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newsletterJANUARY 2019 • ISSUE 20
LANDSCAPE • ECOLOGY • HERITAGE • MASTERPLANNING • ARBORICULTURE • EXPERT WITNESS
environmental planning, design and management
EDP is delighted to announce the opening of our fourth office, in Cheltenham, a new, centrally-located Regency style building providing space for our growing Gloucestershire team.
Headed by EDP Director and Chartered Landscape Architect, Fiona McKenzie, 11 team members have transferred to Cheltenham initially, relieving much-needed capacity in Cirencester and providing a new, more convenient base for Cheltenham-based staff in one fell swoop. With a capacity for up to 32 people, we are planning ahead!
The office is located right in the heart of Cheltenham town centre on Rodney Road, which connects Cheltenham Town Hall with the new flagship John Lewis store. The new location will allow many of us the opportunity to walk or cycle to work, or transfer to public transport, and provides a more central space to host meetings and events.
Fiona will be joined by a multi-disciplinary EDP team across our core subjects, including:
• Landscape Architects Ben Connolley, Will Gardner, Julia Mussett, Andrew Laird and Owain Keeley;
• Ecologists James Bird, Will Coles and Matt Evans; • Archaeologist and Heritage Consultant Matthew Morgan; and • The team will be supported by Emma Read and Jade Ocean, who will manage the office and offer administration services.
We look forward to welcoming our clients and project colleagues.
As we tuck away our newt traps and bat survey equipment for the winter, the imminent departure of the UK from the European Union looms large on the horizon for the early new year. Whilst the detail remains scant, and significant decisions ‘at large’, the implications of Brexit on certain environmental aspects of our planning system are beginning to take shape.
Following the passing of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the government has until the start of 2019 to define ‘environmental law’ and make provision for the establishment of a public authority for the protection of the environment. So, we shall soon have some new terminology and broad intent to aspire to, but there is a notable absence of detail in respect of how the aspirations set out
in the government’s 25-year Environment Plan will be delivered. The emerging framework
suggests a simple ‘governance bridge’, and it remains to be seen whether
the proposed ‘new, world-leading, statutory and independent environmental watchdog’ is given teeth.
Business as usual? Never! The economic uncertainties of Brexit on the development
sector have profound implications for 2019/20 – and
the final drafting of the revised NPPF has only strengthened the
cause of localism. In this issue we focus on landscape matters – at the sharp
end of subjective decision making and public perception. The EDP team is braced for an exciting year
ahead and a changing setting that will require constant re-evaluation of the planning context and economic pressures.
welcometo the january 2019 editionof the edp newsletter
Ben Rosedale Director
Our new office address:Second FloorDarwin House
67 Rodney RoadCheltenhamGL50 1HX
our new office opensin cheltenham spa!
HEADOF OFFICE
Fiona McKenzieDirector
01242 903110
news le t te r
The issue of energy generation and production is never far from our front pages; the ongoing
debate around renewable versus other sources of energy is seemingly continuous fodder for news commentators. Having had a wealth of experience in the energy sector, EDP has seen first-hand how profoundly the changes in national policy have affected this market - and our technical inputs have had to move with the times accordingly.
Having once been onshore wind, EDP is now involved in supporting planning applications for several hydrocarbon (oil and gas) development sites which present particular challenges in terms of landscape and visual impact assessment (LVIA).
Firstly, and most obviously, drilling rigs can extend to over 35m in height, making them potentially visible across a wide area and rendering visual screening practically impossible. With drilling operations normally undertaken for limited periods of time, mitigation planting also becomes impractical as trees are not able to mature within suitable timescales.
There are potential impacts too on the sensory character and tranquillity of the landscape through related activities and noise associated with drilling, and the introduction of HGV movements, whilst other parts of the development (e.g. areas of hardstanding and access roads) clearly affect rural character. The fact that drilling operations may need to be undertaken over 24-hour periods means that introducing lighting into ‘dark skies’ as mapped by Natural England is another key constraint.
