Description and Analysis

2.1 Location and boundaries

St George’s is located to the east of the city centre within five minutes walk (see Location Plan). St George’s has been identified as a key area for both regeneration and investment by Leicester City Council and the East Midlands Regional Development Agency. St George’s needs to be considered as a whole in order to provide a comprehensive strategy for its regeneration. However, it consists of three sub areas, each with a distinct character and requirements.

2.2 Sub Areas

2.3 City Centre Context and Influences

St George’s has been designated as a Priority Investment Area by English Partnerships. The following factors have an important influence on the overall vision for St George’s:

• It is in close proximity to the City Centre, the Haymarket bus station and Leicester’s mainline railway station on London Road.
• It provides opportunities for City Centre living.
• The Central Ring Road although a barrier to cycle and pedestrian movement does make the area accessible.
• The existing built fabric provides opportunities for conversion of existing buildings of historic interest.
• A number of redundant sites and vacant or underused buildings provide the opportunity for high quality mixed use development.
• Opportunities to create high quality connected public places.

2.4 History

St George’s lies outside the City walls of both Roman and Medieval Leicester. It was not until the mid to late 19th century that the area was developed for industrial and residential uses. The morphological pattern of the area at that time consisted of a dense network of connected streets. The resulting grid like pattern of streets created a dense urban grain.

The construction of the Central Ring Road in the 1970s and the demolition of the majority of the terraced housing in the area has resulted in a coarser urban grain with some isolated buildings, amongst car parks and vacant sites.

Detailed information on the history and archaeology of part of the area can be found in the ‘‘St. George’s Conservation Area Character Statement’’ 2000, available from the City Council’s Urban Design Group (see Contacts Section).

2.5 Current Uses and Ownership Pattern

The whole of the area is predominantly in commercial use and consists mainly of general industry, offices, car parking, with some limited retail and leisure uses. St George’s East predominantly consists of retail warehouses. There is very little residential accommodation or public open space at present apart from the dominant St. George’s Churchyard. However, there is growing developer interest in converting former factory buildings to residential accommodation. Many existing buildings are underused reflecting changes in commercial/business requirements over the last 30 to 40 years. (See Existing Land Uses Diagram). Land ownership is mainly private. The City Council does however own a number of sites and buildings, the most significant of which is Rutland Street car park. (See Land Ownership Diagram).

2.6 Townscape Qualities

Introduction
St George’s has a varied townscape. Its character is related to its historical development. Within the St. George’s Conservation Area are a number of listed buildings and buildings of historic merit including the former Odeon Cinema (grade II) on Rutland Street and Alexandra House (grade II) on the corner of Wharf Street and Southampton Street. The City Council wishes to see these buildings protected. Detailed information on the townscape of much of St. George’s South can be found in the St. George’s Conservation Area Character Statement. A comprehensive table of listed buildings in St. George’s is provided in Appendix 1.

Alexandra House,(Grade II listed building), Southampton Street/Rutland Street junction.		78-80 Rutland Street (GradeII listed building).

Urban Grain and Permeability
The urban grain of St George’s is dominated by the Central Ring Road. It severs some streets and is a major impact on pedestrian movement. Clearance associated with its construction has disrupted the historic urban grain and resulted in fragmented development.

The size of development blocks within St. George’s North and St. George’s South are on average between 50m x 90m which allows for adequate ease of movement. However, some blocks are much larger and need to be subdivided to allow better pedestrian movement. St. George’s East lacks any identifiable block structure with the consequence it is not ‘‘pedestrian friendly.’’ There is a need to protect the remaining connected street pattern within St. George’s and provide additional connections where possible.

Scale
Within St George’s South and North the majority of buildings are between 2-5 storeys high with the exception of buildings such as the telephone exchange on Humberstone Road, The Crown Court building on Lee Circle and Epic House on Lower Hill Street. Within St George’s East the majority of the buildings are 1-2 storey commercial units.

Humberstone Road, Telephone Exchange with the Zion Chapel in the foreground showing a sharp contrast in scale..		Factory building on the corner of Wimbledon Street and Southampton Street. A building of historic merit with the potential for conversion.

Built Form
St George’s South is characterised by industrial buildings dating from the late 19th century. The typical construction is red brick. Within the Conservation Area can be found buildings in a variety of styles and of considerable quality, providing a range of visual interest within a relatively small area. St George’s Way has fewer historic buildings and mainly consists of single storey sheds with little architectural merit. St George’s North has a mix of buildings of various quality and includes a large number of buildings with inactive frontages.

St. George’s Retail Park. A development of poor urban form.		Lack of active frontage at the corner of Clyde Street and Crafton Street West.

Details and Materials
The quality of architectural details and materials varies considerably. The refurbishment of existing buildings will be expected to preserve and enhance the uses of traditional materials and details within the Conservation Area. This does not however preclude the use of modern materials and design in new development.

