Improvements have been carried out to the centre of Wheaton
Aston as part of South Staffordshire Council’s rolling programme of
work to enhance the villages within its District. Designed by the
Council’s in-house Landscape Architects, the scheme has transformed
an open area in the historic core of the village. What was once a
bleak expanse of tarmac is now an attractive and useful public
space.
The partnership project was initiated by the Parish Council
who asked the District Council to propose improvements to the open
space in the middle of the village’s Conservation Area. The site
comprised wide areas of tarmacadam carriageway around a traffic
island and a track to the rear of the Church. There were few
areas of footpath. The character of the space was harsh and
sub-urban creating an unpleasant context for the Church (a listed
building) and the attractive traditional cottages.
Working together with Highways Engineers from the
County Council, South
Staffordshire Council produced a masterplan from the following
design objectives :-
- Visual enhancement of external spaces within the Conservation
Area
- Reducing area of road surfacing and making the centre more
pedestrian-friendly
- Providing a visual and physical focal point for the village and
area for community events
- Creating an appropriate setting for the Church and
cottages
The island was determined to be unnecessary for traffic
management and areas around the church were downgraded to
pedestrian use creating a ‘Church Walk’ and pedestrianised ‘Village
Green.’ The high quality scheme incorporates new paving, planting,
seating and lighting. Careful consideration was given to the
selection of materials and components to complement and reflect
local character and blend colours and textures together. A mix of
pavings was chosen and a hierarchy of surfacing was established
with stone flags, cobbles and Tegula blocks used to the
pedestrian-only areas. Clay paviors were used to distinguish shared
vehicular and pedestrian areas. Pavings were used in an
informal manner at the rear of the Church and more formally at the
front. Part of the area is historically called ‘’the Cobbles’’ and
an artist was commissioned to produce a cobble mosaic at the centre
of the sitting area featuring Snakeshead Frittilaries which are an
emblem of the village. The centre of the mosaic is designed to hold
the village’s Christmas tree.
The planting design provides seasonal interest throughout the
year and harmonises with the colours of the hard landscape
materials. The opportunity was taken to provide trees to the
streetscape. Street furniture was selected to be bold, simple and
durable and of appropriate scale for the Church and the size of the
space. Lighting columns and lanterns were chosen to be sympathetic
to the traditional character of the area but not a pastiche.
Columns were designed to carry Christmas festoon lighting and of a
height appropriate to the size of the cottages. The lighting design
aimed for a uniform light level suitable for the village setting
and pedestrian usage.
The completed ‘Village Green’ provides a pleasant meeting and
sitting place and forms an attractive setting for events such as
the Christmas celebrations, Folk Festival, Carnival and
weddings.
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