Rethink needed on Harper’s Hill plan
DEAR Editor, Joe Holyoak makes important points about the Harper’s Hill (A E Harris) site in the Jewellery Quarter and how development is managed. This mixed residential and commercial scheme is better than many we see in the city; but does it do justice to the unique character of the Jewellery Quarter Conservation Area?
The current city centre investment boom has created substantial pressure for residential development in the Jewellery Quarter. The challenge is to create development respecting the industrial ‘feel’ and smaller building scale central to the Jewellery Quarter’s character.
City planning policy is against large scale residential development (other than linked to work spaces) in the ‘Industrial Middle’ of the Quarter. The aim is to ease pressure on businesses that would otherwise be squeezed out in the rush to build more flats.
There is concern in the Quarter that the council’s department for planning and