Development of Chiswick Heritage Plant CentreInformation Requested by Sustainable Development CommitteeCIP, Landscape Services February 2003 Draft submission for comment (contd). Interested parties are invited to comment on these draft proposals for Chiswick Heritage Plant Centre before this document is submitted to the Sustainable Development Committee. It is currently intended that the planning application be considered by the Committee at their meeting of 28 April 2003. Comments should be made in writing to Andrew Life, CIP Landscape Services, Feltham Airparcs Leisure Centre, Uxbridge Road, Hanworth TW13 5EG (email: Andrew.Life@cip.org.uk) to be received by 7 March 2003. CIP will consider any comments in preparing its final submission. 3. Consultation and revised proposals3.1 ConsultationLBH, English Heritage (EH) and the FCH have been informed of CIP’s plans for the plant centre and consulted on the matter since the submission of the application for planning permission, and information posters have been displayed in local libraries and in CHG. However, it is nevertheless evident that information has not reached all interested parties. The following actions have therefore been taken to ensure full dissemination of information presented here:
LBH is the successor to the former Middlesex County Council, which originally acquired the site from the 9th Duke of Devonshire. The Council has the right to benefit from the covenants contained in the registered title of the land, so CIP will additionally have to satisfy Members and obtain their approval of the proposed developments. 3.2 Revised proposalsThis section describes the changed context for the plant centre in the light of developments in the HLF-funded Chiswick House Grounds Restoration Project and presents the logic for defining the scope and operational arrangements for the plant centre. These are set out at the end of the section. 3.2.1 Restoration project contextSince the submission of the planning application for the plant centre the context relating to the Chiswick House Grounds restoration project has changed significantly. A full-time project officer has been appointed, and the future of the walled garden area is under consideration as part of a wider project for the whole park. Prospects for the restoration have recently been further enhanced following a presentation by the Chief Executive of English Heritage on 10 February, indicating the interest of a private benefactor in supporting the project. These developments give rise to continuing optimism that there will be significant improvements in the grounds in coming years. Following the meeting of the SDC an options appraisal exercise was undertaken in collaboration with the restoration project officer in order to examine the plant centre proposal in the wider context of the restoration project. Restoration plans for the northern kitchen garden area of CHG are at an early stage. However, a plant centre with a significant growing function as part of its remit (i.e. a plant
Table 1: Possible functions for the walled kitchen garden nursery) remains an appropriate use for part of the site. Archive material shows a layout similar to that proposed, with the horticultural function of supplying the estate. As well as its being a continuation of one of the historic uses of the walled garden, a nursery has the potential for synergy with a number of other uses that have been considered by the restoration project for the area. Possible uses range from horticultural / grounds maintenance related functions (e.g. supply of plant stock); community functions (e.g. involvement of volunteers for the development of a community garden, nature conservation area and/or kitchen garden restoration); educational functions (e.g. horticultural education and training for CIP gardeners, the general public and people with special needs); and commercial functions (e.g. other sales, such as ornaments / statuary, and produce from a walled kitchen garden). Table 1 identifies functions that are compatible with EH/HLF objectives, appropriate for the site and at least potentially commercially self-sustaining. These could be established in some form before HLF funding became available. Additional facilities might be established subsequently with HLF support. Examples under consideration include: public toilets, an interpretation centre for CHG, permanent classroom for schools and adult education, special needs horticultural training and a meeting room for local organisations. A plant nursery sits well in this context – see Figure 1.
