NEWTON PARK ESTATE
Newton St Loe Village
INFILL DEVELOPMENT
CONTEXT PAPER
History: The Duchy of Cornwall acquired the Manor of Inglescombe (1500acres) in
1421 as part of a larger land exchange. During the Second World War, on the death of
the fifth Earl Temple, the Newton Park Estate became available and, with its south
east boundary along the Newton Brook being contiguous with the Manor of
Inglescombe, it was purchased by the Duchy in 1941. Further purchases took place in
the early 1960s adding farms between Marksbury and Priston so that the estate today
amounts to 6300 acres. It is the largest ring fenced block of land owned by the Duchy
outside Dartmoor and is unique in being the only “traditional estate” including a
mansion house and complete estate village as well as the usual mix of woodland (400
acres), farms, places of employment and opportunities for leisure.
An Holistic Approach: This extent of ownership has enabled the Duchy to take a
long term view and an all embracing approach to estate management. A master plan
for Newton St Loe is evolving to steer new development in the village towards
answering the demographic needs of the community and, in terms of appearance,
following the style set out in a pattern book produced for this purpose. In terms of the
future expansion of Bath the Duchy is working closely with the local authority and the
Government Office of the South West to ensure that if Bath is to have an urban
extension onto Duchy land, the design and appearance will be the best it can possibly
be within sustainability parameters. The mansion house at the core of the Newton
Park Estate is of course leased to Bath Spa University along with 100 acres of campus
and the Duchy is currently joined with the University, the local planning authority and
representatives of English Heritage in discussions concerning the capacity of the site
for future development and the potential for redevelopment which will preserve and
enhance the existing key buildings, monuments and historic landscape.
Newton St Loe Village: The historic context of the village is set out lucidly in the
publication “Newton St Loe - A Study of the Vernacular Building Survey” by John
Dallimore with a foreword by Mary Sabina Stacey the then Built Heritage Manager of
Bath & North East Somerset Council. Although the Church dates from the 14th
century the majority of houses visible today were constructed in the 18th and 19th
centuries. Virtually no new domestic building took place in the twentieth century –
the village even escaped the ubiquitous rank of post war local authority housing that is
usually found in most villages even of quite modest size. Greater detail on village and
character area analysis as well as building types and constructional details can be
found in “A Pattern Book for Newton St Loe” produced for the Duchy by Aaron
Evans Architects in 2007.
There are sixty four houses and cottages let by the Duchy in Newton St Loe and of
these 4 have one bedroom, 24 have two bedrooms, 29 have 3 bedrooms, just two have
four bedrooms and five are larger “village houses” with up to 6 or 7 bedrooms. This is
a distinctly unusual analysis for a number of reasons:
1) Apart from minor kitchen and bathroom extensions, few of the properties have
been added to during the twentieth century whereas a typical village would
have seen many properties the subject of extension and enlargement during the
same period.
2) There have been no new houses built in the twentieth century apart from one
not owned by the Duchy. This means that there are plenty of large gardens and
open spaces between the properties. Most villages would have seen these
spaces built upon in the post war years with three and four bedroomed family
houses.
3) As the bathroom became accepted as an essential element to modern living, it
was often fitted into the smallest bedroom of a property so that four
bedroomed houses became three bedroomed and three bedroomed cottages
became two bedroomed.
When the Duchy undertook a survey and consultation amongst villagers in the mid
1990s, two housing needs were identified which were again atypical of most villages
of a similar size. Firstly, in the absence of any local authority housing, there was a
demand for single storeyed elderly people’s housing so that those who had spent a
lifetime in the village would not necessarily have to move away when they became
infirm and less able to cope with stairs. Secondly, there was a demand for larger three
bedroomed and four bedroomed houses for families. Ironically, the usual village
demand for smaller properties is already well catered for by the existing housing stock
of 2 and 3 bedroomed cottages.
The first of these demands was answered in 2002 by the construction of four new
retirement cottages on an “exceptions site” providing purpose built single storey one
bedroomed units which have been a tremendous success. The second issue was the
subject of further village consultation in 2007 when, together with other strands of
interest from the village such as off street parking provision and employment
opportunities, a masterplan for the village began to emerge identifying four principal
sites for infill development which sat within the existing village development
boundary. These sites would provide a pair of new semi-detached three bedroomed
cottages, two single four bedromed houses and the conversion of the redundant coach
house included within the lease of “The Mount” to a three bedroomed dwelling. Of
the village households that participated in the consultation, 85% thought the number
of new houses was “about right” (4% wanted more) and 96% were content with the
locations proposed for the new properties.
The masterplan was forwarded to Bath & North East Somerset planning department in
2008 and received a considered response in the autumn. The response stopped short of
a comprehensive endorsement because certain elements of it were deemed to be
contrary to the local plan. However, the response contained the following
encouragement:
“………..you should progress those elements of your proposal which are clearly
within the current policy framework; that you should not shy away from those
elements (such as the parking proposals within the village development boundary, or
the upgrading of the existing satellite employment premises for the benefit of their
current occupier) which can be argued to be within the current policy framework. In
all cases where you do submit proposals, it would be entirely appropriate for you to
reveal in supporting documentation how the schemes fit in to the “emerging
masterplan” for the village.”
With this in mind the following documents accompany this context paper:
1. Newton St Loe, N.E. Somerset – A study of the Vernacular Building Survey
by Newton St Loe Vernacular Building Research Group
2. A Pattern Book for Newton St Loe – Aaron Evans architects Ltd.
3. A Masterplan for Newton St Loe – Aaron Evans architects Ltd.
Njm 11.06.09