Stoneygate December 2010 Newsletter Conservation Area ... · Conservation Area Society (SCAS) Newsletter ... He was a generous man who gave time and money to local charities and made

SCAS Newsletter Contact: Nick Knight [[email protected]] with your ideas Page 1

Conservation Area Society (SCAS)

Newsletter December 2010 Stoneygate

Brookfield – one of the grandest houses on London Road and a Stoneygate landmark for nearly a

century and a half. Occupying a huge site that extends to the corner of Holmfield Road, this half-timbered mansion, was once the home of Thomas Fielding Johnson, one of Leicester‟s most successful Victorian industrialists and best-known philanthropists.

SCAS Chair: David Oldershaw SCAS Website: www.stoneygateconservation.org

Fielding Johnson bought Brookfield and its four acres of grounds in 1869 from Alfred Burgess, another wealthy worsted spinner who owned a large factory in Bath Lane. The house dated from 1846, but seven years after moving in, Thomas had it re-modelled and enlarged by the local firm of Goddard and Paget. The new design was striking for its time in that it was the first domestic building in Leicester to use half-timbering on its upper storeys. There are many magnificent interior features, not least a spec-tacular full-height staircase lit by a spectacular lantern roof window. As was customary in those days, an army of servants including six maids, six gardeners, a coachman and two grooms was employed to maintain the house and garden.

On the death of his father in 1921, Brookfield was inherited by Thomas junior who, four years later, presented the house and grounds to the newly restored Diocese of Leicester as a residence for the new Bishop, the Right Reverend Cyril Bardsley.

Until recently it was the centrepiece of the Charles Frears School of Nursing and Midwifery campus of De Montfort University but news that the School will be moving into the University‟s growing city-centre site inevitably raises questions about its future.

Brookfield‟s owner, Thomas Fielding Johnson was the head of a successful firm of worsted spinners which, during the First World War, supplied more yarn to the Government for Army purposes than any other company in England.


He was a generous man who gave time and money to local charities and public institutions throughout his life. His greatest gift to Leicester was made in 1919, when at the age of 91 he bought the former County Lunatic Asylum, a grand Georgian-style edifice off Victoria Road, (now University Road) for the sum of £40,000 and presented the building and its 37 acres of land to the city for the establishment of a new University College - later Leicester University. The gift also provided new buildings for the Wyggeston Boys‟ and Girls‟ Grammar Schools. Fielding Johnson was presented with the Freedom of the City of Leicester in recognition of his generosity and public service.

While not coming from very humble beginnings, nor was he part of a privileged elite. Born in 1828 in Langwith, Nottinghamshire, Thomas was one of the eight children of schoolmaster, John Johnson. He was sent to Leicester to study at the Nonconformist Preparatory School on New Walk (now the Museum & Art Gallery) and moved into the home of his uncle and aunt, Joseph and Martha Fielding, who owned a worsted spinning mill in West Bond Street. Joseph and Martha had no children of their own and adopted Thomas when he was twelve, from which time he was known as Thomas Fielding Johnson.

Thomas started work in his uncle‟s business and by the age of twenty-four, he was running it. He was an astute businessman, expanding the company into further premises in Ross Walk, Leicester (Abbey Mills) and Nuneaton (Anker Mill). He also took great interest in local affairs, serving on the Town Council for almost a decade and as a Justice of the Peace for Leicester and the county. He was a prison visitor, a long-standing Trustee of Wyggeston‟s Hospital and for thirty-one years a member of the Board of Governors of the Leicester Royal Infirmary (the Infirmary‟s Fielding Johnson Ward commemorates this association).

Marriage confirmed Thomas‟s place in Leicester's emerging professional middle-class. His first wife Julia, was the daughter of Samuel Stone, Town Clerk to the New Corporation of Leicester (equivalent to the Chief Executive in the modern City Council) for nearly forty years and a partner in the legal firm of Stone, Paget and Billson. Sadly, Thomas and Julia‟s marriage lasted only five years; ended by her premature death in 1859. They had a son, Thomas Junior whose younger brother Joseph also died aged only six months. Four years later Thomas married Agnes Paget, whose father was also a partner at Stone, Paget and Billson. The Pagets were a well-known family of local landowners and bankers whose younger members were prominent in Leicester‟s professional life. Thomas and Agnes had two children, Mabel and Thomas who died of measles at the age of twelve while a boarder at Rugby School.

