SHOO<~HORROR-PROBE1YARDSWOOPS1 The national demolition silly season got under way recently with "mishaps" in Stoke-on-Trent and London.Buildings on the statutory list seem to have an extraordinary capacity for spontaneous combustion(equalled only by cheap armchairs)and attract more than their fair share of disorientated Irish bulldozer drivers and paranoid borough engineers. OXFORDSHIRE PROTEST The Oxfordshire branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England has complained of the lack of enthusiasm within West Oxfordshire's planning dept for conservation.In its new publication "Our Unprotected Heritage" the CPRE focus on the fact that out of 83 parishes only 11 are designated as conservation areas.In nearby Vale,69 parishes have 43 CA's whilst Cotswold District has over 52 with more to come. The CPRE quote the four national amenity societies as being astonished that. so many lovely villages were not designated. The pamphlet describes the main villages in question and looks to the Secretary of State to use his powers and influence to persuade the local authority to take action. THE ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION OFFICERS Context: ACO Newsletter N02 JoneB3 Editor John Fidler.26,Silver Cres.,London W45SE EDI10RIAL. The forces of evil remain.The Historic Buildings Council's penultimate annual report, published in April, reminds us once again that the built heritage is very fragile.Listed buildings are still being taken down at the rate of 2.8 per weEk in spite of their general popularity. tve know too that the.re are several areas in our work where the present systems are not helping(the CPRE's stance elsewhere on this page is an interesting development).So we hope for improvements with the next parliament. The HBC is dead and the quango is born. We thank the HBC •for its stirling work over the last 30 years and wish the new commission well.Our hopes for an interventionist organisation seem dashed by the final change:; placed before the Royal Assent. Combining the HBC & the AMB but not the RCHM(England), it will not have instant access to the National Monuments Record.It will give grants & preserve ancient monuments but will not however step in to protect the everyday heritage.With limited powers to intervene in the planning system(no CPO or urgent repair powers) there are critics who would say this is a great opportunity missed.But so much depends on the choice of the commissioners that we reserve our judgement & pray for brave souls to step into the fray. Promoting the conservation of the national heritage in local planning authorities CHAIRMAN, Michael Pearce. Quavey, Redlynch, Salisbury, Wiltshire. [Hampshire County Council J HON. SECRETARY Tony Jenkins. 17, Crimicar Lane, Sheffield S10 4FA. [Derbyshire County Council]
ACO REGIONAL CONTACTS NORTH: Brian Jobling.0632.816144 (Tyne & Wear County.) NORTHWEST:Tony Pass.061.247.3546 (Greater Manchester CC) YORKSHIRE:Trevor Houseago.0532 463263.(Leeds City.) W.MIDLAIDS:Carole Ryan. 0743. 222332.(Shropshire CC) E.MIDLANDS: Tony Jenkins.0629. 3411 ext 7182. (Derbyshire) SOUTHWEST:Jenny Birkett.0722. 6272.(Salisbury District) SOUTH: Roger Evans.0296.5000 (Buckinghamshire County) EAST ANGLIA:Peter Richards.0245 352232.(Essex County) SOUTHEAST: Geoff Pink.01.546. 1050.(Surrey County.) LONDON: John Fidler.01.606.3030 ext 2768 (City Corporatioo) SCOTLAND: Nie Allen.031.343.1911 (Conservation Bureau,SDA) WALES:Trevor Thorpe.0267.4567. (Carmarthen District.) CHAIRMAN:Mike Pearce.0962.4411. ext 677.(Hampshire Coun~y) CONTEXT IS YOUR NEWSLETTER..•.. Contributions,news,views, queries and abuse ..... get them off your chest and into print. We need volunteers to help with mailings; to review publications; to find and collate news and to monitor the activities of other professional organisations and amenity bodies that are connected with our work. All your contributions are welcome just remember the formula to save your hard-pressed editor time and headaches ....................... . FORMAT... as this issue.Quarterly in February,May,August & Novanber each year. DEADLINEs ... for copy: 3 weeks in advance.Publication will be in the last week of the month. TYPEFACE... standard typewriter faces, single spaced in columns of 85mm wide only. ILLUSTRATIONS ... must be 85mm wide finished size.Line drawings with 0.2mm line width.Photographs must already be screened. POST ..• all information and copy to either: the Editor at 26,Silver Crescent.London W4. or to Jenny Birkett at 130,Bouverie Ave.,s., Salisbury.Wilts. 2. CAR1DON QUERIES Several members have commented favourably on our lighthearted cartoon character drawn by Jenny Birkett(conservation officer for Salisbury and s.w.regional rep for the ACO). This issue Jenny has produced a whole range of characters to enhance our titles.Rumours that Building Refurbishment Magazine have approached "CONTEXT" with a view to arranging a transfer are being firmly deniedttt LISTEDBUILDINGASND CONSERVATICOONNTROL Short Course at University College, Oxford March 25th - 28th 1983 There was a gratifying high attendance for this course, aimed primarily at local authority conservation staff. University College was an ideal setting, providing peaceful surroundings and good food and wine to encourage an ongoing social interface situation between lectures l Many of those attending were already members of ACO; it is not yet known how many more joined with enthusiasm when the Chairman announced that the location of the elusive college convenierces would only be revealed to bona-fide members, but the Membership Secretary reported an upward leap in membership over the weekend. Roger France has taped the whole proceedings for posterity if anyone wants to write a definitive monograph and needs detailed references. We're not sure whether he did actually switch off the machine when speakers began 11This is quite off the record, of course ••• 11; we hope not, as these were some of the best bits. I regret not having had a cassette recorder small enough to hide in the cornflakes packet at breakfast, so that Michael Green's fascinating reminiscences about the Everyday Life of DoE Folk could have been recorded! The course was divided into three main sessions; Day One covered listing, and (continued page 9.)
