C O N T E X T 1 1 0 : J U LY 2 0 0 9 3 enhancing the historic environment, with particular reference to Wales. Distinguished speakers will include Rob Colley on economic regeneration; Jonathan Jones on tourism, Tom Woolley on low-carbon issues; and IHBC chair Dave Chetwyn, exploring community perspectives. There will be case studies fromWales. Book at www.ihbc.org. uk/cardiff/index.html. Prosecute them In the current economic downturn National Association for Planning Enforcement (NAPE) and the RTPI believe that levels of unauthorised development will increase. Although local planning authorities are under pressure to cut their planning costs, CLG has advised councils not to lose staff but to switch them to other hitherto under-resourced activities, including enforcement. While levels of listed building enforcement activity are lower than they should be, the IHBC has constantly sought ways to improve the situation relating to prosecutions, especially in terms of additional data. The political profile of this issue has been raised occasionally (such as by the successful prosecution of Teresa Gorman MP in 1996 and following the notorious demolition of Greenside in 2004). Consequently CLG published its Best Practice Guidance on Listed Building Prosecutions in 2006 in furtherance of the secretary of state’s long-standing encouragement to prosecute in PPG15. Nevertheless, prosecutions remain rare. Even when cases are concluded, the IHBC finds difficulty in finding out about them, despite publicity acting as a deterrent. Very little of the foregoing procedural improvement would have been possible (or it would have been more difficult) without the base data compiled by the IHBC, with your cooperation. No data existed at all at the time of the Gorman prosecution. The database continues to rely on volunteered information. The CLG good practice guidance encourages this. Information is constantly sought, irrespective of the success of the case. Please forward details of case outcomes, especially if you have not done so before, to bob.kindred@ ipswich.gov.uk (from whom copies of the database – a Word document – can be obtained). This will help to maintain the usefulness of the database and serve as a cross-reference for the effectiveness of the legislation and policy guidance. Bob Kindred MBE, an external advisor to the 2006 CLG Best Practice Guidance. No consideration Calderdale Council has agreed a six-point remedy to resolve a planning dispute investigated by the local government ombudsman. The council has welcomed the ombudsman’s report, which it says will help it to sort out the longrunning planning issue. It has apologised to residents for the delay in resolving the dispute. The council gave planning permission for an extension and alterations to a primary school next to a Grade II* listed 17th century hall. The ombudsman said that no consideration was given to the setting of the hall when the extension and alterations were designed. English Heritage was not consulted about the impact on the hall. English Heritage says that it would have objected to the planning application as adversely affecting the open, green setting of the hall, and making the school building more prominent to the front and rear of the hall. Plastic is the top threat England has some 9,300 conservation areas, but the latest edition of English Heritage’s annual Heritage at Risk register reveals that one in seven is at risk of neglect, decay or damaging change, and many more give cause for concern. The results of English Heritage’s first-ever survey of the condition of conservation areas shows the top threats to be plastic windows and doors (83 per cent of conservation areas affected); poorly maintained roads and pavements (60 per cent); street clutter (45 per cent); loss of front garden walls, fences and hedges (43 per cent); unsightly satellite dishes (38 per cent); the effects of traffic calming or traffic management (36 per cent); alterations to the fronts, roofs and chimneys of buildings (34 per cent); unsympathetic extensions (31 per cent); impact of advertisements (23 per cent); and neglected green spaces (18 per cent). English Heritage is launching a Conservation Areas at Risk campaign to persuade residents, local groups and councils to work together. See www. english-heritage.org.uk/conservationareas. Fire research The devastating blazes at Hampton Court Palace in 1986, Uppark in 1989 and Windsor Castle The I-Q Farnborough Site, owned by SEGRO, has won the RICS south east award for the restoration work carried out by Julian Harrap Architects.The historic buildings occupy a 125-acre site formerly belonging to the Royal Aircraft Establishment. The site houses some of the most important buildings in British aviation history. The lattice steel frames of the 1912 airship hangar were salvaged and re-erected to create the centrepiece of a new public square. (Photos: Dennis Gilbert)
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