THE Government has backed planners who rejected proposals to use a Grade I listed building for weddings.
Businessman Robin Macdonald appealed against Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s refusal to allow him to use Caverswall Castle for wedding events with guest accommodation and to build a 42-space car park.
But after a five-day inquiry last month (November, 2010), the Planning Inspectorate ruled on Thursday, December 23rd that the council was right to put a stop to the use, which had been going on in varying degrees for around four years.
Inspector John Gray concluded that the proposed car park would be inappropriate development in the green belt. It would also harm the setting of the listed building and fail to preserve the character of Caverswall Conservation Area.
Mr Gray found that the proposal would disturb the peace and quiet of neighbours by creating noise that could not be kept down to acceptable levels through design or planning conditions.
Cllr Edwin Wain, portfolio holder for planning, said: “The inspector’s findings vindicate our view that there were overwhelming planning objections to the proposed use.
“We’re supportive of the commercial use of listed buildings, as long as it can be achieved without harming the countryside, the setting of the building in question, and the amenity of people living nearby. The inspector was in no doubt that it would have been impossible to satisfy these criteria where Caverswall Castle was concerned”, he stressed.
A file in the archives of the East Riding of Yorkshire reminds us that there is nothing new about an economic crisis at Christmas.
The file shows that a financial crisis of the 19th century made for a bleak Christmas for Yorkshire workers. In 1835, with the country in the depths of an economic depression, the tradesmen of Beverley decided to scrap Christmas gifts to save money.
A public notice in the archives records that over 70 of the town’s tradesmen signed an agreement not to give any Christmas presents to their employees.
The notice reads:
“We, the undersigned Tradesmen, feeling that the practice of giving presents at Christmas, commonly called ‘Christmas Boxes’, is a very heavy Tax upon the Trade of Beverley…, have unanimously agreed, on account of the great depression so generally felt in almost every branch of Trade, as well as the small profits upon which business is now conducted – that, in future, we will not give any Christmas Presents, either in money or in any article we deal in.”
Sam Bartle, the archives’ collections officer, says: “At the time it was customary for shopkeepers and tradesmen to give what were known as “Christmas boxes” to workers on Boxing Day, as a gesture of goodwill. Many Beverley traders in 1835 decided that this was too costly for them and abolished the custom.”
A GOVERNMENT inspector has backed a council’s decision to order the removal of plastic doors and windows installed without planning permission in a conservation area.
Last June, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council served an enforcement order on the proprietor of North Street Glass, in Earl Street, Leek, following complaints, after he installed white upvc windows and doors on the front of the building plus white upvc windows on the upper rear elevation.
Now, the Planning Inspectorate has dismissed the owner’s appeal against the notice.
Following a site visit on Tuesday, December 7th, inspector David Baldock ruled that the council was right to insist on the replacement of the plastic doors and windows with timber replicas of the originals, to be painted dark grey or dark green.
The inspector also agreed with the council that nine months was a reasonable period for compliance.
Mr Baldock found that the windows and doors were particularly important features on the building in question because they made up a substantial proportion of the total facades.
“The removal of the former features and their replacement carried out has been seriously detrimental to the appearance and character of the building”, he concluded.
The inspector dismissed the appellant’s claim that the plastic doors and windows had had a minimal negative impact on the conservation area because of the modern Co-op store and car park opposite the site. Mr Baldock ruled that the appeal site was nevertheless important to the conservation area’s character and that the presence of the Co-op, just outside the conservation area, was no reason for allowing harmful development.
Built to link the Potteries with Manchester, the Macclesfield Canal runs from the Peak Forest Canal to Hall Green, near Kidsgrove, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal’s Macclesfield Branch.
Twenty six miles long, the Macclesfield Canal follows a route surveyed by Thomas Telford who designed the cast iron aqueduct that carries it over Canal Road in Congleton. Civil engineer William Crosley constructed the canal using sandstone quarried at Kerridge and Cloud End to build aqueducts, bridges and lock chambers.
Between Marple and Macclesfield, the canal which is 510 feet above sea level, traverses the western slopes of the Pennine foothills passing through deep cuttings and over high embankments. A flight of 12 locks at Bosley lowers it by 120 feet and the canal continues its journey to Hall Green overlooked by Cloud End and Mow Cop.
Opened in 1777, the Trent and Mersey Canal carried bricks, coal and pottery to Manchester via Preston Brook where it joins the Bridgewater Canal. Realising that these cargoes would be lost if the Macclesfield Canal was built, the Trent and Mersey Canal’s owners were openly antagonistic and tried to prevent its construction. When these attempts failed, the Trent and Mersey Canal Company charged boat owners exorbitant fees to use its branch canal from Kidsgrove to Hall Green, where the long narrow waterway joining the two canals was controlled by stop locks.
The Macclesfield Canal was opened on November 9th, 1831 when 52 boats left Hall Green and sailed northwards to meet a flotilla coming south from Marple. Leading boats in both fleets contained canal officials, their friends and a band. They were followed by pleasure craft and narrow boats carrying salt, timber, cotton, groceries, coal and household goods.
Colliery owner Robert Williamson, who lived at Ramsdell Hall, laid tramways from his coal mines at Harriseahead to a canal wharf at Kent Green. The coal was loaded on to boats and taken to Goldendale Iron Works at Chatterley. A canal side alehouse, the Bird in Hand, where boatmen could moor overnight was built near the wharf.
Unable to compete with the railways built to link North Staffordshire with Manchester during the 1830s and 1840s, the canal gradually ceased to be economically viable. Hall o’ Lee the last colliery on the North Staffordshire Coalfield to use the canal to transport coal closed before the First World War and by the 1930s the only boats on the canal were pleasure craft belonging to members of the North Cheshire Cruising Club. Very few boats used the section of canal between Congleton and Hall Green and it became home to moorhens, herons and water voles. Alder and white willow trees lined the banks. Bulrushes and water lilies grew alongside the towpath while perch, roach, pike, common carp and other fish swam in its still waters.
At weekends char-a-bancs brought anglers from Crewe and Stockport to Kent Green where fishing competitions were held. When twilight fell, they put their rods away and crowded into the Bird-in-Hand’s small back room to drink the landlord’s own brewed ale brought from the cellar in a large white enamel jug.
Residents can now access key information on Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council at the click of a button.
People will be able to see details of individual payments of more than £500 made to council suppliers by logging on to the council’s website.
Information will also be given on the salaries, roles and responsibilities of senior officers at the council.
The details will be available for the first time from 15th December with information on payments to suppliers updated every month.
Residents can see which executive directors oversee a range of council services.
The information is being made available as the council aims to achieve greater openness in its financial business in response to the new Government’s call for transparency.
Council Leader Simon Tagg said: “Our residents provide the council with a significant amount of money that is then spent on providing services – it’s important that residents are aware of where their money is going.
“It’s vital that we are open when it comes to the payments that we make to suppliers and to the officers who work at the council.”
Cllr. Helen Morris, Cabinet member for resources and efficiency, said: “We are a publicly funded organisation and we have a duty to residents to be transparent in all that we do.”
Due to spammers, we have had to disable auto registration to the site. If you wish to register please Email the site admin at website{@}northstaffordshire.co.uk (without the {brackets}) and we will be pleased to add you to our mailing list. We promise we don't share your details with any third party and we never Email attachments.
Why not register for our forum whilst you're here. Take the link and register to have your say today.
Button