3.2.2 Constraints imposed on the nursery by parking and deliveriesRecognising the limited availability of parking space and concerns about the frequency of deliveries to the proposed nursery along the Duke’s Avenue, CIP proposes that these factors be determining constraints on the size of nursery. The basic premises are: i. that the nursery should not attract more cars to the area than can be accommodated by feasible (and acceptable) extensions to the existing car park off the A4 ii. that the mean frequency of deliveries should not exceed 3 per day iii. that the size of the nursery should be limited by the more restrictive of these two factors. The logic underlying reasoning about the nursery size is as follows: i. There is a correlation between the number of parking spaces and the number of nursery customers ii. There is a correlation between the number of customers and turnover. iii. There is a correlation between turnover and plant growing and display space required to support it (and hence the physical area needed for nursery operations). The following section sets out the proposed operational arrangements for the plant centre on the basis of such an analysis. 3.2.2 Operational arrangements for the plant centrei. Location and size. The nursery will be located in part of the southern walled garden and will additionally use the glasshouses and some storage in the west works depot. The area necessary for outdoor growing, sales and display is shown on Figure 1 and will extend progressively as follows:
Table 2: Projected expansion of nursery in walled garden No expansion is currently envisaged beyond that proposed above. Two glasshouses will be made operational in year 1 and the remaining three in year 2. The nursery will not extend into the northern walled garden and will impact only the smaller wooded area in the southern garden – see also Section 6.3. This and the remaining area of the southern walled garden will be available for alternative uses under the HLF restoration project. These could include nature conservation if appropriate (see Section 6.3 and Figure 1). ii. Access. Public access for customers and visitors to CHG will be via the existing gate between the walled garden and the hockey field . Occasional access on special occasions may be permitted through the Conservatory and 17th century gates. No access through the northern walled garden is proposed at this stage, although this would probably be made available when the northern walled garden is developed under HLF funding. The depot areas will be blocked to public access by gates. It is now proposed that two new hoggin-surfaced paths be opened through the hockey field, following the lines of paths shown in archival records. The first will be close to the western wall of the walled garden, providing level access between the nursery and the car park. The second will continue the existing east–west vista through the gate of the nursery to the existing path into CHG from the car park. The area currently taken by the derelict timber changing room building at the car park end of the hockey field will be partitioned for the deposit of customers’ trolleys – see Figure 1. Such an enclosure has the potential for being locked when the nursery is closed and addresses the concern that trolleys may become scattered in the car park area. Other methods for controlling trolleys are currently under consideration, and include the levy of a returnable deposit when they are taken, as in some supermarkets. The establishment of the paths will slightly reduce the open area of the hockey field but will not prevent continued informal use of the area for ball games or for community uses, such as school sports days[1]. This proposal is an addition to the existing planning application and has arisen as a result of consultation. iii. Parking. CIP will create an additional 15 parking spaces in the existing car park off the A4 to accommodate nursery customers’ parking requirements at times of peak usage. The implications of the nursery for overall parking demand and traffic movements on and off of the A4 are considered in Section 6.1 iv. Deliveries. Delivery vehicles will approach via Dukes Avenue and smaller vehicles will unload in the east depot area adjacent to the nursery. Larger vehicles will unload on the Dukes Avenue adjacent to the depot access road, and goods will be manually transported to the nursery. The implications of nursery deliveries for traffic along Dukes Avenue are considered in Section 6.2. v. Building works. The nursery will require the erection of a timber sales building and paths for circulation within the walled garden. The sales building proposed will be a temporary structure with shallow footings to impose minimum impact on the site, approximately 4m x 6m and 2.75 in height. The appendix illustrates the type of building under consideration. Paths are currently proposed to be of hoggin construction and with a layout based upon the historical routes around the area – see Figure 1. All building design and materials will be subject to the agreement of English Heritage and the construction work is expected to require the approval of an archaeological project design. vi. Hours of opening. The nursery will normally open for retail business 7 days per week and for up to 9 hours per day. However it will not be open outside the period of opening of CHG. The longest opening hours will be in summer, when they will be from 9.00am to 6.00pm. vii. Benefit to community. CIP is a not-for-profit distribution company with charitable intention; no monies are provided to shareholders – they are re-invested in community activities. CIP intends that any surplus from plant centre trading be ploughed back into improved local facilities and services for the community. Initially this would take the form of improvements to the amenity of the walled garden through increased access, landscape improvements and historical interpretation, with future potential for horticultural and historical education. CHG would be a natural beneficiary of any subsequent profit, and CIP is currently exploring with CHF and other interested parties means by which direct benefit to the grounds could be formalised 4. Planning issues4.1 Parking and traffic movements4.1.1 Current demandUnfortunately, no formal empirical data exists on usage of the car park at CHG. An analysis of current parking in the A4 car park has therefore been undertaken based upon informal observations by CIP staff living and working in CHG. The estimates of the mean number of the 43 available spaces occupied in the course of a fine day are as follows. An 8-hour day is assumed.
Table 3: Estimated current utilisation of A4 car park (mean over 8 hour day) Although the mean utilisation over a day at summer weekends is estimated as being 30 spaces, the current utilisation at peak times during the day is known to be 100% (i.e. 43 spaces in use); hence the projected need for additional spaces. Weekend usage is significantly increased by visitors to the Will to Win Tennis Camp. The car park is not fully utilised during the week even in the summer, except on Bank Holidays and on the occasion of special events such as school sports days that occur approximately 4 times per year, when utilisation approximates that occurring at weekends. A survey conducted in the grounds in 1996 determined the duration of respondents’ visits to the park. As there is no reason to believe that patterns of usage have changed since the survey it is reasonable to assume that the distribution observed in the survey will reflect the period for which cars currently remain in the car park. On this basis, and using the estimates of the number of cars in the car park presented above, the number of cars entering and leaving the car park from A4 on a typical fine day will be as follows:
Table 4: Estimated current traffic movements into car park from A4. 4.1.2 Future demandIt is recognised that a significant proportion of nursery customers will want to transport purchases by car when otherwise either they would not have travelled to CHG at all, would have come by other means or would have parked further away. An additional 15 parking spaces are estimated to be required at peak business times (i.e. weekends between June and August) to support a viable nursery turnover. The addition of 15 parking places will increase the parking capacity of the car park to 58. These spaces will be available for nursery customers on those occasions when the car park would otherwise be full (at times during summer weekends and when special events are held in the grounds). Further assuming that nursery customers stay for a mean duration of 45 minutes, customers using the car park would give rise to the following estimated numbers of additional vehicles entering the car park each day.
