Conservation Area Review

What is a Conservation area
"An area of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance"

In Deanshanger
The planning authority, South Northants District Council, through their Heritage Department have been conducting a review of the Conservation Area since the end of October 1999. Consultations have been taking place between the Heritage Officers and interested parties. These have included the Local Parish Council and the newly formed Deanshanger Village Heritage Society.

South Northants District Council proposed enlarging the conservation area from its original area,which included lower High Street, Patricks Lane and The Green, to include the older parts of Church Lane.

The Parish Council proposed to further extend the conservation area to include all of the High Street from the line of Kingsbrook, where it runs from Church Lane to the High Street, across to the top of Boswell Lane. The idea being that High Street, which has some of the oldest buildings in the village some pre-1600, should be preserved and enhanced for the enjoyment of the general public. The Parish Council also proposed the inclusion of Willow Green and the original Baptist church/cum school at the weighbridge entance to the old factory site.

The heritage officers at SNDC accepted the inclusion of Willow Green and the old school from the Parish Councils first proposal. The High Street was a more difficult problem to resolve. Initially the officers were of the opinion that too many detrimental alterations had taken place in the High Street to warrant its inclusion in the conservation area.

At this point the newly formed Deanshanger Village Heritage Society took on the task of convincing the local authority that High Street should be included in the review. Members drawing on local knowledge of the buildings in the High Street, compiled a character statement, checked old deeds and old maps showing that some houses in the street had been in existance from the 1500's. Armed with this information on the rich and varied history of this central part of the village further representations were made to SNDC With very little progress being made at this stage.

The Heritage Society continued its campaign to have the High Street included, collecting and analyising any information about the history and past uses of the buildings, and who lived in them.

Part of the process of the review was to hold a public exibition and a public meeting on the review proposals.
At the time the exibition was held the Parish Council displayed its own proposals alongside the Disrict Council.
A public meeting was held in the evening, after the public display, where around 50 members of the general public from the village attended. The vast majority wanted to see the conservation area extended in line with the Parish Council and Heritage Society proposal.

The Heritage officers, who conducted the meeting, to their credit agreed to a proposal from the floor that they would meet with representatives from the Parish Council and the Heritage Society for a new look at the area's of concern.

At that meeting all the areas in question were walked and discussed. The Heritage officers agreed to include all the area's proposed by the Parish Council and Heritage Society in their recommendation to the South Northants District Council Planning committee for inclusion in the conservation area.

At the District Council planning meeting the proposed extensions to the conservation area were approved in full. 
To try and persuade residents of the conservation area to carry out repairs and alterations to their properties in character with their original features the District Council implemented an Article 4(2) directive on 39 properties within the conservation area. These properties are marked in brown on the Conservation Map

Effects of the Review

A list of proposed improvements to the conservation area, are available within the review, and can be added to. Any comments would be appreciated and can be made via our email address.