The Battle of Upton Cressett: Your Parish Needs You !

Considering the controversial nature of the application and the fact that many of the invited consultees – such as English Heritage, M.O.D, Historic Houses Association, Bridgnorth and District Tourist Association and the CCT (Churches Conservation Trust (who own and maintain the Grade 1 Norman church of St Michael at Upton Cressett) – have not yet submitted (or finalised) their reports, I hope you will be kind enough to read this letter which contains some additional information – some previously not released – that is relevant to the planning application.

As Dr Douglas points out in his letter, the local community around Morville need to be properly heard in such an important planning case, with serious implications for the entire county. This is what ‘Localism’ means.

The beauty of our Shropshire Hills, and what it means to us who are lucky enough to live here, is priceless. Landowners may own the land but they do not own our Shropshire skyline or landscape. That ancient landscape is owned by all
of us – by the real community who live and work here. As one angry Chetton resident said last week at the Chetton Parish Council meeting, ‘nobody has 
the right to impose these giant industrial structures on us’.

These gargantuan towering edifices will destroy not only wildlife, heritage and our historic landscape but also the very beauty of what makes this part of Shropshire so unique, as well as so essential for local tourism and the Bridgnorth area economy. Not to mention jobs in equestrian and heritage tourism, blighting bed and breakfast appeal and also devastating the quality of life for residents.

Over 8% of Shropshire’s economy is dependent on local tourism and the Bridgnorth and Morville area is especially rich with heritage related attractions and accommodation businesses, including Grade 1 Upton Cressett, the Grade 1 Norman church of St Michael – featured as one of the CCT’s ‘Top 20’ churches in the country – Grade 1 Morville Hall and the adjacent famous Dower House gardens of author Dr Katherine Swift – always a highlight of the Morville Flower Festival and Fete in May – which are rightly regarded as one of the finest recently created gardens in England, bringing visitors from all over the country.

No other planning case has so upset and angered so many people – not just around Morville but across the county, where it is deeply feared that the Shropshire Hills around Bridgnorth are being targeted by wind energy developers (because we are just outside the AONB) and could become a ‘wind turbine landscape’.This would irrevocably change the ancient and historic landscape of Shropshire, as well as the setting and approaches to various important Shropshire ‘heritage assets’ of national importance.

To this end, all council members should have received a letter from the legal firm of Sharpe Pritchard (also enclosed and sent last week to Chetton Parish Council), and copied to County Councillor Robert Tindall and Philip Dunne MP. The letter clearly sets out the reasons why the turbine application should be refused, being contrary to National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) guidelines on the protection of heritage assets of national significance – in particular with regards to the ‘historic setting’ of these group assets. The covering letter also sets out planning guidance from Shropshire Council on wind turbines in the county following the government’s release of new guidelines on local community ‘say’ on June 6th.

The London based law firm were used by English Heritage – the government’s advisory body on heritage – and the National Trust to win the landmark high court ruling earlier this year to prevent a wind farm being at Lyveden New Bield in Northants – like Upton Cressett, a Grade 1 Elizabethan house and listed garden, and also a popular local heritage and tourism attraction.

pton Cressett was voted the ‘Best Hidden Gem’ heritage destination in the UK at the 2011 Hudson’s Heritage Awards – the leading heritage awards in the country. The heritage assets have been open to the public since the 1970s and are regarded as one of the ‘secret jewels of the county’ according to Shropshire Magazine. Sir Simon Jenkins, chairman of the National Trust, has described the Gatehouse (built in 1580) as an ‘Elizabethan gem’.

The ancient hamlet comprises of three Grade 1 listed buildings, three Scheduled Ancient Monuments and a historic park at Upton Cressett. These include the Hall, Gatehouse, Norman Church, Medieval Moat/Fish Ponds, Deserted Medieval Village, and a Roman Settlement.

All of these ‘heritage assets’  are within 1600 metres of the proposed turbines and will undoubtedly cause great harm to the ‘historic setting ‘ of the Grade 1 buildings and their relationship to the historic landscape. The NPPF was drawn up in a specific way so as to provide safeguards for the  ‘historic setting’ of heritage assets of national significance.