Table 5: Projected additional traffic movements into car park from A4 resulting from nursery. It should be noted that these projections are for customer traffic once the plant centre has become established – fewer customer movements would be expected during the first three years of operation. Contractors’ vehicles will need to access the plant centre via the car park during the construction period, although it is currently intended that construction will occur at off-peak times (weekdays during autumn and winter). Construction traffic movements are not included in these projections.
Table 6: Projected delivery movements along Dukes Avenue (per month). 4.2 Delivery traffic on the Dukes Avenue4.2.1 Current trafficUnfortunately no formal data exists on the frequency and type of vehicles passing along Dukes Avenue, although traffic includes
4.2.2 Future trafficTable 6 presents an analysis of projected deliveries per month to and from the plant centre. The long term future of CIP’s depots at CHG is currently under discussion, but it is possible that some grounds maintenance functions (other than the team caring specifically for CHG) will be relocated. As a consequence, depot traffic may well reduce over the next 5 years, ameliorating the traffic impact of the plant centre. In any case the frequency of deliveries to and from the plant centre is expected to be less than three per day and is not expected to make an appreciable change to current perceptions of traffic of the avenue. CIP recognises the potential safety hazard arising from any traffic through the park and would continue to apply restrictions on the speed of vehicles servicing its operations in CHG. Speed control measures (e.g. speed hollows) are already under consideration for introduction along Dukes Avenue, as part of the ongoing control of traffic in the grounds. Deliveries to the centre will be restricted to weekdays. 4.3 Ecological impactThe SDC expressed concern that the development of the nursery may destroy wildlife habitats in the overgrown area of the walled garden. The walled garden was used as a nursery by the local authority from the 1930s until the mid 1980s. The southern section continued to be used for horticultural storage and some growing into the 1990s and has been kept clear; however, the northern section was effectively abandoned, and the young trees that were being cultivated there were allowed to grow on undisturbed. The trees are of species typically used for council plantings (i.e. many are not native), and they remain in the nursery rows and closely spaced at around 1m. As a consequence, the trees have become tall and spindly, and woodland under-storey has been slow to develop. Doug Napier, the Country Parks Manager of CIP and a qualified ecologist, has visited the site and his preliminary judgement is that, because of the predominantly non-native species and density of trees, it is unlikely that ecologically important habitats exist in this part of the grounds. There are a small number of notable exceptions – an old-established oak in the northern walled garden and a mulberry in the southern walled garden – that should be conserved in any future development of the area. Unfortunately, because the flora is dormant, it is not a suitable time to undertake a detailed ecological survey. CIP will undertake a full ecological survey in the spring to inform proposals for the plant centre development in the southern walled garden and other development in the northern walled garden that may be proposed under the HLF restoration project. Nature conservation is one of the functions under consideration by the HLF project and, if pursued, management of the area would probably be undertaken to conserve and extend the range of habitats existing in the walled garden. 4.4 Landscape impact4.4.1 Surrounding properties and A4No properties outside the CHG will have direct vision of the nursery itself, which will be enclosed by the walled garden. It will also not be visible from the A4. Residents of Paxton Road (even numbers up to 40) will be able to see occasional delivery vehicles on the Dukes Avenue from their upstairs rear windows, but the frequency of deliveries will be low (refer to Section 6.2.2). Signage will be targeted at viewers within the grounds and car park and will also not be evident to passers by. The visual impact of the development on properties surrounding CHG will, then, be small. 4.4.2 Adjacent areas of CHGBecause of its walled location, the nursery will not be readily visible from within CHG. Pedestrians walking from the car park into the grounds will see the proposed access path and trolley deposit area near the car park - see Section 5.2.2 (ii) - and will glimpse the nursery through the gate in the wall. The nursery will also be visible from the Conservatory through the 17th Century gates; however, CIP has undertaken to conserve the historic vistas through the gates, and the layout will be designed to minimise intrusion into the vistas. With the agreement of English Heritage, structure planting such as fruit trees could be used to reinforce these landscape features. Users of the car park will see the additional parking spaces, but these will not change the informal and ‘leafy’ character of the car park. Signage to advertise the nursery will be located in the car park, and at one or a small number of locations in the grounds – for example, near the Conservatory. The boards will be modest in size – not exceeding 1500mm square - and removable. The possibility of including the nursery on some of the fingerposts within the grounds will be discussed with EH. AppendixSales point building under consideration |
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