Devon Gardens Trust
John Clark DiplTP(Dist) Conservation Officer 38 Monmouth St Topsham Exeter EX3 0AJ
Planning Department
Teignbridge District Council
Forde House
Brunel Road
Newton Abbot
TQ12 4XX
Your ref: 12/02049/FUL
Our ref : 12/0296
23 July 2012
Dear Sirs
Solar panel array, Ugbrooke House
Thank you for consulting The Garden History Society on the above application which affectsUgbrooke House, an historic designed landscape of exceptional historic interest which is included by English Heritage on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest at Grade II*.
The DevonGardens Trust is now working in partnership with The Garden History Society in responding to consultations. This new working structure for allows us to utilise our detailed local knowledge, together with the support of The Garden History Society, to ensure that your Council, as the local planning authority, receives authoritative specialist advice on planning and conservation matters regarding applications affecting historic parks and gardens and their setting.
The Devon Gardens Trust, formed in 1987, is one of the earliest county gardens trusts to have been established and has considerable knowledge and experience of advising on developments affecting historic designed landscapes. One of its roles is to help safeguard the heritage of historic landscapes within the County of Devonby advising local planning authorities on statutory and non-statutory parks, gardens and designed landscapes of importance and ensuring that planning policies provide adequate protection for these sites.
Whilst the Devon Gardens Trust supports the principle of renewable energy, we have to consider the impact of such development on the historic designed landscape.Ugbrooke is an early C18 formal park landscape, remodeled in the mid and late C18 BY Lanceloy Brown, with C19 gardens and pleasure grounds around the mid C18 mansion which was rebuilt by Robert Adam.
We visited the site on 17 July and discussed the proposal with Lord Clinton and Helen Shobbrook. The proposed solar panel array at Ugbrooke would be screened from the main drive by the low golden leylandii hedge, but would be visible from the open parkland to the north. We have not had the benefit of the advice of English Heritage or English Nature on the proposal. We would suggest that Lord Clifford may like to consider the possibility of appropriate mitigation measures to alleviate the impact of the array of solar panels on the parkland landscape and perhaps consult Simon Bonvoison of Nicholas Pearson Associates, who has previously advised him on the restoration of the Brown landscape.
We do not wish to object to this proposal.
Yours faithfully
John Clark,
Conservation Officer
To promote the protection and conservation of historic parks, gardens and designed landscapes, and to advise on their restoration
President: Sir Malcolm Field Charity Commission Registration No. 800540 Company Registration No. 2277427