Parks, leisure and the arts Wilbraham Road / Edge Lane Conservation Area

Contribution of green spaces

As identified earlier, the spatial characteristics of the area are determined by the street pattern. The trees and garden hedges to the front of properties make a significant contribution to the character of the street 'corridor'.

The trees planted within the private gardens make an important contribution to the public realm, to which can be added the street trees planted within pavements, as in Wilbraham Road and Hastings Avenue.

Spatially, the area behind street fronting properties is often ignored, but this is often a space of great significance, particularly where large properties in large gardens back onto each other. The largest such space in the area is that of the rear gardens to houses facing Wilbraham Road and Edge Lane.

These gardens and the trees within them are in the public realm by virtue of the fact that they can be viewed from the adjacent streets. This space, and other extensive rear gardens to properties throughout the area are important elements in contributing to the character of the conservation area.

The setting of the conservation area

The conservation area is surrounded by suburban development, mostly carried out in the 20th century; consequently there is no relationship with surrounding countryside.

Wilbraham Road, provides the most public experience of the conservation area, with views into the area on both sides. The same road also provides the location for one of the area's most important landmark buildings, Lloyds and Platt Hotel.

As a consequence of its location at the junction of two important roads in the area and because of its angled geometry in relation to the roads, the building can be viewed from long distances in both directions along Wilbraham Road and from both Manchester Road and Oswald Road.

Views into the designated area along the length of Wilbraham Road are significant, but views both into and out of the area at its junction with Edge Lane are particularly important. The relationship of this area to Chorlton Green is important and the views in both directions along St. Clements Road are of considerable significance.

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