These impacts can be a real challenge in terms of the location of such sites. They tend to be found in more remote areas of the country, often close to highly sensitive and attractive designated landscapes, such as AONBs, whose scenic quality carries ‘great weight’ in decision taking.
For all these reasons, and as was the case with onshore wind, landscape matters can be determinative. Mitigation is most effective through the prevention or avoidance of effects from the outset – by the careful consideration of location/siting, including sites where advantage
can be taken of natural screening features such as woodland and landform. This means demonstrating careful appraisal of siting options, a detailed programme of secondary mitigation and a thorough appreciation of the susceptibility/sensitivity of the receiving landscape if a robust case is to be made for such schemes.
This newsletter focusses on the EDP landscape team, some of EDP’s recent extra curricular activities, and gives an overview of a number of the more interesting and high-
profile projects we have been involved with over recent months.
After our ecology team, the landscape team is EDP’s largest technical team, comprising 24 experts split across our four offices. With a mixture of designers and landscape planners, across all levels of experience and geographic locations, we can turn our skills to pretty much everything from small planting design projects, to complex Section 78 planning appeals.
We actively encourage our more junior team members to get involved in the full range of projects and believe this exposure to the challenges of the role is by far the best way of instilling the required approach and commercial awareness that our clients have come to expect.
With five of EDP’s Directors (including one of our founding Directors, Duncan McInerney) being chartered landscape architects and key members of the team, our strength in depth is fundamental to helping us achieve this growth of the wider team.
It is this strength in depth, and ability to dovetail with our colleagues in the heritage, ecology, arboriculture and masterplanning teams, that also sets us apart from our competitors. Our environmentally led approach underpins good design and ensures our clients’ interests are pursued with an overriding view to the environmental credentials and requirements of development.
Whilst just a small snapshot, I hope this newsletter provides an insight into who we are and what we do and encourages you to pick up the phone for help with that next difficult (or easy) landscape project!
north witney comes of age
gardenvillages
Charles MylchreestDirector
Cirencester Office01285 740427
ARTICLE BY:
Mike JoffeAssociate
Cirencester Office01285 740427
ARTICLE BY:
Duncan McInerneyDirector
Cirencester Office01285 740427
ARTICLE BY:
Mike JoffeAssociate
Cirencester Office01285 740427
ARTICLE BY:
introduction to edp landscape
Will GardnerPrincipal
Landscape [email protected]
Cheltenham Office01242 903110
ARTICLE BY:
Members of EDP’s team have been involved in a number of past projects for Premiership clubs including Arsenal, Spurs and QPR. Our latest and most exciting involvement is
with recent Premier League Champions, Leicester City Football Club (LCFC). LCFC’s current first team and academy training ground lies in a restricted residential area and provides very limited pitch and indoor facilities on land which is only partially owned by the Club.
EDP is proud to have been a core member of LCFC’s design team, working intensively throughout 2018 with the Club and renowned stadium architects KSS, to design a new state-of-the-art, bespoke facility among the finest anywhere. Set on the site of an existing golf course in Seagrave, the new site offers incredible scope, but required EDP’s full suite of environmental assessments – landscape, heritage, arboriculture and ecology – and EDP has provided landscape design services as well.
In addition to the first team and academy training grounds, the scheme includes a unique Sports Turf Academy which will provide on-site experience and training for students interested in pursuing careers in sports surface design and maintenance. The scheme involves:
• The creation of 28 new wildlife and attenuation ponds;• Planting around 38,000 new trees to enhance
10ha of retained woodland and create 5.5ha of new broadleaved plantation;
• The enhancement of a retained Local Wildlife Site;
• The vast majority of the site will continue as grassed areas and tree cover. Buildings comprise just 2% of the masterplan, located in the centre of the site. The western part of the site, nearest to Seagrave, remains virtually unaltered; and
• The realignment and enhancement of an existing public right of way that runs through the site, to provide an improved public walking, horse riding and cycling experience.
We are delighted that the planning application, submitted in July 2018, recently received approval by Charnwood Borough Council. The team is currently working on translocating great crested newts, discharging conditions and finalising design matters with an expected a completion date of June 2020.
