Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

Canals in Sandwell

4.91 The canal network is one of the Black Country's defining historical and environmental assets and its preservation and enhancement remains a major objective. Canals play a multifunctional role, providing economic, social, environmental and infrastructure benefits. They form a valuable part of the green infrastructure and historic environment of Sandwell and have a significant role to play in promoting both mental wellbeing and physical health, allowing people opportunities for exercise and access to nature.

4.92 Sandwell's canal network provides a focus for future development through its ability to contribute towards the delivery of a high-quality environment and enhanced accessibility for boaters, pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-car-based modes of transport.

4.93 Sandwell is home to 66km of canal, including the New Main Line Canal and Old Main Line Canal, which offer many opportunities for residents and visitors.

4.94 As structures that made the industrial revolution possible, the canals in Sandwell offer opportunities to observe and experience key sites of historical interest such as the Galton Valley Bridge, Smethwick Pump House and the site of Smethwick Engine Arm. The canals in Sandwell have also been afforded Conservation Area status in both Tipton (Factory Locks) and Smethwick (Smethwick Summit, Galton Valley) owing to their historic significance; there are several valuable heritage buildings located adjacent to the canals and they play an important part in the industrial heritage of the Borough. They include Soho Foundry and Chances Glassworks in Smethwick and Malthouse Stables in Tipton.

Justification

4.95 The development of the Black Country's canal network had a decisive impact on the evolution of industry and settlement during the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries. It was a major feat of engineering and illustrates a significant stage in human history - development of mercantile inland transport systems in Britain's industrial revolution during the pre-railway age. As such, the historic value of the canal network today should be acknowledged, protected, and enhanced. The network also plays a major part in the Black Country Geopark, as the mineral wealth of the area meant that canals were a vital link to areas within and beyond Sandwell and the wider Black Country and continue to provide this link today.

4.96 The canal network is a major unifying characteristic of Sandwell's historic landscape. The routes of the canals that make up the network have created landscape corridors with a distinctive character and identity based on the industries and activities that these transport routes served and supported. The network has significant value for nature conservation, tourism, health and wellbeing and recreation, and the potential to make an important contribution to economic regeneration through the provision of high-quality environments for new developments and a network of pedestrian, cycle and water transport routes. The canal network forms a valuable continuous habitat network, that links to other ecological sites. Many of them are also designated as local nature sites in part or for whole sections of the canal corridor.

4.97 It is also important for development in Sandwell to take account of disused canal features, both above and below ground. Only 54% of the historic canal network has survived in use to the present day; a network of tramways also served the canals. Proposals should preserve the line of the canal through the detailed layout of the development. Where appropriate, opportunities should be explored for the potential to preserve the line of the canal as part of the wider green infrastructure network. Where feasible and sustainable, proposals should consider the potential for the restoration of disused sections of canal.

4.98 It is acknowledged that there are aspirations to restore disused sections of the canal network. However, it is also recognised that there are very limited opportunities to reinstate such canal sections as navigable routes because of the extensive sections that have been filled in, built over or removed making their reinstatement (and necessary original realignment) financially unviable and unachievable within the Plan period.

4.99 There are also disused parts of the canal network that have naturally regenerated into locations with significant ecological and biodiversity value; to re-open or intensify use on these sections of the network could have an adverse impact on sensitive habitats and species.

4.100 Any development proposals that come forward to restore sections of the canal network will be expected to demonstrate that the proposals are sustainable, sufficient water resources exist and that works will not adversely affect the existing canal network or the environment.

4.101 Residential moorings must be sensitive to the needs of the canal-side environment in conjunction with nature conservation, green belt and historic conservation policies but also, like all residential development, accord with sustainable housing principles in terms of design and access to local facilities and a range of transport choices.

4.102 Extant residential moorings in Sandwell include:

1. Walsall Canal Arm, Bayley's Lane / Bankfield Road, Ocker Hill (30 spaces)
2. Engine Arm Branch, Rolfe Street / Rabone Lane Smethwick (15 spaces)
3. Titford Canal Arm, Engine Street, Oldbury (ten spaces)
4. Malthouse Stables, Hurst Lane, Tipton (up to six spaces)
5. Churchbridge, Oldbury (up to six spaces – informal)
6. Caggy's Boatyard, Watery Lane Tipton (up to six spaces - informal)
7. The leisure mooring sites currently available in Sandwell include the Canal and River Trust (CRT)^[70] mooring sites, which include those at Titford Pump House, Engine Arm residential and Ocker Hill Moorings.

4.103 Non-CRT permanent moorings are found at the Malthouse Stables and Caggy's Boatyard; there are also two in Oldbury, on either side of Seven Stars Road.

4.104 Where new residential development is proposed adjacent to canals, there is a potential to increase the number of long-term and residential moorings, as new development can provide greater access to facilities and a more secure and naturally surveyed environment.

(1) The Historic Environment

4.105 The Black Country has a rich and diverse historic environment, which is evident in the survival of individual heritage assets and in the local character and distinctiveness of the broader landscape. The geodiversity of the Black Country underpins much of the subsequent development of the area, the importance of which is acknowledged by the inclusion of the Black Country Geopark in the UNESCO Global Geopark Network. The exploitation of abundant natural mineral resources, particularly those of the South Staffordshire coalfield, together with the early development of the canal network, gave rise to rapid industrialisation and the distinctive settlement patterns that characterise the area.

4.106 Towns and villages with medieval origins survive throughout the area and remain distinct in character from the later 19^th century industrial settlements, which typify the coalfield and gave rise to the description of the area as an "endless village" of communities, each boasting a particular manufacturing skill for which many were internationally renowned.

4.107 Beyond its industrial heartland, the character of the Black Country can be quite different and varied. The green borderland, most prominent in parts of Dudley, Walsall, and the Sandwell Valley, is a largely rural landscape containing fragile remnants of the ancient past. Undeveloped ridges of high ground punctuate the urban landscape providing important views and points of reference that define the character of the many communities. Other parts of the Black Country are characterised by attractive, well-tree'd suburbs with large houses in substantial gardens and extensive mid-20^th century housing estates designed on garden city principles.

4.108 This diverse character is under constant threat of erosion from modern development, some small-scale and incremental and some large-scale and fundamental. As a result, some of the distinctiveness of the more historic settlements has already been lost to development of a homogenising nature. In many ways the Black Country is characterised by its ability to embrace change, but future changes will be greater and more intense than any sustained in the past. Whilst a legislative framework supported by national guidance exists to provide for the protection of statutorily designated heritage assets, the key challenge for the future is to manage change in a way that realizes the regeneration potential of the proud local heritage and distinctive character of the Black Country, including Sandwell.

4.109 To ensure that heritage assets make a positive contribution towards the wider economic, social and environmental regeneration of the area, it is important that they are not considered in isolation but are conserved and enhanced within their wider context. A holistic approach to the built and natural environment maximises opportunities to improve the overall image and quality of life in the Black Country by ensuring that historic context informs planning decisions and provides opportunities to link with other environmental infrastructure initiatives.

4.110 An analysis and understanding of the local character and distinctiveness of the area has been made using historic landscape characterisation principles. Locally distinctive areas of the Black Country were defined and categorised in the Black Country Historic Landscape Characterisation Study^[71] (2019) as Areas of High Historic Townscape Value, Areas of High Historic Landscape Value, Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value, and Archaeology Priority Areas. This builds on the work of the original Black Country Historic Landscape Characterization work (2009), other local historic landscape characterisation studies and plans, and the Historic Environment Records.