Craven District Conservation Areas
Craven District Conservation Areas
We were commissioned by Craven District Council and its partner Historic England to contribute towards the preparation of a robust evidence base for the District’s emerging Local Plan.
For Craven District Council, we assessed 16 actual and three proposed Conservation Areas across the district and analysed the potential impact of development on the historic environment for 28 proposed allocation sites. These rural villages face significant pressure for residential expansion, so the size of this project was measured not just in the number of reports but in the scale of the magnificent landscape. This required a novel approach to assessing the context of historic settlements, using a methodology for analysing the contribution of open space to the significance of Conservation Areas that was developed by us specifically for the project. Information was presented primarily as layered PDF maps, so that it could be readily understood and compared by adding or removing layers. Following on from the success of the Craven project, Historic England has incorporated the methodology in their Conservation Area Appraisal Designation and Management guidance.
Client: Craven District Council and Historic England