This was a fantastic project to be involved in and demonstrates the effectiveness of our wider team in dovetailing the environmental requirements across our disciplines in a comprehensive design.
thechallenge of hydrocarbon
new training ground for leicester city football club
EDP entered its 13th year of trading in 2018. Even so, some of our ongoing projects date back to our early years, emphasising the need for perseverance in the changing
fortunes of the planning context.
One such example is land at North Witney, a major strategic housing site that has waited its turn to be favoured as the town has expanded. This was always going to be a ‘slow burner’ – an approach which suited the site, given the technical complexities, the survey effort and a town with severe highways infrastructure challenges. The site needed a scheme that responded to design/capacity factors including complex topography, proximity to two conservation areas, listed buildings, alleged coalescence issues and potential flooding/water quality effects on the River Windrush.
EDP has remained a staunch advocate of North Witney and has been part of the core team throughout. We have undertaken capacity studies to inform early concept masterplans and provided inputs to Vision Documents to support representations. We undertook early ecological consultation to secure a robust ecological evidence base and reached agreement with the Council’s heritage officer in respect of limiting potential impact to the conservation area; he recognised that any harm would be outweighed by the benefits of reducing traffic through it.
EDP represented the client consortium at West Oxfordshire’s Local Plan EiP in 2017, providing evidence in respect of the site’s capacity in landscape and visual terms. We undertook a detailed review of the Council’s recommendations for 750-800 units, demonstrating instead that a capacity of 1,100 units was achievable.
The West Oxfordshire Local Plan (WOLP) was formally adopted in September 2018 along with Policy WIT2 for North Witney. The Inspector’s remarks support EDP’s landscape evidence, stating:
“The site is located in an area of acknowledged high landscape sensitivity and concern has been raised at the intention to provide for around 1,400 dwellings … the loss of countryside associated with the North Witney development would result in some harm to the landscape. However, it does not mean that unacceptable harm to the landscape would inevitably be caused if more than the estimated 750–800 dwellings are accommodated on the site.”
EDP has been retained as environmental consultants and masterplanners, to assist in delivering the proposals as part of a forthcoming application.
The ‘Garden City Movement’, of self-contained communities surrounded by Green Belts was
the brainchild of Sir Ebenezer Howard well over a century ago in 1898. Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City (among others) are part of that legacy. Later, under the New Towns Act of 1946, came many more ‘new towns’ in three waves, to relocate populations in poor or bombed out areas after the Second World War.
Since then, bold, ambitious new settlement planning has proved very challenging, even though the concept remains strong. The Labour Government tried with its ‘Eco-towns’ in 2007 (initially over fifty eco-town bids were suggested, but by 2012, only four sites have been approved, with none completed) and in January 2017 a new initiative of fourteen Garden Villages and three Garden Towns was announced by the Conservative Government.
Smaller and more palatable garden villages of 1,500-10,000 homes are becoming a regular and very exciting feature of our project workload. Many are planned and those already in the public domain in which we are involved include:
• North Uttlesford Garden Community, which is a new settlement of 5,000 new homes in Essex promoted by Grosvenor;
• Our involvement for the Lugano Group with Dissington Garden Village, was supported by £75,000 of grant aid from the then HCA and would be ‘all systems go’ if the new Conservative Northumberland County Council was not trying to undo its predecessor’s March 2017 Resolution to Grant;
• Sharpness Garden Village in the Cotswolds, led by the GreenSquare Group is Stroud District Council’s answer to it next Plan period housing need; and
• Others in Devon and Leicestershire which are at an early stage of planning.
We are delighted to be part of this movement and sincerely hope it will continue. With such a structural housing deficit, it must be time for a new generation of planned settlements to alleviate the pressure of piecemeal expansion of our market towns and villages.
our newest landscape recruit gives his perspective
Oliver Wheeler joined EDP as a Graduate Landscape Architect in May. Here’s an insight into his first six months at EDP:
“Having been at EDP nearly six months, I now feel fully embedded in some exciting projects and into the daily routines within the Cirencester office. It’s been a steep learning curve but I have been lucky enough to be involved with an interesting range of projects from day one.