Legibility
The ease with which people can find their way around St George’s is important. Landmark buildings or spaces help people orientate themselves especially at key corner sites. There are several such landmarks within the area (particularly in the Conservation Area). New development should emphasise key gateways, junctions and places, in particular in the following locations:

• Rutland Street/ Wharf Street South • Humberstone Gate East/ Wharf Street South • Lee Circle • Wharf Street South/Old Milton Street • Wharf Street South/Fleet Street • Rutland Street/Southampton Street • Queens Street/St George’s Way
View looking west from junction of Wharf Street/East Humberstone Gate East.		The International Hotel, Rutland Street. Potential for an improved landmark feature at Humberstone Gate East and Rutland Street.

Gateways
St George’s has the opportunity not only to provide improved gateways to St George’s itself but to the City as a whole. People gain their first impression of the city as they arrive either by rail, bus or car. At present these gateways are generally weak, dominated by poor quality development such as the back of retail sheds. Opportunities exist to improve the quality of these gateway sites by ensuring that in key locations, high quality development is secured. These sites include:

• Belgrave Gate/ St Matthew’s Way
• Humberstone Road / St George’s Way
• The Railway Corridor to the South East of St George’s Retail Park
• Rutland Street/ Charles Street
• Humberstone Gate East/ Charles Street

Vistas (Strategic Views)
Few vistas currently exist but opportunities should be provided for new development to ensure that new vistas are created to improve both legibility and improve the overall quality of the built environment by focusing on key buildings.

The Telephone Exchange on Wharf Street South provides a landmark building which aids orientation.		View of Lewis’s Tower from Humberstone Gate East provides a key vista back towards the city centre.

Open Spaces
Within St. George’s, the few open spaces that do exist are either of poor quality or are under utilised such as the area around St. George’s Church. New development will be expected to create a network of connected places that link new open spaces together. These include:

• Rutland Street/Queen Street/Halford Street • East Humberstone Gate / Wharf Street South • Lee Circle • George Street • Lower Hill Street
The Rutland Street entrance to St George’s Churchyard. The creation of a new public space at this junction will improve pedestrian movement, reduce the speed of traffic and create a pleasant environment.		Lower Hill Street. Opportunitities exist to improve this public space and important route.

2.7 Existing Movement

Cars and Car Parking
The dense network of streets within St. George’s provides good vehicular access to the whole of the area. The emphasis on the street as the main movement routes where activity occurs should be maintained but there is a need to ensure that the area is made pedestrian friendly. Developers will be expected to contribute to the creation of a better pedestrian environment, cycleways and traffic calming.

Within St. George’s there are two multi-storey car parks. Lee Circle has 1020 spaces and Rutland Street has 676 spaces. In addition there is on street parking (approximately 317 spaces) and a number of surface level car parks (St. George’s retail car park and the railway station being the largest). Opportunities exist to redevelop the multi-storey and surface level car parks to provide high quality new development. The guidance does not propose to reduce the amount of public car parking provision with St. George’s.

View south along St. George’s Way. The ring road provides a barrier to pedestrian movement.		N.C.P. Car Park, Lee Circle. Opportunities exist to re-develop the multi-storey car park and create an innovative mixed use development.
Junction of Charles Street and Belgrave Gate looking south. Charles Street provides an important north-south bus route that links Leicester mainline railway station with the Haymarket Bus Station.		Leicester’s Mainline Railway Station.Opportunities exist to incorporate a public transport interchange as part of the re-development of the surrounding area.

Proposals for parking associated with new development should not exceed the maximum standards set out in the Local Plan and reductions below those standards will be sought in appropriate circumstances. (There may be instances where, because of the area’s proximity to bus and rail stations, car free residential developments will be acceptable). Preference will be given to on street parking, within the centre of a block or in the basement providing access, amenity, safety and the vitality of the street are not compromised.

Public Transport
St George’s is well served by public transport. It includes Leicester’s Railway Station and is in close proximity to the Haymarket Bus Station and a large number of bus stops on Charles Street and Humberstone Gate East. However, there are opportunities to provide better links between the railway station and the Haymarket Bus Station to enable a more integrated transport network.

The main bus routes include Charles Street, Humberstone Road and Belgrave Gate. Opportunities exist in the long term to promote Wharf Street South and Rutland Street as a public transport route and strategic cycle route into the City Centre.

Pedestrian circulation
The main barriers to pedestrian circulation in St George’s are Charles Street and the Central Ring Road. Charles Street requires improved pedestrian crossings. The Central Ring Road needs to be “humanised” wherever possible so that whilst still fulfilling its function as a central area distributor it ceases to be such a barrier to pedestrian movement and less unpleasant for pedestrians to use. Tree planting and carriageway reduction are options that can be considered.

New development will be expected to contribute to this aim in the form of improved pedestrian crossings, traffic calming and built form that provides enclosure to the Central Ring Road and reduces its overall impact.

2.8 Environment

Very high traffic flows on the Central Ring Road (c.60,000 vehicles per day) generate localised environmental problems in respect of air quality and noise. Both of these pollutants are likely to be found in proximity to the Ring Road. These are likely to exceed acceptable national standards. The railway line to the east of St George’s also has an impact in term of noise pollution. The location of uses, the built form of development, planting and a reduction in traffic can all help to minimise these environmental impacts.