Hexham Station is one of the oldest purpose-built railway stations in the world. Built in 1838 it is Grade II listed, and along with various other listed buildings associated with the station falls within the Hexham Town Centre Conservation Area.
Working with developer Roxeby Hexham Limited and Network Rail Infrastructure Limited and architects HTC, we promoted mixed use proposals for the redevelopment of the station goods yard to provide three large non-food retail units, a change of use of one of the station buildings for an additional retail unit, building works to improve the accessibility of the listed station itself, together with a number of employment units. Listed Building and Conservation Area consent was required for the demolition of a number of buildings, with initial opposition encountered from the Ancient Monument Society, Victorian Society and Hexham Civic Society.
Walsingham Planning worked on the Heritage Assessment where we demonstrated that the public benefits of the proposals outweighed the less than substantial harm caused by the demolition of a number of non-listed buildings located within the Conservation Area. We also produced the Retail Impact Assessment for the proposals and were then successful in negotiating planning permission from Northumberland Council in 2013.
The scheme has since been built and includes occupiers Homebase, Poundstretcher and Majestic Wine.