Mrs Fielding Johnson was also active in public life. She was the first woman member of the board of the Royal Infirmary, a nursing superintendent in the early days of district nurses and a keen supporter of

the Leicester and Leicestershire Maternity Hospital. An interest in education and domestic science led to her appointment as a manager of Wyggeston Girls‟ School. On top of all this, Mrs Fielding Johnson was a writer of some repute, producing the much-admired "Glimpses of Ancient Leicester” in 1891. Both she and her husband were Liberal in politics and Nonconformist in religion, being stalwart members of the Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel in Bond Street.

Neil Crutchley


“Places of Worship, Welcome and Wonder” Our event for this year‟s `Heritage Open Day‟ event on Saturday September 11th, aimed to raise awareness of the richness and variety of Stoneygate‟s different places of worship. The response from local faith groups was very positive and ten took part. Visitors started the day by picking up a free map/guide at the Friends‟ Meeting House and were able to have a chat with the SCAS committee before setting off to visit places that interested them. The welcome and hospitality extended to over 60 visitors was outstanding. Guides provided a tour of the buildings and answered questions on everything from church history and architecture to the tenets of their faith. Everybody I spoke to really enjoyed looking around these remarkable places that they knew well from the outside but had never been into. They also enjoyed talking to the people who use them. We had to apologise for a couple of hitches - a misunderstanding over opening times and a mysteriously absent guide at one venue - but we hope that the people who reported these to us otherwise enjoyed their day. Our grateful thanks go to; The Jesus Fellowship House, Springfield Road, Clarendon Park Congregational Church, the Church of St James the Greater, Stoneygate Baptist Church, the Church of St John the Baptist, the Chinese Christian Church, the Geeta Bhavan, the Christchurch and the Church of St Thomas More. The Jewish Progressive Congregation would have liked to take part but were, unfortunately, unable to do so because Saturday is their day of worship. One of the people who introduced themselves to the SCAS committee for the first time was Castle Ward

councillor, Lynn Senior. We hope that Lynn had an enjoyable day and that we‟ll see her again.

David Oldershaw

A Return Visit to South Lodge

January will see the South Lodge Care Home on London Road celebrating its first birthday. Members may recall the front-page article of our February 2010 issue which described the house‟s connection to Leicester luminary, Arthur Wakerley and its sensitive transformation by Signature Senior Lifestyles plc from a run-down ex-City Council Day Centre into a modern residential care and nursing facility. In 2008 we told Signature‟s then Chief Executive, David Driscoll that we hoped we would be able to interest some of South Lodge‟s future residents in the history of their new home so we were delighted when, earlier this year, we were invited to give a talk to residents about the house‟s origins and the Stoneygate Conservation Area generally. David Oldershaw and Nita Foale‟s efforts were well received and in August, we were equally pleased to be asked back. This time Neil Crutchley treated residents to his illustrated talk on the `Lost Houses of Stoneygate‟ which members enjoyed at the AGM. David and Neil were given a warm reception by the 15 residents who attended the event and their memories of people and places led to a great deal of informal conversation over the splendid tea and cakes that followed.South Lodge offers a new model of housing and care for older people and the restoration of the original Victorian façade and sensitive development of the site is well worth seeing. We would warmly recommend a visit. David Oldershaw

LEICESTER CIVIC SOCIETY

Monday 27th December 2010 at 1 0 . 3 0 am from the Guildhall

Victorian Leicester a t Chr i s tmas t ime or The Architect , The Eccentric and the Travel Agent A Guided Walk by Stuart Bailey

Cost: £3.00 Advance Booking Essential. Phone: 01509-520904


September‟s decision by a planning inspector to allow the owners‟ appeal against City Council enforcement action at a semi-detached historical property in Toller Road has left us scratching our heads – but it has established an important principle for the future.

The property featured in the Summer 2009 and May 2010 Newsletters. In 2009 it was refurbished for use as a residential care home and a two-storey side extension added. No permission was sought to alter the original building but the owners nonetheless replaced its front timber windows with unsympathetic aluminium-framed units which were also fitted to the new extension. After SCAS drew the Enforcement Team‟s attention to the changes the owners reinstated timber windows to the front of the original house but they refused to fit them to the extension.

