Four homes planned in grounds of village hall
A DEVELOPMENT of four houses could be built near the grade II-listed, 17th-century Burbage Hall.
The detached, four-bedroom homes are designed to “enhance the presence of the hall”, with one of the properties to resemble a gatehouse, with a pyramidal dovecote.
Documents filed with the application said: “These development proposals aim to enhance the presence of the hall, preserve the hall’s historical importance, make it relevant to the urban growth that has enveloped it over recent centuries and make the site sustainable for generations to come.”
Vehicles would access the site from Aston Lane, with 16 new parking spaces to be created for the development and each plot to have its own private drive.
Parking would be out of sight of the hall, hidden behind a screen wall or behind the buildings.
Each home would have its own garden, enclosed by brick walls to timber closedboard fencing.
The hall lies within the Burbage conservation area and is nearby several other listed and important local buildings, with St Catherine’s Church a short walk away.
The proposed buildings would be oneand two-storeys high, lower than the hall’s three floors, and the dwellings would also be lower in the ground and follow the contours downhill as they get further away from the hall.
A heritage impact assessment filed with the plans said that the hall is “bounded by a high brick wall which divides it from the lane and creates a strong sense of enclosure”.
It said: “There is no evidence that the site has been developed in the past. The available map evidence suggests that the site has been in use as a garden since at least the 18th century.
“Such land use would suggest a relatively low level of disturbance which would only be expected to affect the upper layers of soil.
“Against this is the possibility that tree roots may have caused significant disturbance to parts of the site.
“There is therefore, low to moderate potential for prehistoric, Roman, AngloSaxon and medieval archaeological deposits to be discovered within the proposed development area during any groundworks on the site.”
The scheme is to be discussed at a planning committee meeting of Burbage Parish Council, which is to be held on Monday March 9 at 7.30pm, at Millenium Hall.