East Suffolk approves North Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone Guide
North Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone Design Guide Published
In May 2019, Historic England launched a multi-million pound fund to revive historic English high streets through a High Streets Heritage Action Zones scheme. Working with partners, 69 high streets across England were selected to receive a share of the £95 million fund to find new ways to unleash the potential of the historic environment, create economic growth, improve quality of life and champion and revive high streets. Lowestoft is one of seven towns in the east of England to benefit. Other towns include, Great Yarmouth, King's Lynn, North Walsham & Swaffham.
The North Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) is using heritage assets to regenerate the area and is a partnership scheme between Historic England, East Suffolk Council, Lowestoft Town Council and the East Suffolk Building Preservation Trust (ESBPT). The partnership works with a range of other local partners, including Lowestoft Vision.
The aim of HAZ is to help breathe new life into old places that are rich in heritage, supporting sympathetic and high quality regeneration of historic areas ensures that HAZ meet their potential and are more attractive to residents, businesses, tourists and investors.
The East Suffolk Council has now announced that the North Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document has been adopted by Full Council at its meeting on 22nd July 2020.
The purpose of this guide is to help facilitate the delivery of high quality design for the North Lowestoft HAZ area, without unnecessary prescription or detail, particularly relating to the design of individual buildings. It will therefore focus on strategic rules in relation to layout, scale, appearance, landscaping and access. The Design Guide will ensure a coherent North Lowestoft HAZ wide strategy which meets the requirements of all stakeholders
The North Lowestoft HAZ focuses on the medieval High Street, 11 Scores (steep narrow paths in the cliff), including merchants' houses and commercial premises on the cliff top, and workers cottages and net stores below, historic smokehouses, and once fine Victorian parks of north Lowestoft. It will provide support, training, advice and grant funding to bring buildings back into use as housing or retail spaces. Research and a programme of community activities will make sure that the heritage of the area becomes better-known and valued. The North Lowestoft Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) will run until the end of March 2023.
The Design Guide will be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document in line with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012.
As a result, the Design Guide will help determine planning applications for new developments within the North Lowestoft HAZ alongside the Local Plan, emerging Neighbourhood Plan and national planning policy.
The Supplementary Planning Document, Adoption Statement and Temporary suspension of parts of the Statement of Community Involvement for planning policy purposes can be viewed on the East Suffolk website at https://www.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy-and-local-plans/supplementary-planning/
For further information: Ruth Bishop BArch (Hons), Senior Planner (Policy and Delivery), East Suffolk Council
www.eastsuffolkmeansbusiness.co.uk
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