TELL-T.~LE THE SEASONOF THEYEAR? Great embarrassment in Lincolnshire as the County Council demolishes a barn without Listed Building Consent and Kesteven asks them to rebuild it. Lincolnshire is one of those few counties which do not appear to have a conservation officer. Too many poachers and no gamekeeper? The Russell \fright Report: Urban Conservation: The Org&~isation and Role of Professional Staff. Some of you will recall this report commissioned by the DOE in 1977 to study the work. of Conservation Officers in Local Goverri.Inent. Russell Wright carried out detailed research during the following 2 years and the report was complete by late 1979. Since that time there has been no move to publish the material despite the DOE being pressed for a publication date. Much of the information contained in the report will now sadly be out of date, but nevertheless it would still be of considerable interest to the conservation movement. The last that was heard was that the York IAAS was to publish the report independently, but that was a year ago and nothing has yet appeared. One is forced to wonder how much this report cost for it to be allowed to la.nguish in some Savile Row basement. 'l1he other report, on Emergency Repairs, has been submitted by Eleanor Michell which, apart from advocating more syster:iatic inspection and recording of historic buildings, also gives useful exar:iples of cases where repairs have - some·t.::iu,reseventually - heen secured; either by, negoti.at•ion. or with the use of planning powers. Again, we do depend on the DoE, not only to gather or com:nis.sion the facts, but to publish! NO SPRING CLEAN IN YORKSHIRE Trevor Houseago of Leeds City Council Planning Department tells us of a new policy adopted by his planning committee regarding the cleaning of listed buildings.It is the view of Leeds Council that unless individual listed buildings are cleaned with plain water ie., the least harmful method - then all other forms of cleaning require 'listed building consent'. In addition all forms of cleaning require consent when listed terraces or listed buildings forming a group are involved since the cleaning of an individual property in the ensemble will affect the special character of the whole group. The Edinburgh New Town Committee formulated a si~ilar policy some years ago: discouraging cleaning generally & only granting consent where precedent had already been set in a particular street or when a facade was generally to be refaced with clean new stone in any case.Conditions in the listed building consent control types of chemical cleaners & other methods & enforce the use of test areas before approving the results. Very few authorities have taken this stand in tightening control although painting brickwork as a means of brightening a facade is usually hammered.Anyone doubting that cleaning "materially affects" the special character of listed buildings should visit the south elevation of Macclesfield Townhall in Cheshire to see, as Morris said what a flaying will do for works of art. Sound advice on cleaning practice can now be cribbed from the new British Standard: BS 6270:1982 PtI ttCleaning & Surface Repair of Buildings." (Ed) 5
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