Conservation areas

Conservation Areas are a Planning designation of a locality that can relate to a group of properties or a larger area such as a village centre. The properties must have some merit, such as of architectural or historic significance. ‘Listing’ of properties in Grades such as Grade I or Grade II relates to a particular building or a structure, not necessarily a building, which has architectural or historic importance or could be representative of an era. Conservation Areas, on the other hand relate to far more than one property and may, because of their nature, include buildings, which are ‘listed’ or have very little importance.

The centre of Dore has been designated a Conservation Area for quite some time. The significance of such designations mean that buildings, structures or trees cannot be altered, demolished or cut down without permission of the Planning Authority. This might seem unreasonable when an owner considers some part of his or her property is of no material benefit, or wishes to modernise a property. However, whereas there maybe no problem in doing such work, and it could be beneficial to the street scene, it has to be in keeping with the purpose of the designation of the Area. Thus problems have arisen when residents have tried to change the style of the windows in their house. Recently the demolition of an old stone front wall, in Townhead Road has caused problems.

The centre of Dore Village undoubtedly has one or two unattractive elements, but there are many very pleasant features which help to make up the character of the area and should be retained. Regrettably in the 1960's Dore lost a number of its most attractive features, which would have been preserved these days. Hopefully we have learned the lessons and are more enlightened now. The Dore Conservation Area designation is one of these protections. Another is our own common sense.

On a brighter note, the Council have acknowledged that the new traffic calming measures merit slightly better treatment and we hear that they intend to replace the black and white poles on the pavement edge on Causeway Head Road with more environmentally sensitive bollards known as Manchester Bollards. We will wait and see. These small things make a difference and contribute to general improvements.

David Heslop

Rubbish skips

Builders skips regularly grace our roads and verges. Sometimes dangerous, often unsightly, they are inevitable when extensions are being built or new driveways laid. There are however rules associated with their use.

To place a rubbish skip on the public highway or verge, it is necessary to apply by phone to the Highways Dept at Sheffield Council for a permit. Broadly speaking, if a car could be parked on the spot, then a licence will be issued at a cost of £2 for up to 2 weeks, renewable.

Certain safety rules must be followed including reflective plates on the corners of the skip. Skips must also have a company name and telephone number on their sides.

New Countryside Code

A new Countryside Code, the first for 50 years, has been published, welcoming people to the countryside under the banner "respect, protect, enjoy". It simplifies walkers’ responsibilities in the countryside to five key issues. The code calls on people to:

• Be safe - plan ahead and follow any signs.
• Leave gates and property as you find them.
• Protect plants and animals, and take your litter home.
• Keep dogs under close control.
• Consider other people.

The new code is timed to coincide with new freedom to roam legislation that comes into force from September. This will give walkers unprecedented rights to walk on moorland, mountain, downland and heath. However we need to respect the working life of the countryside, as our actions can affect people’s livelihoods, our heritage, and the safety and welfare of animals and ourselves.

The Countryside Agency launched the new Code alongside a new website (www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk) that has been developed to help walkers. The website will include information about access land, and will report when land is ‘closed’.

Significantly, there is also a section of the new code for land managers, advising them of their rights, responsibilities and liabilities, and offering them information. Areas covered include landowners’ legal duties to keep rights of way clear and unobstructed, and advice on how to manage access to newly opened land by keeping paths, waymarks, gates and stiles in good condition.

To obtain a copy of the code call 0845 100 3298 or visit the website.

The Wildlife Garden

Selling a house is one of the most traumatic events we face in our lives, its right up there along with the death of a relation and getting married or divorced.

Once upon a time emotional draining events like these might have cost us mentally, but at least the expense wasn’t crippling. Unfortunately, as house prices seem to spiral ever upwards, so does all the expenditure involved. Soon you will have to take out a second mortgage just to be able to afford the estate agent’s fees.

Of course money isn’t the only thing you have to worry about when you put your house up for sale, it is always difficult to know just how much you should spruce up your property to make it look more appealing to potential customers. For advice on how to do this, you can turn to any number of home-improvement magazines or television programmes and it would appear that simple is best - plain walls and a minimum amount of furniture cluttering up your rooms.

The reason for this is, however highly you regard your house, most buyers will want to alter it to make it ‘theirs’, so with a simple colour-scheme and sparsely furnished rooms, it is easier for them to envisage their grand design. But sometimes you can’t help wondering if this is change for its own sake. If the interior walls had murals painted by Michaelangelo, no doubt some new owner would come along and make it their first priority to slap on the current fashionable shade of emulsion paint over the priceless artwork.

Gardens also play an important part in selling houses. According to the experts, the front should be paved-over and turned into a car-park with a few strategically placed pots - blue for preference - of geraniums and the occasional clump of wispy grasses dotted around the edge, while ideally, the back garden would have a large expanse of lawn with hedges so minuscule a mouse could leap over them.

Unlike the inside of a house, these features are not there to simply act as a blank canvas for potential buyers to plan their own little Garden of Eden, they reflect more the garden design busy people are likely to favour nowadays.

So, where does this leave the wildlife gardener and those of us who have plants to attract bees instead of paving at the front; tall hedges and native trees for the birds and a large amphibian-friendly pond at the back? If the garden is large enough for these features to be discretely tucked away somewhere, then according to the estate agent I spoke to, ‘No problem’. But what about a small garden? The comment from the estate agent was ‘Tidy it up’.

However, a wildlife friendly plot doesn’t have to look like an over-grown allotment, for inspiration we can turn to the show gardens at the big flower shows.

For instance make sure your meadow is full of striking annuals - preferably all in flower when you put your house on the market - or have a display of mixed red and white clovers in the centre of your lawn. Avoid growing the more invasive plants such as comfrey, lemon balm, tansy or yarrow in the wild flower area.

All right they might well be excellent plants for bees, but they would simply give the impression of ‘untidiness’. Also, if you keep the grass around your wild flower patch cut and the edge clearly defined, it will look more like a feature than an after-thought.

Why not fill your pots with some of the smaller California poppies, phacelias and trailing nasturtiums? As well as being attractive to bees, they should minimise the need for watering, slugs leave them alone and yet they are still dramatic and eye-catching. Try mixing your wild flowers in great swathes with more conventional annuals and perennials to ensure that your borders have a continuity of flowers, both colourful and attractive to bees.

Sadly, the biggest headache when moving is the pond. If you are selling your house to a young couple with children, then a pond is potentially dangerous and may well be seen as a negative feature. You can of course cover it over with a strong mesh to make it child-friendly, but you may have to fill it in. According to the wildlife experts I spoke to, ponds are best filled in early in the autumn to give the frogs a chance to disperse and find new homes. They also suggested you don’t take any frogs or spawn with you when you move, as this could help spread viruses around the country.

I suppose selling a house is always going to be a bit of a lottery and a garden, whether it is full of wildlife-friendly features or just a mass of couch-grass, might be completely unimportant to potential buyers. Instead, the school catchment area may be the be-all and end-all. But wouldn’t it be nice if estate agents, together with the wider house-buying public, would see a wildlife-friendly garden as a positive feature and not something that should simply be ‘tidied up’ to encourage a sale.

Jack Daw