As the letter from Sharpe Pritchard points out, there are very close similarities with regards to the situation at Upton Cressett and the landmark legal decision that was made back in March this year when a High Court Judge ruled against an energy company building four 90 metre turbines which would cause ‘substantial harm’ to the views of the heritage site of Grade 1 Lyveden New Bield at Barnwell Manor in Northants. Exactly like Upton Cressett, Lyveden New Bield is a Grade 1 Elizabethan house and garden of national importance.

The judge called the original ruling ‘legally flawed’ in view of the revised NPPF and we believe that almost identical conditions exist at Upton Cressett – with three Grade 1 listed buildings and three Scheduled Ancient Monuments very close to the proposed turbines. The planning case at Lyveden New Bield is now regarded by English Heritage and National Trust as setting a clear precedent for planning guidelines in matters of wind farm proximity to Grade 1 heritage assets.  Government guidelines on turbine positioning following the June 6th statement by Eric Pickles is expected to clarify that turbines cannot be positioned close to heritage assets of national significance.

The letter from Sharpe Pritchard also draws attention to another similar ruling back in 2012 in the case of Kimbolton Castle in Huntingdonshire when a Planning Inspector overruled – on Appeal – an attempt by a wind energy development company to build a wind farm close to the Grade 1 property where Catherine of Aragon lived.

The local council had originally refused the application on heritage grounds, and this again was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate because of the ‘significant’ harm to the historic setting of the heritage assets. Kimbolton Castle actually includes three Grade 1 listed buildings – exactly like Upton Cressett – although the proposed turbines of Crida/Share Energy are actually closer to the heritage assets than at Kimbolton Castle.

The Landmark ruling at Lyveden New Bield means that a High Court has ruled that the new NPPF guidelines should be respected in planning law, and this has immediate impact with regards to both Upton Cressett and also Grade 1 Morville Hall – and the group assets around the Hall, including the Dower House gardens – whose approach will also be ‘significantly’ harmed if the wind farm is allowed.

Another reason for instructing Sharpe Pritchard is that certain information in the Upton Cressett wind farm planning application submitted by Crida and Ludlow-based Share Energy is inaccurate. This is partly because they have never visited Upton Cressett to do a proper site visit.

The proposed turbines are within 1600 metres from the entrance gates of Upton Cressett and would be clearly visible from the bedroom windows of all floors – as well as the main bedroom in the Hall and other vantage points. This is not referenced at all in the Crida planning application which only says that the turbines will be ‘visible’ from the gates.

This is because no representative from Share Energy or Crida has ever written to ask permission to visit Upton Cressett, even to gain access to the inside of the Gatehouse to see the views from the bedroom windows.

As was clear from the very clear intrusion of the anemometer on the ancient landscape, the views and setting will be irrevocably harmed by the towering industrial structures that will harm the intimate setting of the heritage buildings within the ancient and historic landscape. Crida’s information was based on inaccurate ‘desk top’ research.

Moreover, the top room of the Gatehouse was originally built as a ‘viewing tower’ for the hunt in the famous Upton Cressett deer park (laid out in 1518), so it is clearly obvious that the proposed turbines – which are located in the centre of the historic parkland – would be highly visible from the Gatehouse top floor bedroom (now used for award-winning heritage accommodation and as a writer’s retreat).

Furthermore, had anybody from Crida or Share Energy actually bothered to ask permission to visit Upton Cressett, or done a proper site visit, we would have pointed out that additional ‘significant harm’ the historic setting of the Grade 1 assets will be impacted by the imminent removal of two of the huge old Spanish Chesnuts outside the Gatehouse (planted as part of an avenue of chestnuts in 1815 to mark victory at Waterloo) that currently partly obstruct the view towards the proposed turbines.

