob walls with a timber roof construction and thatch, tile or slate roofs. The most recent guise and most evident today is the double fronted, central entrance door, two storey, brick built dwelling with shallow slate roof. Characteristically the dwelling will be surrounded by a collection of simply constructed outbuildings, basic timber frames with tin roofs. These buildings were once isolated smallholdings supporting traditional activity in the Forest but have since the mid twentieth century become subsumed into the expanding townscape of the settlement.

Twentieth Century - Mass Inter-war/Post-war Suburban:

Housing developed following the example of the “Garden City” movement, and evolving into the “traditional suburban housing” of the interwar and immediately post war years. Detached or semi detached dwellings, with ample front gardens, set back from but addressing the street rather than the earlier suburban type which was larger and set into its plot. In the municipal housing boundaries tend to be utilitarian, in the private housing there is more sense of enclosure and privacy to frontages.

Bungalow Estates:

Post war single-storey, mostly pyramidal roofed, dwellings. Consistency and repetition of scale and building materials with frequent use of “new materials” e.g. profiled concrete roof tiles, unifying large areas of development. Strong building line with generous front “gardens” set behind low front boundaries, often walls with shrub planting/ornamental hedge planting immediately behind the front boundary. Straight or semi-curved street patterns in a loose interconnected grid. Grass verge to front of pavement sometimes with ornamental street trees at regular intervals. Verges expanding into larger green areas at some road junctions.

Post-Second World War flat developments:

The demand for seaside properties and the increase in retirement flat market precipitated this movement. Large blocks of flats of individual design filling plots with little or no private amenity space.

1960s/1970s Open Plan Estates:

The influence of architects like Corbusier and the introduction of new technologies resulted in the appearance of system built housing particularly seen in public housing developments of this period. Mixed developments of flats and houses (if the car is catered for, this is in garage courts). Buildings set in generous “parkland” landscape. Surrounded by public open space and parking areas that are both often underused.

1980s and 1990s Development:

Cul-de-sac developments with a hierarchy of residential roads encouraging low traffic speeds. Mass ‘family’ housing, often built by national or regional ‘volume’ house-building companies. In the 1990s pressure to maximise the use of development land increased resulting in smaller plots to building ratios. Development often mimicked historic styles, for example neo-classical. A variety of styles often found in one development.

Turn of the 20th/ 21st Century:

Increasing amounts of new residential development on ‘infill’ sites, with pressure to increase housing densities on previously developed sites within established residential areas. Flatted developments replace large family houses. Space around buildings reduced. Less off-road parking provided.

Appendix 2: Planning Policies supporting Local Distinctiveness

National Planning Policy

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets as one of its core planning principles that planning should:

“always seek to secure high quality design and a good standard of amenity for all existing and future occupants of land and buildings”. (Paragraph 17)

In paragraph 58 it states that planning policies and decisions should aim to ensure that developments (amongst other things):

• establish a strong sense of place, using streetscapes and buildings to create attractive and comfortable places to live, work and visit; …..
• respond to local character and history, and reflect the identity of local surroundings and materials, while not preventing or discouraging appropriate innovation; …
• are visually attractive as a result of good architecture and appropriate landscaping.

Planning policy in New Forest District (outside the National Park)

The Local Plan for New Forest District (outside the National Park) has two main documents: Local Plan Part 1: Core Strategy and Local Plan Part 2: Sites and Development Management.

Local Plan Part 1: Core Strategy

The Local Plan Part 1: Core Strategy was adopted on 26th October 2009. The Core Strategy sets the overall planning strategy for the area up to 2026. An objective of the Core Strategy is:

“1. Special qualities, local distinctiveness and a high quality living environment
To provide for a high quality, safe and attractive living environment for communities in both urban and rural areas in a way that respects and safeguards the special qualities, character and local distinctiveness of the Plan Area and the adjoining New Forest National Park.”

Core Strategy policy CS2 addresses design quality and states:

“Policy CS2 Design quality
New development will be required to be well designed to respect the character, identity, and context of the area’s towns, villages and countryside.
All new development will be required to contribute positively to local distinctiveness and sense of place, being appropriate and sympathetic to its setting in terms of scale, height, density, layout, appearance, materials, and its relationship to adjoining buildings and landscape features, and shall not cause unacceptable effects by reason of visual intrusion, overlooking, shading, noise, light pollution or other adverse impact on local character and amenities.
….”

Policy CS3 is concerned with protecting and enhancing our special environment and states:

“Policy CS3 Protecting and enhancing our special environment (Heritage and Nature Conservation)
……

Working with local communities, features of local heritage value which contribute to local distinctiveness will be identified. New development proposals should maintain local distinctiveness and where possible enhance the character of identified features.
…….
The special characteristics of the Plan Area’s natural and built environment will be protected and enhanced through:
(a) applying relevant national and regional policies;
(b) ensuring that new development protects and enhances local distinctiveness (see Policy CS2);
(c) a review of Areas of Special Character and landscape features through subsequent Local Development Framework Documents;
(d) using the development management process to positively bring about development which enhances local character and identity and which retains, protects and enhances features of biological or geological interest, and provides for the appropriate management of these features;
…….”

Local Plan Part 2: Sites and Development Management

Local Plan Part 2: Sites and Development Management Development Plan Document, adopted on 14th April 2014, sets out detailed policies and proposals to help achieve the Core Strategy policies and objectives.

Section 5 of the Local Plan Part 2: Sites and Development Management Document has site specific policies relating to Ringwood.

Further information regarding planning policies can be found at:
http://www.nfdc.gov.uk/planningpolicy

Appendix 3: Further information

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Planning Practice Guidance
http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/design/

‘Hampshire Integrated Character Assessment’ – Ringwood Townscape Assessment, HCC, 2010
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/landscape-and-heritage/planning-the-landscape/landscape-character/hampshire-integrated-character-assessment/townscape-assessments.htm

New Forest District Council information:
http://www.nfdc.gov.uk/planningpolicy

• ‘Ringwood: A Conservation Area Appraisal’ (adopted SPG), NFDC, 2003
• ‘New Forest District Landscape Character Assessment’ (adopted SPG), NFDC, 2000
• ‘Housing design, density and character’ (adopted SPD), NFDC, 2006
• ‘Shopfront design guide’ (adopted SPG), NFDC, 2001