Bath and North East Somerset, in a collaborative project with English Heritage and the Bath Preservation Trust, have produced and adopted a Streetscape Manual for the District.
The Streetscape Manual is a guide to the selection, design, installation and care of the District’s streetscape and its historical preservation.
Its aims include reducing street clutter and duplication in street furniture and signage, and helping to interpret national guidance to ensure that changes reinforce local distinctiveness and meet World Heritage Site considerations.
The Streetscape Manual begins with a fascinating overview of the District’s streetscape history and character. This describes unique features that contribute to local distinctiveness and the overview greatly improves our knowledge and understanding of the public realm within the District.
Next are the overarching guidelines:
- Reinforcing local distinctiveness and improving the image of Bath and North East Somerset.
- Minimising visual clutter – minimum palette of materials and coordination of design.
- Materials and workmanship, regular routine inspection, cleaning, maintenance and appropriate repair.
These guidelines are carried through into specific guidelines that cover all aspects of the physical public realm from paving to street trees, bollards to benches, road markings to traffic calming. The guidelines section contains specifications for what designs and materials to use in the different parts of the District, and advice on how to site them to protect important views or to minimise clutter.
Consultation was undertaken between 6 December 2004 and 24 January 2005 and involved the following:
> Copies of the Streetscape Manual with covering letter and leaflets and questionnaires sent to all the Parish and Town Councils and key stakeholders.
> Letters sent to a wide variety of interest groups informing them of the consultation period, and where to view or purchase copies of the Streetscape Manual.
> Copies of the Streetscape Manual, leaflets and questionnaires distributed to all the libraries throughout the district, and to the main Council Offices.
> Website designed and advertised.
> Press releases, with coverage in local press and radio interview.
The attached `Statement of Community Involvement' contains all the comments received, the Council's response to these comments and the proposed actions. It also lists further editorial changes to the text.
Adoption
In April 2005, the Streetscape Manual was adopted as Council policy to be used in conjunction with other guidance, legislation and best practice, and also as a Supplementary Planning Document to the Bath and North East Somerset Revised Deposit Draft.
The Streetscape Manual will be tested over the coming year and will be reviewed and updated after April 2006. This will provide the opportunity to identify any omissions and to refine and update the information provided. Any suggestions are very welcome and should be forwarded to the contact details listed below.
There are also some outstanding topic areas where further testing and assessment is required, for example in relation to identifying natural paving materials. The review provides the opportunity to report the findings of this further research.
It should be noted that the selection of street furniture has generally been made in order to continue the current themes or styles that exist in the various settlements throughout the District. This was done intentionally to avoid the piecemeal and incremental introduction of different desgins that might conflict with the overarching guidelines of reinforcing local distintiveness, minimising visual clutter with the minimal palette of materials and co-ordinating designs.
In signficant public realm improvement schemes it will be appropriate to review the range of street furniture to be installed, taking into account local characteristics and the image of the area. This is to be encouraged, and the updated street furniture can be included in future versions of the Streetscape Manual
Following the commission of research into natural stone and manmade paving materials, a number of sample panels of natural paving stones will be laid outside the Guildhall in Bath. This should now take place in September 2005 and will form part of the consultation process for the Streetscape Manual.
This consultation will be advertised separately.