Rescue have submitted an official response to Bath and NE Somerset Council’s proposed changes to their core strategy, which proposes the construction of 300 houses at Odd Down, in very close proximity to the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Western Wansdyke.
Land will be removed from the Green Belt by the Placemaking Plan in the location shown on the Key Diagram in order to provide for development of around 300 dwellings, small scale local employment opportunities and associated infrastructure during the Plan period. The Placemaking Plan will allocate the site for development and define a revised detailed Green Belt boundary.
Bath and NE Somerset Schedule of Proposed Changes to the Submitted Core Strategy, March 2013 (SPC88)
This extent of the monument forms part of a series of defensive, ditched and banked earthworks running from Maes Knoll in Somerset to Savernake Forest in Wiltshire. A Middle Saxon date has recently been postulated from detailed research, suggesting a contemporaneity with Offa’s Dyke.
The proposed changes to the core strategy in this area will destroy the open landscape context of the Wansdyke, which has already been lost immediately to the west of the proposed development area, and the construction of the new road scheme will risk causing physical damage to the monument itself.
In our response we noted
” The loss of the open land and the impact of 300 new buildings and the associated infrastructure will inevitably diminish the historical context of the southern part of the city of Bath, and bring the UK’s commitment to its Heritage Assets into question.”
Read our response below.
Links
- Bath and NE Somerset Council Schedule of Proposed Changes to the Submitted Core Strategy, March 2013
- Dr. Helen Geake’s response, as recorded in the Local Paper
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