The Enforcement Team‟s case was based on the assertion that the windows fitted to the extension did not conform to the drawings the owner had submitted and that, as a result, he had breached a condition attached to the planning consent.

You can judge for yourself whether the windows match the drawings.

The Inspector thought they did. He said that `while the windows in the front elevation do not fully match those in the existing building in terms of materials and some are non-opening, their appearance is substantially the same and, in my opinion, in accordance with the submitted plans‟. He added that, in any case `there was no requirement in Condition 3, or in any other condition, for the windows in the extension to match those in the existing building in either material or opening arrangements. The lesson to be learned? That – as we said in our Summer 2009 Newsletter – where an owner is seeking to refurbish a historical property, case officers need to be proactive and to find out from the owner exactly what is planned before work starts. That where important features such as windows are concerned, they cannot rely on the drawings to express the owners intentions. And that they need to add clear and stringent conditions to planning permissions to avoid doubt. A belt-and-braces approach is needed. Leaving matters to chance and hoping that a planning inspector will save the day later clearly doesn‟t work. Nick Knight

Lessons to be learned from Toller Road Appeal Setback

Festive Fun at the Guildhall Sunday 19th December 11.00am – 4.00pm at the Guildhall Come along and meet Santa and his helper in the magical surroundings of the Guildhall. Lots of festive fun making Christmas fairies, Santa hats and lots more. Join in singing festive carols around the roaring fire and enjoy a hot drink and mince pies. Trails and face painting throughout the day. £2.00 for activities.


Poor "Touchwood"

with her poignant name

and timber frame is open

to the sky and passing fauna, waiting

for the nevercoming kiss.

The fall comes.

Prospects worsen.

Where are her retainers?

Have they fled, or

are they spellbound?

Will they never come,

save her from shame?

-o-o-o-o-o-o- This unusual house in the Conservation Area, which also has the benefit of a garden, has been standing apparently empty since March 2009, when it acquired new private owners. It is a cause for concern.

Touchwood—10 Albert Road, Stoneygate

Springfield Road Residents Act Together The August issue of this newsletter featured

a pair of three-storey semi-detached houses,

33 and 35 Springfield Road, whose original

timber windows were being replaced –

without permission- by modern uPVC units.

The article highlighted the conflicts that can

arise over converted historical conservation

area properties owned by non-resident

landlords but it also had an unexpected side-

effect. In early October it encouraged SCAS

member and Springfield Road resident

Heather Wardlaw and near-neighbour, Liam

McCarthy to take action.

Liam reports:

„In what Nita Foale of SCAS described as a “benchmark moment”, residents of Springfield Road, the

owner of Nos33 and 35, Mr Singh, local Castle Ward councillor, Neil Clayton, local Castle Ward beat

officer PC Emma Jayne and members of the SCAS committee came together at Heather‟s home to try to

resolve a number of issues relating to the properties and of broader neighbourhood concern.

The results were very encouraging. Mr Singh, who also owns the neighbouring property, No37, has

consulted with the Council Planning Department and Conservation Team and reports that the new

uPVC windows at No33 are to be replaced by new timber windows to match the originals, including the

delicate leaded features. New timber windows to the original design will also be added to Nos35 and 37.

He also confirmed that as owner and landlord of the properties he will take action up to and including

eviction against tenants who are behaving in an anti-social manner.

Much is being talked about `The Big Society‟ but this is people-power in practice. As a result of this

constructive meeting three delightful properties will once again enhance the street scene, rather than

looking like a dilapidated left-over relic from the 1970‟s past of Springfield Road as `bedsit-land‟ and

residents, owner and tenants have the basis for a positive future relationship‟.

Congratulations to all concerned.

Caroline Cooke


Planning Matters September to November 2010

33-35 Springfield Road

The Conservation Area is well-known for its mature trees and gardens but, as the Character Appraisal notes, there is very little remaining public green space and the spinney on the northern corner of Ratcliffe and