They are shortly to be felled imminently – by a Morville based tree surgeon – due to untreatable disease and also for safety reasons, as they could topple at any time and fall on the Gatehouse where we have a flourishing heritage accommodation business and a successful writer’s retreat. Their removal will greatly impact the view from the Hall and Gatehouse.

Crida state that the proposed turbines will be ‘approx 1600 metres ‘ from the Gatehouse at Upton Cressett but what they do not state is that they will be only around 400 metres from various important Scheduled Ancient Monuments – including two archaeological sites – that have recently been designated by English Heritage as being all part of the Grade 1 assets and sit intimately together to form part of the ‘group heritage assets’ at Upton Cressett.

I include a link from the recently published 2012/13 English Heritage Designation Yearbook which provides – see ‘domestic buildings’ – a neat summary of the reasons why English Heritage chose to upgrade the assets at UC to three Grade I buildings and three SAMs, with special emphasis on the ‘group asset’ value.

Please see: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/designation-yearbook-2012-13/designation-yearbook-2012-13.pdf).

This upgrade subsequently makes Upton Cressett one of the most heavily protected heritage sites in the West Midlands. As Sharpe Pritchard have noted, having industrial turbines will destroy the intimate relationship between the historic landscape, the Scheduled Ancient Monuments, and the three Grade I listed buildings.

Notably, in 2012-2013 there were 403 new designations (page 8). Only 4 of these were Grade I listings, 3 out of 4 of which are buildings at Upton Cressett.  Dr Simon Thurley, head of English Heritage, writes in his introduction to the Designation Yearbook  that a ‘better shared appreciation of significance leads to better and swifter decisions: where we can, revising a list entry moves designation on from its old identifying role into a new one of explaining and celebrating special interest.’ The handbook goes on to say that ‘government policy is clear on the need for planning applications to demonstrate understanding of the significance of an asset’.

We do not feel that the planning applicants – relying purely on a desktop survey – have correctly demonstrated a full appreciation of the significance of the heritage assets. With the Scheduled Ancient Monument of the Deserted Medieval Village less than 400 metres from the proposed turbines, we feel that the application violates planning law as enshrined in the NPPF.

The heritage assets at Upton Cressett now also includes a new Roman Settlement – where a huge hoard of pottery, axe and arrow heads, as well as Roman coins and jewellery – have been discovered by the Pugh family very close to the proposed turbine site. Over the last few decades, the Pugh family have shared their ‘finds’ with the Shropshire Council Archaeology team. For many years, the valuable hoard has been proudly exhibited in the Pugh farmhouse kitchen. According to leading archaeologist Dr Roger White, who sits on the board of English Heritage, and who is the pre-eminent authority on Shropshire archaeology, the Upton Cressett Romano-British and medieval site – where the ancient landscape has been a populated hamlet since the Bronze age – is ‘one of the most important in the West Midlands – behind only Wroxeter’.

The setting of these important settlements – currently the subject of academic study by Birmingham University – will also be ruined by the turbines. None of this is stated in the planning application.

Since the application was validated by Shropshire Council, a team from English Heritage as well as Shropshire’s own historic conservation and archaeology team – led by Dr Andy Wigley – and the case planning officer, Miss Dyanne Humphries, have made a site visit at Upton Cressett. They were given full access to the Gatehouse and Hall by our planning consultant (Geoff Sinclair) in order to ascertain for themselves the extent of the potential harm to the historic setting of one of Shropshire’s most treasured heritage sites.

Mr Sinclair was able to clearly demonstrate during their visit that the harm to views from the Elizabethan gatehouse and Hall – as well as the ‘historic setting’ – will be ‘very significantly harmed’, and hence we believe a recommendation should be given for permission to be refused on NPPF ‘heritage protection’ planning grounds alone.

There are other areas of the planning application where – because the application is based on ‘desk-top’ research (i.e via the internet and Google Earth maps) the information submitted is not consistent with facts as the local community know to be the case.  At the Chetton Parish council meeting, for example, a bird-loving resident, who enjoys taking his young son (who wants to be a gamekeeper) out
to watch various types of migrating birds flying above Chetton, asked why Crida’s ‘local ecology’ report included no reference to the flight path
of these migratory birds above Chetton. Jon Halle of Share Energy (the turbine applicant) simply first tried to deny
such migratory birds flew over Chetton – before (after angry protestations rom the audience) then admitting that ‘birds’ were not his area of ‘expertise’.

Take transport and highway access, as another example. As members of the parish council will be aware, the access roads to Upton Cressett are amongst the steepest, most narrow and most treacherous – for cars, walkers, and riders – in the county. When Upton Cressett resident Mark Bullock tried to get some gravel delivered a few months ago, he was told the lorry driver could not make the delivery as it was ‘too dangerous’. I had the same experience when I recently tried to have just an old cast iron bath delivered to Upton Cressett – the van driver refused to deliver the bath after attempting to drive up Meadowley Bank, which is used for ‘practice climbs’ for UK Tour de France cyclists.

Only a month or so ago, as the Parish Council will be doubtless aware, (from the Bridgnorth Journal), there was a serious incident on Meadowley Bank when a large articulated lorry, carrying 40 tonnes of goods, upturned on the steepest part of the lane, resulting in the road being closed for 24 hours. Had Mark Bullock, who happened to be behind the giant lorry in his car at the time when it started sliding down the hill, not swiftly put his car into reverse and pulled away, there could easily have been a fatal accident.

The community of Morville and Upton Cressett have long been concerned about the dangers to children and residents from the ever-increasing size of industrial vehicles for which the ancient lanes around Upton Cressett and Criddon are simply not suited.

To this end, we have hired the Birmingham based leading UK transport planning consultancy Phil Jones Associates – who work regularly for local councils (including Shropshire)  and the UK government – to submit an 80 page comprehensive analysis of the transport ‘plan’ for the turbines, using sophisticated computer software to exactly replicate the journey of the gargantuan turbines and aircraft sized lorries along the narrow roads set out in the application.

Following a recent site visit which inspected the roads, we were informed that the steep and narrow roads – including the farm track at the top of Meadowley which is also an important part of the Jack Mytton Way – were ‘wholly inadequate and unsuitable’ to cope with the proposed heavy industrial vehicles and that extensive damage (including removal of signs) would be inevitable to the local roads, trees, verges, hedgerows, as well as serious harm to local ecology and property. On transport and highway grounds alone the application should be refused, according to our independent transport consultant. There is also a ‘serious’ danger of an accident because of the extreme unsuitability of the roads to enormous industrial vehicles that the ancient roads around here have never been designed to cope with.

What happens if – as happened only a month or so ago – access to Upton Cressett becomes blocked for 24 hours because of a stuck giant lorry. Currently, the very rough pot holed farm track – from Meadowley to Criddon – is the only ‘emergency’ route out for local residents. What if an elderly pensioner (many of those visiting Upton Cressett are over 60) requires urgent medical attention – during a group visit to Upton Cressett, and the emergency services (or fire services) cannot reach the property ?

It is not only the Shropshire heritage tourism at Upton Cressett that will be irrevocably harmed by the industrial turbines – there are wider implications for the whole of the Shropshire Hills as the decision to allow the turbines would make them the first in the county.

Our local community’s fear is that if wind developers are able to circumvent the stringent and statutory NPPF heritage defences at Upton Cressett then they could be given permission to build anywhere in the county. The whole point of having statutory heritage protection for Grade 1 listed buildings of ‘exceptional merit and national significance’ is to protect such sites.

This is one reason why Sarah Bury, chairman of the Shropshire branch of The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, (CPRE) is also objecting to the proposals on behalf of those who care so much about the beauties of the Shropshire countryside, so important for tourism (especially equestrian tourism), jobs and local economic growth.

There could quickly be a proliferation of turbines in the Shropshire Hills that make the Bridgnorth area the ‘wind turbine capital’ of Shropshire. This would destroy the very tourist appeal of much of the rural beauty around the Bridgnorth Hills which King Charles I famously described – looking out from Bridgnorth castle – as being ‘the finest view in my kingdom’.

Bridgnorth remains a tourist ‘gateway’ towards Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Much Wenlock and the rest of Shropshire, and the views from the A458 from Bridgnorth towards Morville Hall are part of that experience. As Dr Katherine Swift, the Shropshire author whose award winning gardens at the Dower House at Morville Hall are much enjoyed by thousands of visitors every year, has written in her objection to the turbines:

‘Would the authorities of Worcestershire allow a string of wind turbines along the crest of the Malvern Hills?  Of course not.  The hills above Bridgnorth are equally iconic: this is the view that A.E. Housman was thinking of when he wrote so longingly of those ‘blue remembered hills’ — it is the view from his childhood home in the West Midlands, and the view which every visitor approaching Shropshire from the east or from the north/south motorway system sees today.

Shropshire was once the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.  Those days are long gone.  It is now our wild unspoiled countryside and our beautiful gardens & listed buildings which provide jobs and incomes for residents and solace for visitors.  All this will be under threat if this application is allowed to go ahead.

The proposed turbines are 80 metres tall (twice as high as Lord Hill’s column in Shrewsbury).  They will be visible from as far afield as Wolverhampton.  They will loom over the Jack Mytton Way, Shropshire’s best known long distance trail, beloved by walkers, horse riders and cyclists.  They will utterly destroy the remote & lovely setting of Grade 1 listed Upton Cressett Hall and the ancient church of St Michael.  And once planning permission is granted for these two wind turbines, others will follow, threatening Morville itself: an application for another even larger turbine has just been submitted, and others are in the pipeline’.

At Upton Cressett, we have played a small but important part over the centuries in the story of Bridgnorth. Shropshire’s history and guide books report famous visitors including the young King Henry V in April 1483 – the eldest of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ – who reportedly stayed before crossing the River Severn at Bridgnorth on route to London from Ludlow Castle; and Prince Rupert of the Rhine who hid in the Gatehouse during the Civil War around the Battle of Bridgnorth in 1646. More recently, Baroness Thatcher stayed with her husband Sir Denis and the bedroom in which they stayed has now been re-named the ‘Thatcher Suite’, and is open to the public along with memorabilia from her stay in Shropshire.

All of this is open to the public and we greatly enjoy making all this history accessible to everybody – locals and tourists as well as being a ‘hub’ for local culture, talks, plays and concerts as well as providing the local community with a magical place to ‘step back in time’. When poet laureate Sir John Betjeman visited Upton Cressett with the artist John Piper to write his entry for the ‘Shell Guide to Shropshire’ (published 1951) he described the ancient hamlet as being a ’remote and beautiful place’. I hope we can keep it that way – along with the rest of Shropshire.

We do not want our treasured and iconic landscape despoiled for the sake of turbines that require traditional energy source back-up to even function, and which will produce hardly enough electricity to boil a kettle in Bridgnorth. As Dr Douglas notes, of the several hundred public comments currently on the Shropshire Council planning portal, over 200 are Objections from local residents who actually live around Morville and Bridgnorth – and there is just apparently one ‘Support’ comment from anybody who is actually a local resident.

The government and Shropshire Council – as Philip Dunne MP has reiterated recently  –  have clearly stated that local communities must have a proper democratic say now in the positioning of turbines, especially when there are factors of ‘cumulative impact’ – which is clearly the case with the Bridgnorth Hills – and also important heritage sites, which is also clearly self-evident from the above.

I hope the above will be of assistance before the meeting on Monday evening at Morville Village Hall. The parish council clerk has also been copied in. A copy is enclosed in Word format for easy printing and circulation. Please also note that the above letter has been delivered to councillors without email by hand.

Dr Chris Douglas will be drawing close attention to the issue of potential conflict of interests with any councillors who have expressed a personal or potential interest in wind farms on their land. Any councillor who is potentially conflicted, according to local parish and local government rules, is not eligible to vote.

Yours sincerely

William Cash

Upton Cressett Hall,

Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV16 6UH

www.stopbridgnorthwindfarm.org