4.4.21

4.4.21 Please add reference to the grade II* listing on Newmarket Road. Please also add the word heritage before assets.

Salmon Lane forms part of the Kite Conservation Area. The houses (mostly Grade II listed buildings) and the coach houses were built in the 1820s. The present development offers an opportunity to enhance Salmon lane. However, it is very important that a number of points are considered:

(1) Salmon Lane cannot accommodate more traffic access. The entrance by the Hopbine Pub is already busy with cars, delivery vans and bin lorries and residents already often have to queue in the morning to get onto fair street. The houses between Maids Causeway and Salmon lane have no front access for cars and so Salmon Lane is their only access.
- No further access to cars to Salmon Lane should be permitted. This means the approach for vehicles to any new dwellings should be via the Grafton Centre not Salmon Lane.

(2) Scale, Height and Density of Buildings. The outline speaks of 2-3 storey houses being built. There are no 3 story buildings currently on Salmon lane. The current coach houses are low pitch two storey houses or single story with attic rooms. They are also currently of a low density. Any building on the Salmon lane should be keeping with height, scale and density of the rear coach houses currently on Salmon lane.
- The scale, height and density of any proposed new building on the Lane side of the Centre should be in keeping with the look and feel of current coach houses.

(3) The houses and coach houses between Maids Causeway and Salmon Lane are of a regency style of the 1820s. Any new building on Salmon lane must be of a similar style. This would follow the recent president set by the excellent improvements to the University Arms Hotel by the Architect John Simpson.
- The architecture of any new dwellings should fit the Regency style of Maids Causeway, Salmon Lane and the wider Kite area.

(4) It is important that Salmon Lane is not narrows and that the grass and tree strip on the Grafton side of Salmon Lane is maintained and enhanced.
- The new dwellings should be set behind the current trees, grass strip and wall.

If the new housing on the Grafton side of Salmon Lane were of a similar height, density and historic period as the coach houses on the Maids Causeway side of Salmon Lane then I think that this development offers an excellent opportunity to restore Salmon lane as a Regency mews. This would continue the excellent recent work by the Council in the Kite area in redeveloping the University Arms Hotel.

I am writing to you about the outline consultation papers for the Grafton Centre plan and outline proposals for development. My general concern arising from the outline is about size, height, mass and scale. In particular I would like to focus on the implications of the outline envisaged for the Grafton Centre Car park which is by Salmon Lane.

As you will know Salmon Lane is part of the Kite Conservation Area. It provides the setting for the rear terrace and gardens developed through 1820/30s. The houses, mostly are grade II listed and have small scale outbuildings to the rear, mostly dating from the period of the houses. The look and feel of Salmon Lane is by and large harmonious, small scale , with brick walls, small rear buildings, over which gardens and greenery lead the eye to the rear terraces of the houses, with wooden sash windows yellow brick walls and slate roofs.

My particular concerns are about:-

(1) A potential increase in vehicle traffic accessing Salmon Lane. Salmon Lane cannot accommodate any more traffic. Residents of Maids Causeway use it for their vehicle access, because they have no on street access for cars on Maids Causeway. It is also busy because of deliveries and bin collection, and also for pedestrians and cyclists, both residents and those using it as a short cut for the Grafton Centre.

No further access to cars to Salmon Lane should be permitted. This means the approach for vehicles to any new dwellings should be via the Grafton Centre not Salmon Lane.

(2) Scale, Height and Density of Buildings. The outline speaks of 2-3 storey houses being built. Buildings of such a height, scale and density facing Salmon Lane will be inconsistent with its character and be detrimental to the setting and rear aspect of the Grade II listed terrace.

The scale and density of any proposed new building on the Lane side of the Centre should be in keeping with the look and feel of the rear terrace and in line with the one storey building recently approved for Willow Walk.
https://idox.cambridge.gov.uk/online-applications/files/4E380D513A8EC0B6CFA17EA9B8662DA6/pdf/16_1942_FUL-REVISED_PROPOSED_WILLO_WALK_BUILDING-2078722.pdf

(3) Salmon Lane is at the rear of a Regency terrace, mostly grade-two listed, with original sash windows, slate grooves and bricks seen through gardens and low garden walls. Any new development on the Salmon Lane side of the Grafton Centre, should not only be kept to one storey, but it should be built in the same style as the Maids Causeway terrace, following the precedent recently set by John Simpson's renovation of the University Arms Hotel.

The architecture of any new dwellings should fit the Regency style of Maids Causeway and the Kite area.