Conesby Farm, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire
1 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant new heritage assets
Pre-determination assessment/evaluation identified significant archaeology on the development site (i.e. the results created significant new knowledge), especially where none was previously known in the HER.
4 - Pre-determination assessment/evaluation led to a modified development proposal
Pre-determination assessment/evaluation results led to a change in the extent or design of development.
7 - Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission
Pre-commencement archaeological conditions were attached to a planning permission and were necessary in order to enable the development to be permitted.
Non-designated heritage assets of archaeological and historic interest
A major housing allocation proposal for up to 900 dwellings was successfully rejected by the LPA in 2015. An application for a solar farm 74ha in size was subsequently put forward by the developer in 2018 and was approved in 2019.
A pre-application evaluation was undertaken in 2015 in connection with an unsuccessful housing allocation proposal (see above). This revealed a previously unknown Roman settlement including a building with internal floor surfaces, a rare survival on North Lincolnshire rural sites. Medieval stone structures were also recorded, these being associated with South Conesby deserted medieval village, the majority of which was destroyed by ironstone quarrying in the 19th/20th centuries.
The results of the pre-application evaluation undertaken in 2015 were used to inform the mitigation strategy for the Solar Farm development. The implementation of the agreed archaeological mitigation strategy has been secured through a pre-commencement condition. The strategy will employ non-intrusive installation techniques within the areas of archaeological significance and archaeological recording where the remains cannot be preserved in situ.
The results of the pre-application archaeological evaluation were a factor in the decision by the LPA to reject an inappropriate residential development proposal and the subsequent bringing forward of a more acceptable proposal for a solar farm. The solar farm will have a much lower impact on the archaeological remains than the previously proposed residential development.
By having the evaluation on this large site completed well in advance, and an agreed mitigation strategy submitted with the planning application, determination of the application was straightforward and the implementation of the mitigation strategy is a condition of the planning permission.
The developer is happy to provide an interpretative panel for heritage assets at an appropriate location off-site.
- Archaeological Project Services 2015a, Archaeological Fieldwalking on Land at Conesby Farm, Normanby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. Unpublished report.
- Archaeological Project Services 2015b, Land at Conesby Farm, Normanby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire: Geophysical Survey. Unpublished report.
- Archaeological Project Services 2015c, Archaeological Evaluation on Land at Conesby Farm, Normanby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. Unpublished report.
- Cotswold Archaeology 2018, Conesby Farm, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire: Heritage Assessment. Unpublished report.