London Roads is a rarity. In 2007 a planning inspector described it as `high amenity urban woodland‟ and a `natural wilderness within the urban environment‟ and went on to say that it `has considerable amenity value in terms of its contribution to the local landscape along a busy road, and as a wildlife and conservation

feature in the urban environment‟. In the February issue of the Newsletter we said that we thought the spinney was `well-suited‟ to accommodate the owner‟s plans for an unusual `eco-house‟ but that we had misgivings about his observance of Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs). The original application was withdrawn but has now been resubmitted and in the meantime we have had the chance to examine the proposals and the site‟s planning history in greater detail. We were shocked to find that the breaches of control relating to the site‟s protected trees were much more serious than we had first thought. We also believe our assumption that building on the site was inevitable may well have been wrong. In

light of both of these, we have revised our view on the application. The continued existence of the spinney as the inspector described it simply cannot, we believe, be reconciled with the building of a substantial family home on the site. It is all too easy to view small areas of urban green space as nothing more than building land-in-waiting and we are embarrassed to admit that we fell into the trap. Large sites occupied by redundant or run-down buildings present serious challenges at the best of times and in the present uncertain economic climate the withdrawal of the proposals to build a residential complex for Leicester University students on the ex-Sandicliffe Garage site at 230 London Road might just be seen as a missed opportunity. It is a missed opportunity - but there will be others and we are reassured that planners seem to be listening to the Council‟s Conservation Advisory Panel. They appreciate, as we do, the positive contribution that the University and its students make to our part of the City but, like us, they recognise that this is a particularly difficult and sensitive site and that the proposals didn‟t do it justice. It is perhaps ironic that, a mile or so to the south-west and also on the edge of the conservation area, a residential complex for university students sits empty. Even more so that it was, in its time, seen as an example of world-class campus architecture. Sir Leslie Martin‟s designs for College Hall on Knighton Road won numerous awards in the late 1950s and its Grade II listing is an acknowledgement of its quality. How sad that it has been put up for sale by its owners, despite their having gained planning permission to transform it into an ambitious development of apartments and townhouses. Following withdrawal of the controversial proposals to change the use of the 1950s bungalow at 48 Knighton Drive into a day nursery, we reported approvingly that permission had been granted to raise the roof and make various changes that would enlarge the property into a family home. We were, therefore, somewhat stunned when over the course of a week in early October it was demolished. The unprecedented amount of building activity in the Elms Road/Knighton Drive area in recent years has been unsettling for many and, given that the demolition of a conservation area property without consent is, technically, a serious offence, it is not surprising that nearby neighbours were angry. Such an apparently flagrant act suggests to residents that they are being excluded from the decision-making process and that their neighbourhood is being reshaped by others. SCAS photographed and reported the demolition and we are pleased that planners were quick to respond. A retrospective application has now been made and it has been accompanied by a new application for a 2-storey, 4-bed family home, with exterior features such as front and side bays with large windows that mirror the design of neighbouring Victorian properties. SCAS photographed and reported the demolition and we are pleased that planners were quick to respond. A retrospective application has now been made and it has been accompanied by a new application for a 2-storey, 4-bed family home, with exterior features such as front and side bays with large windows that mirror the design of neighbouring Victorian properties.


The proposed new house will occupy the same `footprint‟ as the bungalow and will be no nearer either Elms Road or Knighton Drive than neighbouring properties but will be much more visible. We see nothing wrong with the principle of a 2-storey house but, in view of its prominent position, we are anxious about certain design features which seem to reflect a similar modern property in Knighton Drive, rather than neighbouring Victorian properties. In an area where red-brick predominates, the choice of cream brickwork with blue string courses in particular, is problemmatic. We welcome the plan to retain the boundary railings and hedge as a screen but we believe plans to cover the garden with hard landscaping would be a serious mistake.

The government‟s national planning guidelines place the Council under an obligation to `preserve and enhance‟ the Conservation Area but Stoneygate residents continue to take the initiative; enhancing it themselves by making small, attractive changes and additions to their properties. After reporting the appearance of some particularly smart timber garage doors in the last Newsletter, we are delighted to see from the `planning applications granted‟ list that we can soon expect some attractive sash-style timber windows to replace functional 1970s metal units in Portland Road and an elegant new front gate, piers and railings in Knighton Drive that are modelled on original Victorian designs for the property. The Council‟s Conservation Team have obviously been busy and we applaud them for their efforts.

