10 Mollie Taylor Avenue, Bathwick, Bath

10 Mollie Taylor Avenue is a contemporary terraced dwelling that forms part of the Holburne Park development on the former MoD site on Warminster Road. It is situated within the Bath City-Wide Conservation Area and the World Heritage Site. The Holburne Park development site as a whole maintains a prominent and visually significant position in the wider townscape, forming part of the southern slope overlooking the Avon Valley, and as such forms part of panoramic townscape and landscape views experienced from the north of Bath, particularly the Camden and Larkhall residential areas. Part of the Outstanding Universal Value of Bath as a World Heritage Site is attributed to the compact and sustainable form of the city, and the views of the green, undeveloped hillsides within and surrounding the city which also incorporate views of Bath’s homogenous and planned townscape form. By virtue of the development’s sensitive location, any further works should account for the site’s high level of visibility in long-range views and are expected to be coherent with the special qualities of the World Heritage Site.

The proposed garden works would be located on the north-west side of the dwelling, and as such would face out onto open views across the Avon Valley towards the north of Bath.

BPT have some initial concerns regarding the installation of LED lighting as part of the proposed pergola structure, and the potential for any impact on landscape character and views as a result of increasing external illumination and lightspill. Bath maintains an important dark skies character where its townscape intersects with the undeveloped extent of its landscape setting. There is a real risk that cumulative lighting could result in a further proliferation of dusk-until-dawn illumination or over-bright external illumination which could both detract from dark skies character and impact wildlife.

We note this application has the potential to set a precedent for further, piecemeal householder applications or works for the installation of external lighting where this would cumulatively result in greater impact to views of Bath’s townscape setting. Works of this type may set the standard for similar works across the development site, and we therefore emphasise the importance of getting it right.

We recommend that works for external lighting should appropriately mitigate against potential lightspill through the use of lighting of an appropriate colour scale/temperature and lux levels. Further measures could also be implemented to minimise impact by reducing the proposed volume of lighting and orientating lighting to face away from boundaries or key views. These should be switched off when not in use.