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Agenda item

Tewkesbury Borough Heritage Strategy

To consider adoption of the Tewkesbury Heritage Strategy.

Minutes:

82.1           The report of the Interim Planning Policy Manager, circulated at Pages No. 122-147, attached the draft Tewkesbury Heritage Strategy which Members were asked to adopt. The report also asked that authority be delegated to the Head of Development Services to make any necessary minor amendments to the draft document in order for it to be published in final form.

82.2           The Lead Member for Built Environment advised that the Strategy had been drafted to reflect the rich cultural heritage of the Borough and its implementation had been encouraged by Historic England when it had provided its comments on the Borough Plan. The Council had statutory duties and powers and an action plan for future initiatives and the strategy reflected those duties. The initial draft of the strategy had been considered by the Executive Committee in September 2021 and public consultation had been held between September and October 2021 with a wide range of organisations being asked to comment. The responses received were detailed at Appendix 2 to the report and, in accordance with the Executive Committee’s resolution that subject to there being no substantive comments raised during the consultation, the Council was asked to adopt the Heritage Strategy.

82.3           A Member noted that Healings Mill in Tewkesbury was in a terrible condition and he questioned whether there was anything in the strategy which would enable the building to be saved/developed. In response, the Conservation Officer confirmed that the strategy recognised there was an issue with the building and it was an objective to do something to address that. The Council had to work with private owners and they were looking at taking some funds from the Heritage Action Zone to address some of the issues.  Another Member indicated that she had been a Member of the Council since 2011 and Healings Mill had been in a state of disrepair since before that. She questioned how long the Council could go on dealing with owners who were perfectly happy to let the building fall further into disrepair without doing anything about it – it was her view that the time for talking had passed. The Head of Development Services reassured the Council that conversations were ongoing with the existing owners and there were options being considered.

82.4           A Member referred to point 10 at Page No. 134 and questioned whether what was written was actually what was meant as it seemed to infer that the perceived threat of climate change would produce lower temperatures, but her understanding was that it was generally accepted that climate change would increase temperatures. In response, a Member felt it would be more accurate to refer to ‘extremes of temperatures' and the Head of Development Services agreed this would be a good amendment. Another Member questioned whether the Church at Stanley Pontlarge, which was a Grade II* listed building, could be included in the Schedule of Ancient Monuments. The Conservation Officer confirmed that Scheduled Ancient Monument status was designated by the Secretary of State not the Council.

82.5           Upon being proposed and seconded, it was

                  RESOLVED          1.  That the draft Tewkesbury Borough Heritage Strategy be                                   ADOPTED, subject to the amendment of point 10 on Page                                     No. 134, to refer to ‘extremes of temperatures’.

                                                2. That authority be delegated to the Head of Development                                    Services to make any necessary minor amendments to the                                     draft document in order for it to be published in final form.

Supporting documents: