NW CA cover:Layout 1 - North Norfolk District Council

North Walsham Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan6.6 The contribution made by greenery and green spaces and ecology and biodiversityvalueThe centre of the conservation area is very much an urban environment. The main greenspace is the churchyard, which is covered by well-tended grass and a few flower beds withtrees along the sides. As this is separated from most of the main streets by terraced houses,the only area where it directly impinges on the centre is along Church St. Here, trees setagainst the churchyard wall greatly enhance the street. Apart from this, there are small flowerbeds in St Nicholas Court and at the junction of Yarmouth Road and New Road. This makesa small decorative contribution to the town, but any biodiversity value is minimal.Moving out from the centre, there is more greenery. Yarmouth Road and the south end ofKing’s Arms Street are well provided with roadside trees, and in Grammar School Road, anumber of houses have front and rear gardens. There are also lawns, areas of planting andtrees in the grounds of Paston College. While these areas comprise mainly cultivated ratherthan wild plants, they still have an ecological value. Town gardens can provide a habitat forwild birds, and in Norfolk, goldfinches are often found here. Such gardens also supportinsects such as bumble bees, which are thought to have diminished in numbers in thecountryside due to the use of agricultural pesticides.A more varied ecology can be found at the south end of Aylsham Road, and where GrammarSchool Road and King’s Arms St. Here, there are hedgerows, trees and small areas of roughground supporting wild plants.The trees and gardens along the roads leading to the centre, particularly along YarmouthRoad and Aylsham Road help create a pleasant entranceway to the town. They are a reminderthat although the town centre is now surrounded on all sides by urban development, NorthWalsham was once much smaller, and surrounded by open fields.6.7 Erosion of characterLarge redevelopments which have taken place in the second half of the 20th century haveseriously affected the quality of the Conservation Area. In some cases, developments onthe outskirts, such as the Vicarage car park, the Post Office and Lidl Supermarket haveblighted the approach to the centre. In other cases, such as St Nicholas Court shoppingarcade and the Bank Loke car park, visually negative schemes have replaced oncecharacterful areas of townscape. The generally poor quality of townscape surrounding, andin some cases intruding into, the Conservation Area is undoubtedly the greatest threat toNorth Walsham’s historic character.Looking in more detail at the centre, the majority of houses along Market Street and MarketPlace are listed, so that unfortunate changes which can affect historic buildings, such asreplacement windows, satellite dishes etc. have been kept to a minimum (with a fewregrettable exceptions such as the satellite dish on the Grade II listed Carpenter’s Arms).Unfortunately, many shop fronts were altered or replaced before listing, so that there is alegacy of poor or indifferent quality shop design. Even where old shop fronts survive, theycan have inappropriate colour schemes and overly large or luridly coloured signage.Along the side streets, such as Grammar School Road, King’s Arms Stand Aylsham Road,there are fewer listed buildings. As a result, there has been more alteration. The most commonchange is the replacement of wooden windows with uPVC. In some cases traditional doorshave also been replaced. Other unwelcome alterations include the loss of some boundarywalls and the occasional replacement of older tile or slate roofs with modern concrete orceramic tiles.62North Norfolk District Council