1 Camden Road, Beacon Hill, Bath

1 Camden Road is an unlisted late 19th/early 20th century terraced building situated within the Bath World Heritage Site. Whilst the building is located outside of the Bath City-Wide Conservation Area, the boundary of the conservation area cuts off along the outer pavement edge along Camden Road immediately outside of the building. As such, the building would be clearly experienced as part of the conservation area and would visually contribute towards the Camden Road local retail centre and the shopfront character and appearance of the local street scene.

The proposed use of an “aluminium composite” fascia board is considered inappropriate where this would be at odds with the traditional material palette and appearance of the local high street, and fail to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area. Where there is an existing moulded timber fascia and shop frontage already in situ, we encourage works to retain and reuse these existing elements where this would be more sympathetic to Bath’s historic shopfront character, with the addition of either hand-painted signage, or fixed signage in an appropriate material finish. There is no demonstrated justification or demonstrated public benefit for the introduction of new incongruous materials.

We therefore cannot support this application in its current form on grounds that alterations would not preserve or enhance the appearance or character of the conservation area, and is therefore contrary to the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 16 of the NPPF, and Policies B1, BD1, CP6, D1, D2, D9, and HE1 of the Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan, and should be refused or withdrawn.