CONTEXT 180 : JUNE 2024 51 viewings. At four days’ notice, with no publicity, the county held a public open day. The 50 people who came were able to see the full grandeur of the interior for the first time. It seems that two ‘credible’ commercial bids of over £1 million had been received by late March. Whether they are realistic in planning terms is another matter. The current moratorium runs until July, but the county announced on 17 April that the deadline for community bids would be 1 May, and that councillors would consider offers in June. While just within the letter of the asset of community value process (no sale can be completed until the moratorium ends), the new timescale was a hammer blow to community bids. The county’s stated firm preference for unconditional offers disregarded the complexity of the practical, planning and funding challenges. Finally, though, it seems that common sense may have broken out: the bid process may now last until August. If any Context reader has ideas or information to help, please contact me at john.preston@cantab.net. This saga shows what can happen when heritage comes low in local authority priorities, despite the best efforts of conservation officers. It has seen a catalogue of failures: by the county’s officers to monitor the repair lease and ensure timely compliance; by the city and county to see the listed building as a potential centrepiece of community provision; by the city’s lip service only, as developer, to retaining it; and by the county officers’ failure to safeguard their listed building within the city’s development proposals, to repair it fully into a usable state, or to consider its sale as anything other than a purely commercial transaction. All this has been compounded by the county’s secretive approach and the city’s disregard of its statutory duty to the listed building. Councillor involvement has been equivocal at best. The county ward councillor intervened far too late to influence the sale decision. External pressure might have gained traction with the councils, but neither Historic England nor the Victorian Society was willing to get involved. When will Historic England include Grade II buildings in its heritage-at-risk purview? Surely local authorities should be required to act, in their own dealings, in accordance with statutory responsibilities for the heritage? The county says that it will consider whether offers for the old library deliver environmental and social benefits, but it does not mention cultural benefits. The county’s new Land and Property Strategy 2024–29 does not even mention the historic environment or listed buildings. John Preston John Preston, a historic environment consultant, was a conservation officer for Cambridgeshire County Council, then conservation officer and later historic environment manager for Cambridge City Council.
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