Sandwell Local Plan - Issues & Options Consultation

12. Enhancing the Natural and Built Environment

Despite its industrial heritage and highly urban nature, Sandwell is home to several significant areas of green and open space, a network of wildlife corridors and sites with significant ecological and environmental value and several historic and architecturally significant buildings and locations.

The draft Black Country Plan contained a suite of policies relating to the natural environment, many of which will be used to strengthen Sandwell's own approach to the conservation and improvement of the natural environment. The relevant policies cover the following areas (see also appendix A):

• Nature Conservation – ENV1
• Nature Recovery Network and Biodiversity Net Gain – ENV3
• Provision, retention and protection of trees, woodlands and hedgerows – ENV4
• Historic Character and Local Distinctiveness of the Black Country – ENV5
• Geodiversity and the Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark – ENV6
• Canals – ENV7

National planning and environmental policy sets out a requirement for all qualifying new development to provide a minimum of 10% biodiversity net gain. This means that where habitat or the natural environment is lost or adversely impacted by development, developers will have to provide as a minimum an additional 10% of replacement habitat on top of compensating for what was already there (e.g. if ten trees are felled on a site being developed, a minimum of 11 replacements will need to be planted). This compensatory habitat will be sought on the site being developed itself in the first instance, but where this cannot be achieved, the regulations allow for off-site habitat creation or enhancement somewhere nearby.

Only if this too cannot be delivered, and as a last resort, will developers be able to offer other types of compensation such as payments or contributions to habitat and ecological works beyond the immediate area (known as biodiversity credits). If developers cannot produce biodiversity net gain within Sandwell itself, we are considering whether we should seek a higher percentage of credits than 10% for out-of-borough compensation, to offset the lack of a direct contribution to Sandwell's biodiversity.

Local authorities can help identify offsite biodiversity opportunities to developers through pinpointing local opportunities / sites suitable for biodiversity habitat creation in line with their identified aims and objectives. Given the highly urban nature of Sandwell, it will not always be possible to provide replacement habitats on development sites themselves, so the Council may want to identify sites and biodiversity projects beyond the immediate vicinity of the actual development in some cases, perhaps by identifying / allocating a potential "receptor" site or sites in the borough. These sites (if allocated) will be subject to prior assessment, provide for a suitable project that contributes to increasing biodiversity in Sandwell and form part of the Black Country Nature Recovery Network.

Having a Local Plan policy that links BNG to the delivery of local strategic priorities (such as those in the Nature Recovery Network strategy) will be helpful.

46) Questions – Biodiversity Net Gain

Being in green spaces boosts various aspects of thinking, including attention, memory and creativity, in people both with and without depression^[37], as well as producing positive improvements in physical and mental wellbeing.

All features of the outdoor environment contribute to environmental infrastructure, including natural and semi-natural habitats, parks and other open spaces, formal and informal recreation and sports facilities, historic buildings and landscapes, the public realm of spaces and streets, rivers, canals and drainage systems.

Policy EOS 1 of the SAD identified a green space hierarchy in Sandwell, intended to -

"… analyse existing provision of green /open space, to identify strengths and weaknesses in the provision, and to guide decisions about improvements, new and replacement provision, and development proposals which impact on the provision."

The hierarchy identified types of green space, ranging from Regional / Sub Regional Green Space, such as Sandwell Valley and Strategic Open Space such as the Rowley Hills down to local formal and informal areas of open space, such as gardens, playgrounds and landscaped public spaces. We intend to revisit and reassess the hierarchy and its current accessibility standards as part of work on the new local plan.

47) Question – Green spaces

The Rowley Hills are a range of four hills – Turner's Hill, Bury Hill, Portway Hill and Darby's Hill – located mostly within Sandwell (with a small part of them lying within Dudley). Together they form a ridge that divides the Black Country into two parts with distinctly differing topographic features. The ridge also coincides closely with the main watershed of England^[38]. Turner's Hill at 271m (870ft) is the highest point, visible from most parts of the Black Country and is a distinctive landscape feature that can be seen from the adjacent motorway and railways.

