Woughton on the Green Conservation Area Review Completed
An initial Conservation Area Review was commisioned by OWPC in 2014. That published review is here. The process conducted by Milton Keynes Council to consider the contents of this review has taken years to complete. The boundary or the conservation area as proposed, has changed during that process. The final boundary that was adopted in March 2022 is shown at the bottom of the following article.
This article is reproduced from the OWPC Spring 2023 Newsletter
Woughton is one of several villages and hamlets that lie within the rural landscape of North Buckinghamshire prior to the creation of the new city. From the 1970s onwards it was realised that the unique charm of these small rural settlements was valuable with the potential to add positively to the experience of living in the new city which would be created around them. A new planning tool, conservation area designation, was used as a means of assessing, acknowledging, establishing and managing areas deemed to be of special architectural or historic significance. The prevailing rural character of the villages and hamlets that lay within the emerging New City’s boundaries would be protected by a requirement for planning decisions to pay special attention to ensuring proposed development would preserve or enhance local distinctiveness and an individual sense of place. The Woughton on the Green Conservation Area was originally designated in 1978.
Over time, there will inevitably be occasions where, for reasons of over-riding wider public benefit, development that does not preserve or enhance local character will be granted planning permission. This means that despite the weight of most debates tending towards positive outcomes there will sometimes be changes to places that contradict the prevailing character. New development may not always respect the conservation area boundary that was once deemed to denote an area of special character. Sometimes features are newly recognised as being of significance but lie just outside the designated area or the contribution to a place not specifically mentioned.
Creation and management of conservation areas rests with the local planning authority who must also review how their management of conservation areas has succeeded in protecting the architectural or historic character of a place. It is important to act on new information so that places not previously recognised of being of significance can be considered for inclusion or their contribution to significance explained. This process is called a conservation area review. Where new development has been permitted even where it might harm the character of a place or straddles a boundary the review process allows for the boundary to be redrawn.
The city-wide review process is now about half-way through (there are 27 Conservation areas); Woughton was completed early last year, and a new boundary adopted in March 2022. Important trees and woodland and open spaces were recognised alongside important buildings on the map shown here.
Newly included in the conservation area are the canal bridges: Peartree Bridge (no. 88) a simple but robust red brick structure and the elegantly angled line of ‘Green Bridge’ (no. 89), built of dark engineering brick that replaced an earlier more rudimentary bridge (see pictures).
Also recognised in this review is The Old Rectory at Peartree Bridge. This Victorian House occupies the site of the former manor house and is surrounded by a moat (which was in part utilised for the construction of the canal in the early 1800s) and has its own Scheduled Ancient Monument listing.
For further information and details see: https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/planning-and-building/conservation-and-archaeology/conservation-areas-milton-keynes
Martin Ellison – Senior Conservation Officer MKCC
