As decision day approaches for the Centros planning applications for the canal corridor, two more prestigious national organisations have added their voices to the many already condemning the scheme.
The national organisation Save our Heritage (SAVE), one of the organisations that successfully campaigned to prevent the desruction of London’s Smithfields Market buildings, is the lstest to raise its concerns about the plans and has produced a document “A Lament for Lancaster ” (graphics version requires Flash, text version here), highlighting their concerns.
“We are of the firm opinion that it is the wrong application for a sensitive and finely textured site,” they say of the Centros plans. “SAVE is particularly concerned about the level of demolition, the scale and footprint of the proposed blocks and the failure to integrate the development into the existing historic fabric and street pattern. The current proposals will degrade two important conservation areas and damage famous views across the city.”
The Centros’ plans for a 100 million shopping area and other facillities, such as ‘improvements’ to the Grand Theatre and the relocation of the Muscians’ Co-op, will require the demolition of historic buildings between Stonewell and the Lancaster Canal, including the former Mitchell’s brewery complex and various former warehouses.
“It is our belief that the current proposals completely fail to understand or utilise the intrinsic qualities of this part of the city. Despite much destruction in the 1960s this area retains a sense of organic evolution, and benefits from an irregular street pattern, and a subtle, varied streetscape. Rather than build on these qualities, the current plans seek to destroy them.
“… This insensitive scheme would blight the city, damage its special character and endanger its long-term economic future.”
Also opposing the proposals is The Georgian Group, which argues the proposed re-development is heavy-handed and “the worst type of urban commercial redevelopment.
“The widespread removal of good modest traditional buildings within the conservation areas and other traditional buildings within the site should be strongly resisted by your authority,” the Groupp urges. “The application documents appear too ready to rubbish and condemn these buildings. They could easily be retained and in the modern climate of sustainability they should be used as an asset by the developer and an inspiration for imaginative design and creative reuse.
” It is particularly sad to see what the developer proposes as a replacement – imported street patterns designed more by commercial rather than cultural values and alien features such as the pedestrian bridge which have no place or precedent in Lancaster.”
Last month, national chairty The Victorian Society also threw its weight behind opposition to the £100 million scheme, describing it as “heavy-handed”.
“The plans as they stand would be a disaster for Lancaster,” said Alex Baldwin, conservation adviser to the Victorian Society, the Lancaster Guardian reported. “They are heavy-handed and insensitive to the fine character of this part of Lancaster, with its historic alleys and yards.”
Locally, opposers of the plans argue the Centros development will destroy the heart of Lancaster’s shopping scene, cause traffic and pollution problems, and lead to the loss of historic city centre buildings. While Lancaster’s own Civic Society has broady supported the scheme in its latest form, describing it as “an underused and unkempt area” of the city and improvements to the Dukes and the Grand as a positive aspect of the proposed development, some business organisations support the scheme, small shop owners and some managers of retail chains elsewhere in Lancaster are worried by what will happen if the scheme goes ahead.
When one small businesses on New Street closed last year the owners openly cited the possible development as one of the causes.
“I welcome these comments from such prestigious national organisation and their condemnation of this disastrous development,” Bulk Ward Green Party councillor, John Whitelegg said. “They are saying no more than local people have been saying for some time but we are encouraged by such strong support.
“We hope that the planning committee when it meets on the 13th and 14th October to consider the planning applications will reject the Centros plans and allow us all to work together to produce a new plan that celebrates our fantastic heritage and builds on what is good about Lancaster.”
• View the Centros planning application on the City Council
• View all the opublic documents relating to the plans, including public feedback to the scheme (PDF documents)
(Despite the huge local interest in the scheme, on the dedicated Planning Applications section of its siet Lancaster City Council has not assigned the plans “Special Interest” on its web site! In addition, its local map for searching for planning applications does not work properly for all browsers, testament again to ongoing issues of accessibility for this part of the Council’s web site. In terms of documents relating to the scheme iteself, many documents are not clearly labelled, including the Council’s own Environmental Protection District Team memo of 24 May 2007 calling for “air quality assessment shall be undertaken to assess the implications of the development for local air quality and to determine the impacts of existing and post-development air quality on the intended use! prior to the commencement of the development” — something we’d argue here should surely be clearly identified…
As with its own past assessment of shopping needs in Lancaster, certain information about the scheme and its impact on Lancaster and Morecambe does seem to get buried, either by bad planning or design…)