Traditionally the Hills have been the location for both stone quarrying and coal mining but are now mostly used for informal recreation. The Hills have importance both for historic landscape reasons and for their value for nature conservation. Most of the Rowley Hills have either SLINC (Site of Local Importance for Nature Conservation) or SINC (Site of Importance for Nature Conservation) designations. There is a Local Nature Reserve located on Portway Hill. The Rowley Hills also form an important part of the Black Country Global Geopark designation and contain sites of geological importance and interest.

The extent of the identified Rowley Hills area is around 135ha^[39] (of which Turner's Hill covers approximately 7.3ha, Portway Hill and Bury Hill together cover around 38ha and Darby's Hill covers 4ha) and is encapsulated within the urban areas of Sandwell and Dudley.

Evidence suggests that there is pressure for additional development on the Rowley Hills. To date, the Council has been successful in preventing inappropriate development from occurring, which has been helped by SAD policy EOS3, formal recognition of the ecological and geological value of the area and through the adoption of the Rowley Hills District Plan in 1987. This sought to maintain and improve the area as open space for recreation and to protect the skyline from inappropriate and intrusive development.

The continued protection of the open and undeveloped nature of the Rowley Hills could also be achieved if the area (or parts of it) were to be designated as green belt or Local Green Space, as set out in the NPPF.

Green belts act as a buffer between towns, and between towns and the countryside. The green belt designation is a planning tool and the aim of green belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open. They are protected from inappropriate development by planning legislation and apart from some specified exceptions, new development is not permitted within them.

A Local Green Space designation allows communities to identify and protect green areas of importance to them through its specific allocation in a local plan; the designation allows for land to be protected along similar lines to the green belt provided it is: -

1. in reasonably close proximity to the community it serves;
2. demonstrably special to a local community and holds a particular local significance, for example because of its beauty, historic significance, recreational value (including as a playing field), tranquillity or richness of its wildlife; and
3. local in character and is not an extensive tract of land."^[40]

While the area of the hills in total is significantly larger than many other areas of Local Green Space across the country, the Open Spaces Society advises that when considering the size of the proposed designation;

The criteria may differ between settlements depending on their physical size and population. The areas would normally be fairly self- contained with clearly-defined edges. Blanket designation of open countryside adjacent to settlements will not be appropriate … ^[41].

Given the location of the Rowley Hills in relation to surrounding development and their extensive public use, value for nature and the environment and importance to the character and amenity of the area, we are keen to consider how they might be protected and their various functions supported.

48) Questions - The Rowley Hills

Government policies refer to heritage assets as any building, monument, place, area or landscape that have heritage interest. Some heritage assets are formally designated under legalisation; for example, listed buildings, registered parks and gardens and conservation areas. Other assets have local importance but are not formally designated by legislation.

There are many pressures on heritage assets - to modernise or demolish historic buildings, change their uses, develop within conservation areas and remove landscaping. Given the irreplaceable contribution heritage assets make, national guidance is clear that it is important that heritage assets and their settings are preserved or enhanced as a reminder of the history and evolution of the area.

Some heritage assets are specifically identified as being 'at risk' on Historic England's 'Heritage at Risk' Register. We will continue to pursue funding opportunities and work with landowners to secure improvements to these heritage assets wherever possible.

The NPPF defines undesignated heritage assets as follows:

Non-designated heritage assets are buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas or landscapes identified by plan-making bodies as having a degree of heritage significance meriting consideration in planning decisions but which do not meet the criteria for designated heritage assets.

Local heritage assets that are not formally designated are currently being reviewed and will be set out in a Local List. We could seek to introduce specific policies and controls to prevent the loss of assets that contribute to the local identity of Sandwell. This could help to protect more unlisted heritage features. It may also help prevent some of these buildings being redeveloped for other uses. A Local List does not give the buildings on it the same level of protection as the national list of buildings of architectural or historic merit but does mean their importance can be taken into account as a material consideration when planning decisions are made that would impact on them.

Heritage assets are an irreplaceable part of the Borough's unique character and identity and must be considered when new design in the historic environment is being proposed. Heritage significance will be assessed according to interest as defined in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Development affecting the significance of an asset may include, but is not limited to:

• the introduction of new structures /objects;
• alterations;
• complete or partial demolition;
• removal of buildings /features or parts thereof;
• development in the curtilage of an asset or demolition of assets within the curtilage of a structure;
• the introduction of signage or advertisements;
• changes of use (including the use of open spaces);
• subdivision or fragmentation;
• changes to landscaping;
• the removal of built or landscape features or parts thereof; or
• any other form of development which fails to conserve and enhance the asset or its setting.