Unfortunately, not all additions enhance the area. The developer‟s design for the new housing developments on the stretch of Elms Road south of Ratcliffe Road, meant that some houses in Elm Tree

Gardens and at Elm Tree Court are positioned with their `backs‟ towards Elms and Shirley Roads. Their black perimeter railings which form a unifying boundary along the length of the development and round into Shirley Road are both elegant and appropriate to the area but they do not provide any form of screening. As a result, back gardens are in plain view of passers-by. We appreciate the frustration this may cause but erecting a 2 metre high screen of fibre matting without permission, as one resident has done, is not the answer. Rather than `turning their backs‟ on the historical properties in the area, residents of the new properties might look to them for guidance. Our predecessors knew that the best way to obtain privacy for yourself without dimishing the visual amenity of others is to use either shrubbery or hedging.

As anyone old enough to remember galvanized steel dustbins will tell you, wheelie bins are a very practical and efficient means of disposing of household waste but permanently parked at the front of a property, they not make an attractive addition to the streetscene and do nothing to enhance the appearance of a converted Victorian or Edwardian family home. The refusal of retrospective permission for a bin store at the front of a care home in Central Avenue illustrates the challenges owners face in trying to minimize the negative visual impact of their bins. What to do when outright removal is impossible? Standing bins neatly in line like soldiers on parade shows willing but in our view, concealment is the only answer. The trick is to conceal bins behind something that is more – rather than less - attractive than the bins themselves. An increasing number of landlords, care home and nursing home owners have risen to the challenge and one or two particularly imaginative residents have even disguised bins as shrubbery or brickwork using cleverly-applied sticky-backed vinyl. After all, it works for Formula One racing cars. Why not wheelie bins? Nick Knight


I/we wish to renew membership of SCAS and enclose a cheque for £5 (per household per year) as from April 1st 2010

Name:……………………………………………………………………………………………..............

Address:.………………………………………………………….................Postcode…………………

Contact Phone: ......................................................... email.........................................................................

Send to: Jenny Westmoreland, Membership Secretary, 358 Victoria Park Road, LE2 1XF Phone: 2705828 email: [email protected]

SCAS Reaches Out

Committee News

Last year we asked ourselves the searching question; `How many people who live or work in the Conservation Area are actually aware of the Society‟s existence?‟Not a sudden attack of pessimism and self-doubt– it was just that several people attending our events told us that they were learning about us for the first time and we have realised that the resident population is changing more frequently than it used to. In today‟s Stoneygate, the word clearly needs a bit of assistance to get around. We set Caroline and Colin Cook onto the job and thanks to their initial ideas, Matt Matthew‟s photography and Nita Foale‟s professional design and layout experience, we now have an attractive new promotional leaflet that will, we hope, raise awareness of the Society and what we do. Earlier this month, we delivered it to every non-member household affected by Article 4 in the Conservation Area. In the New Year, we will be delivering selectively to apartments, local businesses and community groups and places further afield. Please let us know if you would like to help.

Other News

A couple of things were missing from the description of changes to the SCAS committee in the August Newsletter. We thought that David Oldershaw and Matt Matthew, as the Society‟s two most experienced and longest-serving committee members, would share the role of Chairman but after leading the line for the last five years, Matt has decided to stand down. He will now concentrate on planning matters and the SCAS website. In societies like ours it is common for the Chairmanship to move `by rotation‟ between committee members after a fixed period of, say, two or three years. We have never formally adopted this practice but we are considering doing so. The second change is that Caroline Cook will also now - officially - be helping with planning matters. Caroline has been contributing independently on public amenity and planning issues for years and after her recent work to help reverse breaches of conservation area rules in East Stoneygate, she will, as they say, fit right in.

We were sad to hear of the passing of Dr Jindrich Veverka. Born in what used to be Czechoslovakia, Jindrich was a long-time conservation area resident, a former Chairman of SCAS and a member of the committee from 1983 to 1990. He will, perhaps, be most widely remembered for helping arrange an array of joint coach trips with the Leicester Civic Society, whose committee he also belonged to between 1975 and 1990. Jindrich actively promoted links with other like-minded groups, both locally and nationally and visits to places of cultural interest such as Stamford, Ely and Salisbury were often accompanied by light refreshments and a guided tour of the sites, courtesy of the many local contacts he had made.

SCAS Committee wishes all its Newsletter readers

a Very Happy Christmas and a enjoyable New Year

Documents

Stoneygate December 2010 Newsletter Conservation Area ... · Conservation Area Society (SCAS) Newsletter ... He was a generous man who gave time and money to local charities and made