During the first two months, I was also completing an MA in Landscape Architecture at the University of Gloucestershire – this meant juggling workloads from both sides which posed a challenge at times! Despite this, the exposure to such diverse projects at EDP meant I had the extra tools to draw upon when planning and writing my thesis, which was really useful.
The multi-disciplinary nature of EDP’s work also means I find myself regularly engaging with projects alongside specialists
from a range of different backgrounds. This has provided me with a much broader knowledge across ecology, heritage and arboricultural matters, and has proved to be invaluable throughout both my MA and life in professional practice to date.
When not absorbed in project work, EDP provides a multitude of opportunities to get involved in a range of informative CPD sessions, both at lunch times and during training days, as well as providing encouragement and support to progress with professional chartership qualifications – something that will be pursued in the near future.
Overall, I’ve found EDP to be a friendly and exciting place to work which provides professional challenges across many different types of projects. As someone who has recently graduated with an MA, I was looking for a rewarding and fast-paced consultancy in which to work. EDP has most certainly offered this, and I look forward to what else is to come…”.
At the time of publishing, the data held within this newsletter was deemed relevant and correct.
key con tac ts
Head of office: Tom Wigglesworth Tithe Barn, Barnsley Park Estate, Barnsley,
Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 5EG
T 01285 740427
cirencester
Head of office: Dai Lewis First Floor, The Bonded Warehouse,
Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff CF10 4HF
T 02921 671900
cardiff
Head of office: Fiona McKenzie Second Floor, Darwin House,
67 Rodney Road, Cheltenham GL50 1HX
T 01242 903110
cheltenham
Head of office: Gerard Dore The Stables, Sansaw Business Park,
Hadnall, Shrewsbury SY4 4AS
T 01939 211190
shrewsbury
www.edp-uk .co .uk in fo@edp-uk .co .uk fo l l ow us
new rec ru i t s
Callie RoseAdministratorCallie has 17 years’ experience, working for property management agents, an animal welfare charity and in the manufacturing industry.
Faye DickmanReceptionist, CardiffFaye has many years of experience working within client care roles, which she transfers into supporting her colleagues at EDP.
Jamie Glossop BSc (Hons), MCIEEMSenior EcologistJamie has over 10 years’ experience, working on a number of nationally significant infrastructure projects and large residential schemes.
Lauryn BlairReceptionist, CirencesterLauryn comes to EDP with a wealth of experience in customer service, making her a very efficient and friendly receptionist.
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Caren Ryder-CookPACaren has over 20 years’ experience in the oil industry, renewable energy sector and grants and trusts for a cancer charity.
Gareth Howell BA (Hons), Dip Arch, RIBAAssociate DirectorGareth leads the Masterplanning Team in Cardiff, and brings over 20 years of experience as an Architect and Urban Designer.
Joe Hall BA (Hons), PG DipLAGraduate Landscape ArchitectAfter Joe completed his postgraduate study in June 2018, he joined EDP full-time and now supports the Landscape Planning and Design team.
Lillie Bennetto ACIfAArchaeology and Heritage ConsultantLillie has three years’ consultancy experience, and has previously worked as an archaeological finds processor and post excavation assistant.
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Carmen Peinado Architectural TechnologyUrban DesignerCarmen joined the new masterplanning team in Cardiff in July. This follows two years of experience working in an architectural practice.
Hannah FenwickAdministratorHannah has been employed in customer-facing environments for many years, ranging from property administration to PA roles.
Josephine Lewis MSc, BSc (Hons), ACIEEMConsultant EcologistJosephine joined EDP in March 2018 with four years’ consultancy experience, focusing on protected species with a particular interest in bats.
Nick Masters MSc, BSc (Hons), MCIEEMPrincipal EcologistNick has 13 years’ experience working as a consultant ecologist across a range of sites, from small ones to some of the biggest in the UK.
