Midford Manor Care Home, Frome Road, Odd Down, Bath

The proposed site of signage works is the Midford Manor Care Home, a 2022 development situated within the Bath World Heritage Site and the indicative townscape setting of the Bath City-Wide Conservation Area. The site is situated to the south-east of the Grade II St Martin’s Hospital site, formerly the 19th century Bath Union Workhouse. The overall character of the area is of a mid-density, suburban residential grain, though with a transition into open countryside and Bath’s surrounding rural settlements and villages to the south. The townscape is of a fairly low-rise character, though punctuated by landmark features such as St Martin’s Chapel, and the use of a semi-rural boundary treatment comprised of rubble stone boundary walls and hedge and tree planting remains prevalent. There are several examples of commercial/light industrial insertions into the townscape, such as the adjacent Sainsburys, and the Cross Manufacturing Company to the north.

Where the existing care home is a new addition to the townscape, the use of contemporary-style signage is not out of keeping with the existing development on the site. The use of an interchangeable type of signage that can accommodate later additions/changes in information is welcome.

BPT is not typically supportive of the use of illuminated signage within Bath, where this would be at odds with the city’s distinctive low level illuminated character. Whilst situated outside of the conservation area, the site is located on a key junction point with routes into and out of the conservation area and the city centre, and we therefore maintain that there should be some consideration of a coherent and cohesive signage treatment as part of Bath’s wider townscape setting. Where the area is situated on the periphery of the city with a number of connection points into Bath’s green landscape setting, the use of illuminated signage would be more in keeping with its edge-of-city location as well as the existing semi-rural roadside treatment of the area.

Where the development fronts onto the A3062 with associated street lighting, we question whether there is any demonstrated need or justification for the use of illuminated signage within this location.