Conservation Area in Victorian and Edwardian Hull to be expanded after concerns over inappropriate development

If the plans are approved, the Jameson Street Conservation Area will be given new boundaries and a new name, Paragon Conservation Area.

A new management plan will include more enforcement action directed at shop owners who contravene planning laws by installing inappropriate adverts and signage. Other negative ‘trends’ identified include shop fronts that are out of character and the poor condition of some buildings.

A re-survey highlighted several historic buildings dating from the Victorian period to the 1950s as not currently within the designated zone, which is subject to stricter planning conditions. New areas of Jameson Street, King Edward Street and Ferensway will be added in.

Coun Paul Drake-Davis, the council’s portfolio holder for regeneration and housing, said: “Jameson Street is characterised by an eclectic mix of buildings and it is only right that they are preserved in such a way.

“This appraisal will allow the council to do that, as well as make for a smoother process when planning is submitted by current or prospective tenants in what is a popular area of Hull’s city centre.”

The area is the commercial and retail core of Hull which evolved in the late Victorian and Edwardian period, replacing the Old Town that dated from the port’s early trading years. Private developments outside of the original city walls first began in the Georgian era, and by the early 20th century, the council was taking a lead on town planning, laying out and developing Jameson, King Edward and Paragon streets.

There was further council-led development in the 1930s and major slum clearances which created Ferensway Way, a ‘shopping boulevard’, and post-war redevelopment following the Hull Blitz, when neo-Georgian and modernist styles were favoured.

The period after World War One saw the appearance of Art Deco architecture in the area, and there are several 1950s buildings that are now considered to be of renown.

The original Jameson Street Conservation Area was adopted in 1991, and three years later consent was granted for the demolition of the old Hull Daily Mail buildings, which dated from the early 20th century.