Description
This large strategic site (4.08 hectares) contains a number of existing uses, including offices, light industrial uses and shops fronting Prince of Wales Road. There are generally located in poor quality buildings. It also contains two substantial grade II seventeenth and eighteenth century listed buildings providing offices and small scale industrial units in the locally listed former fish market. In addition, there are surface car parks within the site.
To the south of the site is the strategic brownfield regeneration site of St Anne’s Wharf. The site is adjacent to flats to the west, a hotel and flats to the east and a variety of uses to the north of Rose Lane, including late night uses in the Prince of Wales Road area. Tudor Hall, to the north-west of the site, is a grade II listed building.
The site is located partly within the King Street character area of the City Centre Conservation Area, with the northern part fronting Rose Lane in the Prince of Wales Road character area. The King Street area has historically significant buildings interspersed with former industrial buildings. The area is undergoing significant change as many of the buildings formerly associated with industry and the river are either being replaced or converted, mostly into residential use.
The Rose Lane/Mountergate site itself was historically occupied by a mixture of workers housing, factories and port based industries. With the exception of the listed buildings, it was entirely redeveloped in a piece-meal fashion in the twentieth century and is defined as “degraded” in the City centre conservation area appraisal and suitable for redevelopment. The great majority of the buildings on site, with the exception of the listed and locally listed buildings, are defined as negative buildings and the approach to Mountergate from Rose Lane is identified as a negative view.
Explanatory text
As a large, highly accessible site close to the railway station, the area is currently underused. It is suitable for sustainably accessible mixed used redevelopment, with the main focus on office development. A significant element of high density residential development should be provided. Some food/drink, small scale retail and non late night leisure uses should be included in the development, though these uses should not be dominant.
Any redevelopment proposed should take account of adjoining uses and planned development at St Anne’s Wharf. It should make best use of the listed buildings, taking into account the City centre conservation area appraisal. Appropriate historic interpretation information should be incorporated into the development and an archaeological assessment will be required.
Development fronting Rose Lane should be designed to take account of noise from the busy road and close proximity to the late night activity zone.
Development should re-create street frontages to Mountergate and deliver public access to the river, by linking to the riverside walk and to the core pedestrian and cycle network at Lady Julian Bridge via neighbouring developments. Accessible open space as an integral part of the landscaping and design of the development will be required.
In this highly accessible city centre location, car free housing could be provided. As far as possible, vehicular access should be via Mountergate rather than Rose Lane. Some public car parking will be provided to make up for some of the spaces lost resulting from redevelopment.
There is one tree, a maple, protected by a Tree Preservation Order on site, in front of Charles House on Rose Lane.
As part of the site is within flood zone 2, it could be affected by fluvial flooding. Therefore a flood risk assessment and appropriate mitigation measures will be required. An archaeological assessment will also be required.
Development needs to ensure that the water environment is protected. The site falls within Source Protection Zone 1, designed to protect water supplies, and therefore the water environment is particularly vulnerable in this location. Detailed discussions over this issue will be required with the Environment Agency to ensure that proposals are appropriate for the site and that the site is developed in a manner which protects the water environment.
Deliverability
The site was allocated in the 2004 Replacement local plan for a mix of uses including leisure, housing, restaurants or hot food uses and employment.
The site is suitable and available for development within the plan period.
POLICY CC4: Land at Rose Lane/Mountergate – mixed use development
The site of 4.08 hectares is allocated for comprehensive mixed use development. The achieve this, the development will:
- be mainly office-led, integrated with residential uses (in the region of 300 dwellings);
- include other uses such as food/drink, small scale retail and non late night leisure uses (which should not dominate the development);
- provide some replacement public car parking;
- provide an enhanced public realm, including an open space and pedestrian/cycle links to the riverside walk;
- respect the setting of on-site listed buildings and be designed as far as possible to reflect the historic building plots and streets and to recreate street frontages.
A noise assessment is required and the development must be designed to mitigate the impact of noise from the main road and from the late night activity zone.
A development brief or supplementary planning document will be produced to guide the comprehensive redevelopment of this strategic site.