Enhancement of a heritage asset can take many forms, including, but not limited to:

• restoration;
• repair;
• removal of inappropriate development;
• increasing access;
• increasing visibility;
• increasing the educational value;
• conversion to a more appropriate use; or
• enhancement of the asset's setting.

Only rarely will there be no opportunity for enhancement.

An issue that is becoming of increasing importance to the protection and retention of the character and amenity of heritage assets is that of climate change. Local authorities are having to balance their duty to enhance and protect the historic environment with their commitment to deliver climate change adaptation and mitigation, which in some cases may involve alterations and additions to historic buildings or changes to their settings or to historic landscapes.

49) Questions – Heritage Assets

There are just over 200 listed buildings^[44] in Sandwell. The National Heritage List for England is the official and up to date, register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England - listed buildings, scheduled monuments, protected wrecks, registered parks and gardens, and battlefields. Listing marks and celebrates a building's special architectural and historic interest and brings it under the consideration of the planning system, so that it can be protected for future generations. The older a building is, and the fewer the surviving examples of its kind, the more likely it is to be listed.

There are five designated parks and gardens (all listed at Grade II);

• Brunswick Park
• Dartmouth Park
• Great Barr Park
• Victoria Park
• Warley Park

Conservation Areas can be created where a local planning authority identifies an area of special architectural or historic interest, which warrants careful management to protect that interest. An area must be identified by the local authority as having a definite architectural quality, character or historic interest to merit designation. Research by the London School of Economics has found that people value living in conservation areas. This is evidenced by properties in conservation areas commanding higher prices and greater price appreciation, even after adjusting for location and other factors that affect prices^[45].

There are currently nine conservation areas in Sandwell, mainly located in Sandwell's historic town centres. Many of the conservation areas have not been reviewed since they were originally designated.

Within those areas, it is likely that some development will have taken place over time, such that the current adopted boundaries of the area may not be the most appropriate ones; for example, new development might mean that historic features have been newly identified, changed or lost and so the extent of the conservation area may need to change to reflect that.

Wednesbury High Street Heritage Action Zone - one specific area identified on the Register is Wednesbury Town Centre Conservation Area. Sandwell Council have successfully applied for funding to create a Heritage Action Zone to improve the quality of the area and support heritage-led regeneration.

Heritage Action Zones are an initiative funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and administered through Historic England in partnership with local authorities, to create economic growth and improve quality of life in places that are rich in heritage and full of promise; unlocking their potential and making them more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors.

To be eligible, the area needs to be a conservation area 'at risk'. Wednesbury Market Place conservation area was selected because of its many fine buildings and underlying high quality public realm.

50) Questions - Conservation Areas

Sandwell's archaeological heritage is a vital component of the historic environment, comprising many hundreds of sites, buildings and structures. All archaeological remains, whether structures, earthworks or buried deposits potentially hold the key to a better understanding of the borough's past. Sandwell has identified several areas of archaeological importance and therefore when new development is proposed within these areas an archaeological desk-based assessment should accompany the planning application. A record of all Sandwell's known archaeological sites is kept on the Historic Environment Record (HER), which is available to view by appointment.

Sandwell does not employ a borough archaeologist. The SAD contained a policy (SAD HE 5 - Archaeology & Development Proposals) that provided guidance on the requirements for developers dealing with sites where archaeological remains were anticipated to exist on sites and it is intended to revisit and revise this policy as required.

51) Question - Archaeology

The Black Country contains a wealth of geological history and assets, recognised by its recent designation as a UNESCO Global Geopark^[46]. A Global Geopark is a single, unified geographical area where sites and landscapes of international geological importance are located. It is an area of great geological significance, managed with three main objectives in mind:

1. a) to protect the geological landscape and the nature within it;
2. b) to educate visitors and local communities; and
3. c) to promote sustainable development, including sustainable tourism.

The draft BCP proposed a new policy for the Black Country Geopark (Policy ENV6) and it is intended to include that policy in the SLP.

52) Questions – Black Country Geopark