Part One: Spatial Strategy and Policies
Registered Parks and Gardens (RPG's) and Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value (DLHHV)
14.30 Some areas of the borough retain landscape features that are the product of a formal design process with the intention of producing both a functional and aesthetically pleasing landscape. Such areas include Parks, gardens and cemeteries.
Registered Parks and Gardens
14.31 Nationally a Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest' is maintained by Historic England to recognise the contribution to national heritage of the finest designed landscapes. Within the borough, there are two Registered Parks and Gardens:
The Leasowes: Grade 1 Registered Park and Garden. A "fermeornee" landscape laid out in 1740s and 1750s by William Shenstone which was a potent influence on the style of landscape gardening then and in the later 18th Century.
Priory Park: Grade II Registered Park and Garden. An early 20th Century public park developed as part of a town planning scheme by Edward Prentice Mawson from an existing early and mid-19th Century villa garden on the site of a medieval priory.
14.32 However, the Borough-wide Historic Landscape Characterisation Survey (HLCS) and BCHLCS recognises that there are numerous other formally designed landscaped areas within Dudley Borough that make an important contribution to its character as a result of their design and historic associations which would not meet the criteria for inclusion on this national register. To ensure that the contribution of these areas to local character and distinctiveness is fully recognised in planning for the future of Dudley Borough, the most historically significant of these have been identified as Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value (DLHHV).
Policy DLP61 Registered Parks and Gardens and Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value (DLHHV)
- The Council will resist any development or other works taking place which would harm the significance or be detrimental to the setting, character, quality and historic integrity of Registered Parks and Gardens at Leasowes Park and Priory Park and Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value including detailed design features and individual historic components, whether man-made or natural.
- The Registered Parks and Gardens at the Leasowes and Priory Park will be preserved and enhanced wherever possible in order to enhance and maintain their unique features and their significance.
Justification
14.33 Designed Landscapes of High Historic Value (DLHHV) are one of the Historic Environment Area Designations (HEADS) listed in Policy DLP55. They define areas of designed landscape of acknowledged importance and Policy DLP61 aims to ensure that where new development is proposed that its impact on the significance of the designed landscapes (whether designated or non-designated) have been fully considered.
