PRESS RELEASE – ALLESTREE PRESERVATION GROUP- 30TH JUNE 2009

Conservation of Allestree vital

Allestree Preservation Group has fought a long and difficult campaign to try to prevent property developers from buying houses in Allestree that have large gardens, with the intentions of demolishing the houses to create intensive housing and commercial developments.

Such developments would be harmful to, and cause the loss of, the distinctive character of the mature suburbs of Allestree which make it such an attractive area in which to live. The Group is well aware that only the present economic climate has halted the intentions of developers, to buy more homes at inflated prices, to leave behind for neighbouring property owners a damaged and decaying environment and lifestyle. The plans for Kings Croft which the Group, with the huge support of residents helped thwart, were to include 55 homes and a 60 bed care home. APG believes similar schemes could re-emerge again once the economy starts to recover.

Acting on advice from a number of sources, within and outside the City Council, APG has pursued a campaign to try to get the existing Conservation Area of Allestree extended. The prime objective is to protect houses which generally are seen to have been built on Gisborne Estate land, which included Allestree Park and Hall. The Gisborne family inherited, through marriage into the Evans family, the house and lands. When Lionel Guy Gisborne sold land to developers in the early 1900’s he was far sighted enough to insist on good styles of architecture and limited density of building, to preserve an attractive area in which people would enjoy living;  sadly no longer the remit of Council’s and Government’s.

A conservation area designation is intended to prevent loss and harm to existing areas of historical interest and not to prevent homeowners from improving or extending their property. It would mean that any extension, alteration, or replacement of existing features of a property, would need to be in keeping with the existing style of the property, but that can surely only be to the benefit of the properties involved as well as other residents in the area. Whilst private homes belong to their owners; we all have enjoyment of the amenity and street scene of which they are an important part. Unattractive developments, alterations and extensions damage not only our visual amenity but also they will inevitably reduce the value of the house subjected to inappropriate schemes but equally will have an adverse affect upon the value of other properties in the area.

APG has explored every way possible in trying to prevent future inappropriate developments within Allestree. This does not mean they are opposed to homeowners with, by today’s standards, very large gardens from selling off some land for the building of houses, as long as such schemes do not destroy the existing character of the area or inflict harm upon neighbouring property owners. There is no doubt, as far as the Group is concerned, that extending the existing Conservation Area is the only way to achieve protection for Allestree and its mature character areas for today and generations to come.

APG has enlisted the services of a conservation consultant who will produce an assessment of Allestree and its mature areas, which are likely to primarily include most areas which formed part of the Gisborne Estate, to submit to the City Council’s Planning Department for consideration to an extension of the Conservation Area.

APG applied for and was successful in achieving partial funding from the Neighbourhood Board to help meet some of the costs and the Group will meet the remaining amount from its own funds. The conservation project that APG is undertaking is normally the responsibility of the City Council, which albeit felt Allestree had a strong case for an extension to its conservation area, admitted it would be low on its current list of priorities.