Five-home plan in historic hall repair

Restoration included in proposal for 17th-century building

PLANS have been submitted for the restoration and repair of a Grade Iilisted hall in Leek.

The planning application also involves five new dwellings on the site.

A planning application has been submitted to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council for the restoration and repairs, conversion and alteration of existing outbuildings to form three dwellings and the erection of two dwellings and associated works at Haregate Hall, Haregate Road, Leek.

A design and access statement produced by ctd architects of Leek, said: “Since its origins in the 17th century, the hall has seen several extensions and modifications. The two main wings were built in the 17th and 18th century with a 17th century stone kitchen to the rear of the hall being extended several times in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“A 17th century pantry to the rear of the house was extended upwards to become two-storey in the late 20th century, probably to enable the house to be subdivided into flats.

“The hall is currently divided into three separate dwellings which follow natural boundaries between The Old Hall, The ‘New’ Hall and The Kitchen Cottage to the rear.

“Two of the dwellings are inhabited. The third is unsuitable and too small to function safely and effectively as a dwelling.

“The site also comprises two barns, dating from 18th and 19th century, currently used for storage. The hall and barns are set within approximately 0.5 hectares of garden, former orchard, domestic and agricultural curtilage.

“The developer’s aspiration is to create a high-quality, architecturally exemplary, residential development on the site of Haregate Hall that is sensitive and respectful of the existing heritage assets.

“The proposal will see the highquality conservation repair of the existing listed and curtilage buildings on the site in order to sustain the historic fabric for the enjoyment of future generations.

“Alongside these conservation repairs, new interventions and minor remodelling are proposed which will increase the floor area of the existing buildings as well as bringing some elements of low-key contemporary architecture to the site.

“These minor alterations will improve the function of the dwellings within the already subdivided hall thus making them more desirable as high-quality homes.

“In addition to the conservation repair of the two barns to the west of the site, it is proposed that they be converted into three dwellings.

“The smaller of the two barns, The East Barn, will become a single, three-bedroomed property. The West Barn will be split in half along an existing internal division, creating two, three-bedroomed dwellings.

“In order to ensure that the development is achievable and financially viable, it will be necessary to make use of two vacant parts of the site in order to build two new discreet three-bedroomed dwellings.

“These dwellings make use of two peripheral parts of the site and are designed to ‘hide behind walls,’ reducing their impact and ensuring that they sit comfortably within the grounds of the hall and barns.

“The proposal aims to conserve the heritage assets whilst acknowledging that it is not practical or feasible to preserve them in aspic purely for the sake of doing so. The proposals take the spirit in which the hall was initially extended in the 18th century and use this ideology for moving forwards into the 21st century.

“The proposed conservation repair and development of Haregate Hall will see the creation of five additional dwellings on the site to create a total of eight dwellings.

“Six of these dwellings will make use of existing buildings on the site.

“The hall is currently divided into three dwellings. It is proposed that these three dwellings remain with the line of division between the two wings of the hall remaining as existing and the formerly detached kitchen cottage being reinstated as such.

“The division is entirely appropriate in this location as the size of dwelling created if it were to be returned to a single unit would be disproportionate. Three smaller dwellings also make better economic sense.”

A decision is expected by planners within the next eight weeks.