Housing development set to be built on edge of market town
ALMOST 180 years ago, it was an exhibition that was to confound and inspire visitors as they caught a first glimpse of the world’s first major display of photography.
The exhibition at King Edward’s School in Birmingham in 1839 by one of the founding fathers of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, is now being brought into the 21st century. The historic event called
is being recreated at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford from March 2 until May 7 through a virtual reality installation by artist Mat Collishaw which plunges visitors directly into the environment of Talbot’s exhibition in 1839.
Visitors can walk through a digitally reconstructed room where they are able to marvel at Talbot’s inventions, touch the furniture and fixtures, and even feel heat from a recreated coal fire. Infrared sensors track each person’s movements, creating ghostly avatars that show their position.
The installation will be complemented by an exhibition, Immersion, which displays historic items highlighting how innovators have used technology to create immersive sensory experiences in photography, cinema and recorded sound. PLANS TO build a major housing estate of more than 100 homes on the edge of a North Yorkshire market town have been approved by councillors.
Outline planning permission has been granted by Craven District Council to build 140 new houses in Skipton in a scheme that is set to include 30 per cent affordable properties, cycle and pedestrian links and public open space.
Developers of the scheme, on fields off Knaresborough Road stretching down to Otley Road, will have to return with a fully detailed ‘reserved matters’ application which will have to be approved before work can start.
Pegasus Group, on behalf of a private landowner, said it liaised closely with planning officers to deliver a plan that “was sensitive in design and set out the economic, social and environmental benefits to the local community”.
Chris Calvert, executive director at Pegasus Group, said: “We have been working on this site since early 2016, when the local council were looking at a pool of sites for their emerging local plan.
“We drew up a landscape led masterplan and submitted it, along with a promotional document and planning representation in response to the council’s consultation, acknowledging that a sensitive design would be key, given the site’s edge of settlement location.”
Mr Calvert confirmed that the Pegasus Group is now working with the landowner and land agent to bring the site to market, having already attracted “a significant level of interest” from housebuilders.
The Skipton approval is the second successful application by Pegasus Group in Craven, following outline consent obtained for land at Corner Field.
Mr Calvert said: “We firmly believe that the secret to the success of any project lies in collaboration, co-operation and consultation and these proved key to this project.”