SDO12528 - Dorset Green Technology Park Masterplan, Dorset

This desk-based assessment considers the archaeological potential of a Masterplan proposal for land at the Dorset Green Technology Park centred on NGR 38200864. Within this document the Masterplan Area is considered in three parts; The Main Site, The SANGS Area and the Eastern site. Proposals are for business, employment, residential and mixed use development along with the separate SANGS Area. This assessment has established that there is one Designated Heritage Asset – Scheduled Monument No: 29044, a Brown Age Bowl Barrow – within the Masterplan Area which could be affected. There are no other records of Heritage Assets which could be effected by development proposals. This assessment has also established that the majority of the Masterplan Area has only a low to moderate potential to contain archaeological remains of the prehistoric and Roman periods, only a low potential for significant remains from the Medieval and Post Medieval periods. However the southern part of the Main site is considered to have a moderate to high potential for further evidence from the Bronze Age. The most significant past archaeological impacts relate to the construction of the Winfrith Nuclear Research Establishment in the late 1950s, and are expected to be moderate to severe. A total loss of all archaeological potential is anticipated within the footprint of many of the research buildings. Within the SANGS Area, the south eastern part of the Main Site and the Easter Site, existing impacts will be limited to the effects of recent/ modern agriculture. Development proposals have yet to be finalised, however built development in the Main site will result in varying levels of additional potential impact. The presence of the Scheduled Bowl Barrow is acknowledge and no direct impact will be permitted and design will be sensitive to its setting. Measure will also be proposed for the protection of and enhancement of the Scheduled Monument. Within the SANGS Area proposals seek to enhance and protect the existing landscape. No listed buildings or their setting will be adversely impacted by the development, and proposals for the SANGS Area are likely to enhance some buildings’ settings. All recorded ‘historic’ hedgerows within and on the Masterplan Boundary will be protected and enhanced. It is anticipated that the Planning Authority, advised by the Dorset County Council Archaeologist, will require the implementation of a programme of archaeological mitigation measures for the Masterplan proposals. English Heritage will, in conjunction with the County Archaeologist, advise and direct on matter pertaining to the Scheduled Monument. Any works within or immediately adjacent to the Monument will require advance Scheduled Monument Consent. Initially further survey work is likely to be required which may include geophysical survey of appropriate areas and further invasive evaluation. The results of these surveys could then establish the parameters of any further archaeological mitigation measures that may be required.