Description
The site is a gateway to the city centre, located adjacent to the inner ring road and the remains of the city wall, close to the former St Benedict’s Gate, the main western entrance to the historic city centre.
The site is currently occupied by a surface car park accessed from St Swithin’s Road, a main route into the city centre from the inner ring road. The City centre conservation area appraisal identifies neighbouring commercial ‘shed’ units as negative buildings.
Explanatory text
The JCS promotes the city centre as the main focus in the sub-region for retail, leisure and office development, with housing and educational development also adding to the vibrancy of the centre.
Redevelopment of the site offers the opportunity to make more efficient use of this valuable city centre site and to continue the development of a vibrant mixed use quarter, extending retailing/leisure and commercial or housing uses from St Benedict’s Street.
Development should address the site’s constraints which include its location adjacent to the city wall, location within the City Centre Conservation Area, the Area of Main Archaeological Interest, and office priority area, noise generation from the main road and from neighbouring uses, trees on site, and proximity to the pedestrian and cycle network.
The site lies within a Critical Drainage Catchment as identified on the Policies map. Therefore development proposals involving new buildings, extensions and additional areas of hard surfacing should ensure that adequate and appropriate consideration has been given to mitigating surface water flooding in accordance with policy DM5.
As a main gateway to the city centre, the quality of buildings here has a major impact on impressions of the city centre. High density mixed use development, possibly 3 or 4 storeys, is appropriate. Like recent development opposite the site, development on the site should be designed to take account of historic and recent development on St Benedict’s Street and the need to enhance the setting of the city wall. Trees on the edge of the site should be retained. Appropriate historic interpretation information should be incorporated into the development and an archaeological assessment will be required.
Car free housing would be acceptable on this site given its sustainable location. Since the existing surface car park is important to the commercial success of the area, replacement car parking should be incorporated within the development. It is possible that some additional parking capacity may be provided taking into account of the redevelopment of Westwick car park. The total car parking space will be consistent with the DM31 to keep the parking spaces provision level at 1995 levels.
The design of the development will need to take account of noise from the neighbouring Inner Ring Road and should link to the neighbouring core pedestrian and cycle network. A noise assessment and associated mitigation measures will be required prior to development.
Vehicular access should be taken from St Swithin’s Road only.
Given its location an archaeological assessment will be required for the site.
Deliverability
The site is suitable and available for development. It is owned by Norwich City Council and, subject to replacement car parking being provided in proposals for the site, is available for sale to enable development of the site to be achieved within the plan period.
POLICY CC22: Barn Road Car Park – mixed use development
The Barn Road car park (0.42 hectares) is allocated for redevelopment for a mix of uses including:
- retail uses at ground floor level;
- housing development (a minimum of 40 dwellings);
- office development; and
- integrated car parking with public parking operating on a short term tariff.
Development must provide improved pedestrian links and associated public realm improvements to ensure that the site is well integrated with the surrounding area, particularly to St Benedict’s Street and St Swithin’s Road. Development should also respect the setting of nearby listed and locally listed buildings and the city wall.
A noise assessment is required and the development must be designed to take mitigate the impact of noise from the inner ring road.
Vehicular access will be taken from St Swithin’s Road.
A surface water management assessment should be submitted with any application proposing development in accordance with this allocation. The assessment should show how the proposed development:
a) would not increase the vulnerability of the site, or the wider catchment, to flooding from surface water run-off from existing or predicted water flows, and;
b) would, wherever practicable, have a positive impact on the risk of surface water flooding in the wider area.