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Claire Lofthouse BSc (Hons)Assistant Consultant EcologistClaire has four years’ experience, working on a range of protected species surveys. She holds great crested newt and hazel dormouse licences.
Hannah Parkin Assoc CIPDHR ManagerHaving worked in both commercial and educational HR, Hannah’s experience is giving the growing team at EDP a full HR Support Service.
Josie Goodinson BSc (Hons)Masterplanning TechnicianWith previous experience in spatial analytics, Josie now supports the masterplanning team providing technical and graphical assistance.
Oliver Wheeler BSc, MAGraduate Landscape ArchitectOliver is a landscape architect providing support within EDP to both the Landscape Design and Landscape Planning teams.
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Claire VowlesFinance AssistantClaire joined the Finance Team in April 2018. She is qualified to AAT Level 4 and has experience in payroll and bookkeeping.
Holly AbingerOperations AssistantHolly’s role is to support the HR and Operations Director with the daily runnings of IT, Health and Safety and Quality.
Lauren West BSc (Hons), MSc, MCIEEMSenior Ecologist Lauren joined EDP as a Senior Ecologist in April 2018 and has several years’ experience in ecological consultancy.
Rob Crussell TechArborAArboricultural ConsultantRob joined EDP’s consultancy team in April 2018, from a contracting background in the private arboriculture sector.
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extra-curricular activities Although very busy over the last 12 months diligently helping our clients, the EDP team have also found time to pursue all manner of voluntary work, charitable endeavours, personal challenges and fund-raising activities …
• Vanessa Powell raised over £6,000 doing the 24 hour Three Peaks Challenge for the charity Mind.
• Michelle Jones undertook a 10,000ft charity sky dive and raised £350 for the Army Benevolent Fund The Soldiers’ Charity.
• Delyth Robinson was part of a team that cycled over 400 miles from Welshpool, mid-Wales to Paris! The journey spanned four gruelling days and included 4,000m of climbing, not to mention the wind, rain, and numerous punctures! They raised over £10,000 which was split between Sport Relief and Blossom’s Legacy.
• Vicky Nall was one of three outdoor swimmers taking on the challenge of swimming a mile every hour for 24 hours in Loch Venachar in Scotland (without wet-suits!) in aid of Antibiotic Research.
• Sarah Smith was part of the Best for Ben team that raised £106,000, and successfully applied to DIY SOS to bring Ben home!
• Claire Vowles, Martina Vincent, Libby Oakley, Jess Williams, Christina Hinder, Emma Read, Laura Lloyd, Marie Clucas, Emma Slater, Jenny Spelling, Michelle Jones, Zoe Haysted and Vicky Nall entered the Race for Life 2018 and raised over £1,000 for Cancer Research.
• Emma Baker, Tom Cleeton and Matt Evans helped coordinate a massive scout camping event with 2,000 scouts this summer in Cirencester Park.
• Callie Rose volunteers for the Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) at
Letcombe Regis once a month. She is on the committee for arranging the annual Discovery Day and helps out on the day itself building bird boxes and leading walks.
• Megan McLauchlin helps the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire Bat Groups, checking bat boxes in Collin Wood Park, Lydiard Park, Stanton Park and Green Wood Lane, and also bat trapping in Green Wood Lane.
• Rob Forbes has broken numerous records with his running. In particular, he broke the record for running a marathon while pushing a double buggy (complete with children), and still came in second overall! He also ran the 102 mile Cotswold Way in 17.5 hours.
• Emily Williams dives regularly across the country for marine research, recording significant marine diversity across our shores as part of a large voluntary crew for Seasearch.
• Jo Moody is a regular (muddy) volunteer for the Cotswold Canals Trust, involved in the physical restoration of the canal. She also works with the Stroudwater Navigation Archives Charity, transcribing the historic archives of the Stroudwater Navigation, to make the information accessible digitally.
• Claire Millington is a British Trust for Ornithology volunteer doing summertime breeding bird surveys and winter wetland bird surveys.
