Area 4 - Area north of the railway and south of the bypass including Harrow Lane, Reservoir Lane, The Purrocks, Monks Orchard, Monks Wood, Tilmore Gardens, Stafford Road, Selborne Close & Long Road.
Please let us have your views on this area summary by using the Comments form at the foot of this page.
Area contact - Bob Ayer, to email CLICK HERE
Character Analysis
|
1. Location in Town
|
|
Area 4 is North of the Town and is bounded by Tilmore Road, Harrow Lane, the By-pass, the By-pass spur (Sheet Link) and the railway line. It has two road accesses to the Town, Tilmore Road and Kingsferden Lane. It has a road access East to Steep and Sheet via Long Road. The area South of Reservoir Lane is urban and almost entirely housing. The area between Reservoir Lane (including Tilmore Road and its junction with Tilmore Gardens) and the By-pass is countryside with fine views; it is also part of the Local Gap. The SW boundary of the area, Five Acre Farm and Woods Meadow, is one of the green fingers leading out of the Town to the countryside. The countryside to the NE of the area includes a covered reservoir.
|
| 2. Vistas/Views |
|
There are several important views within and from the area not least the views along the length of the rural Lanes, Harrow Lane and Reservoir Lane. There are distant views to the East and North from gaps in hedgerows of Tilmore Road and Harrow Lane. There are distant views to the North from the Harrow Lane footbridge over the by-pass and also near views of the countryside to the NE of the area from Harrow Lane, the footbridge (looking South), Reservoir Lane, and the level crossing at the junction of Reservoir Lane and Long Road. There is a distant view of Butser Hill from Stafford Road. The ‘green finger’ can be seen from Tilmore Road and Woods Meadow.
|
| 3. Landscaping |
|
Most of the streets are either lined with trees or have a mixture of mature trees and hedgerows. The boundary treatments of the streets are diverse. The boundary treatments between the cul-de-sacs of Stafford Road and the railway have been planted very carefully and to good effect. There are dominating views of the acoustic fencing at the Ramshill side of the railway from Selborne Close. (This fence was reduced in height and repainted to alleviate residents concerns but it may be that promised planting has either not been done or not yet matured).
|
| 4. Building Characteristics |
|
Most of the buildings are 2-story with some bungalows at Tilmore Gardens, Selborne Close, Stafford Road and the E. end of Reservoir Lane. There is a diversity of housing including high quality detached properties off Harrow Lane and Reservoir Lane in particular. There is an attractive and distinctive row of cottages close to the Reservoir on Reservoir Lane. The building density is about right. The building is almost exclusively housing.
|
| 5. Building Materials |
| From memory the predominant building material is brick with reddish colour. There is also both render and timber cladding and perhaps some examples of plastic cladding. This would need to be surveyed, although the photograph library made as part of this record may be helpful in this regard. |
| 6. Roofs |
|
The great majority, perhaps all, of the roofs are tiled or slate. This too would need to be surveyed for a more definitive and confident response.
|
| 7. Special Features & Landmarks |
|
Tilmore Brook enters the Area S of the Tilmore Road and Tilmore Gardens junction where it can be seen briefly in the context of recent bank improvements – it is next seen traversing Woods Meadow before it enters the continuation of the green finger classified by the Planning Authority as ‘Recreation Allocation’. The high ground of the fields adjacent to the Reservoir is prominent from several vantage points especially from near Long Lane. The Harrow and Reservoir Lanes are very attractive to the eye and several segments of Tilmore Road are attractive in both directions. There is an important lime tree in Selborne Close on land belonging to HCC.
|
| 8. Sustainability |
|
There may be isolated examples of low energy measures on roofs but not sufficient to detract from the character of the Area.
|
| 9. Short summary description of area |
|
The Area has a sharp divide between its urban housing development and its countryside to the North. Its two principal lanes and the views from them are highlights. The housing in the Settlement Policy Boundary is varied in both age and appearance and melds reasonably well with its street environment. It is unfortunate, but presumably necessary that there is some parking on the grass verges in Tilmore Gardens and on the roadside at Reservoir Lane near the cottages.
|
| 10. Main issues and recommendations |
|
There are in effect only two access routes from the Town into the area – one is accessed from the junction of Tilmore Road and Station Road where the sight lines are very poor and the road bridge over the railway is a source of accidents. The other is accessed via Kingsferden Lane, which is a sunken lane of significant importance. The Settlement Boundary appears to be very well drawn and deserves continued protection. In theory there may be opportunities for backland development but the access to such development is likely to be difficult and such development would do harm to the urban environment. The existing Local Gap and ‘green finger’ are very important especially in a ‘whole-town’ context and deserve strong protection. Most of the more recent developments meld well with the older stock. The urban area has a rural feel about it and the overall standard of garden maintenance is high. At the top end of Reservoir Lane there were several notices asking people to be aware of stag beetles and the need to protect them.
|
If you would to leave a comment about this area analysis please do so via the comments button below.
|
Create your own free wiki!