Three new 3-bedroom residential properties are proposed for vacant land 10m west of 13 Broughton Place Lane (Ref. 14/00646/FUL).
The plot is towards the Broughton Street end on the north side of the mews lane running between East London Street and Broughton Place.
No habitable structure has existed here since the demolition of Mary Ann Cottage in around 1917. That name will be revived for part of the proposed new development if planning consent is granted.
The proposal envisages restoring the original level and using traditional materials such as stone, roughcast wall finishes, slate roofs and sash and case windows. These are intended to match the proportion and height of buildings on the other side of the lane, and are designed not to block light into the rear windows of East London Street tenements.
The north-south axis of the lay-out reflects that of older buildings which appear on this side of the lane in an unidentified map of 1887 (reproduced in the Design Statement). We have not been able to find that map. However, the large-scale Ordnance Survey town plan of 1893–4 shows what we think is the position of the original Cottage.
Spurtle rather admires the developer’s attention to historical detail, although we will not be at all surprised if some locals now accuse its ‘traditional’ exterior of being an unadventurous and anachronous pastiche.
It is, as was remarked at last night's New Town and Broughton Community Council, quite a large potential development in a not very big site close to other buildings. However, such considerations do not seem to deter muse developers or the eventual purchasers of these city-centre homes.