CONFESSIONS OF A HARD-PRESSED CONTEXT EDITOR. Apologies to conservation officers in the southeast.In error,the last issue of CONTEXT combined SECOG(S.E.Conservation Officers Group) and the Kent Conservation Officers Group.But I am now better informed by Tony Wimble(of Kent County)that,SECOG has up to now been an informal gathering of the county officers of Kent,Surrey,East and West Sussex whereas,KCOG is a forum of District conservation officers in Kent who meet with their county team. To keep the Editor on his toes, Tony goes on to correct boobs on the legal eagle column.The rep?rt there of Netherhale farm should cr~dit John-Watl;r(sorry) who is not the conservation officer .... the CO is David Cox (Sorry a~aint)Black mark and go to the bottom of the class.Ed. ACO GREATER LONOON The first meeting of London reps was delayed due to the moving of the Greater London Council's Historic Buildings Division to new premises and the more recent move of the convenor from HB Div to a new job as Historic Buildings Architect for the City of London Corporation at the Guildhall.However the omens are now with us and the first meet has been arranged for 4.30pm on Tuesday 14th June at the GLC's Historic Buildings Division HQ: Chesham House.30,Warwick Street. London WlR 6AB.(off Regents St. nearest tubes Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus).Discussions will centre on proposals for a lecture programme,workshops and 3. visits to London & out of county conservation schemes. EASTERN REGION The branch now has 33 members but there is little representation from the districts in both Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire. (HellotAnyone there?Ed.)In March a group of 20 met in Cambridge. Nie Hellawell,Cambridge CO gave a balanced run through the city and its problems: from stonework to traffic management.The branch resolved to have theme meetings with a speaker,a visit.-and a discussion each time.Contacts are being made with other groups of like-souls eg.the Urban design Group and the RTPI branches.The next meeting id to be held in Norwich on July 2nd.Geoff Lane, the City's CO is producing the event and Chris Brett from Chelmsford Borough has volunteem:i to become meetings organiser for the future.Proposed visits may include Bulmer brickworks,Ely cathedral stained glass workshop Colchester city centre and Harwich's townsche~ grant area. Essex is toying with the idea of a winter series of conservation lectures on topics from technology to history.The branch is publishing its own bi-monthly newsletter for events and John Davey at Essex County is the editor. NORTHERN REGION The group met in April to walk around the conservation area in Newbottle with members of ::the Sunderland Society to view the s.10 grant aided works.In May the branch met in Stanley when John Kay of the OOE Ancient Monuments branch addressed the group.A visit to Gateshead Tech College Conservation Dept has been arranged fro 26th October to view the techniques of paint and paper conservation.Liason continues with other groups in the region including the Northem Heritage Trust(Civic Trust NE revolving fund) .Further meetings are being arranged by Keith Murray Bob Jarvis and Brian Jobling at Tyne & Wear County(Tel.0632. 81644 ext 255.)
the BILP! ~ column ~ JOBS'.JOBStJOBSUOBSUOBSUOBSU \ Bath City Council require an Assistant Listed Buildings Architect.Salary range is Grade SOl (£8,658-£9,231) and the closing date for applications is 10th June. Civic Trust for the Northwest want an architect for their regional vacant buildings info service to provide feasibility studies etc.Salary from £10,000 to £12,000.Apply to Northwest Civic Trust.Environmental Inst., Greaves School.Bolton Rd.,Swin1on Manchester. M27 2UX. LEND US .A QUID? The National Trust want £15m to take on Kedles ton Hal 1, Derbyshire and Belton House,Lincs. The Society for the Protection m Ancient Buildings and the Georgian Group are practising what they preach and are moving their HQ's to Spitalfields in the East End of London.But the move and the costs of refurbishing the derelict building have taken their toll of resources and an appeal has been launched to help cover the costs.Anyone with aha.it 50 pence or £100,000 can send contributions to 37, Spital Sq., London El 6DY. HELPtHELPtHELPtHELPtHELPtHELPt The Victorian Society has a Cemeteries Working Party chaired by Brent Elliott.Contact througi Vic Soc HQ.tel 01.994.1019. Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival want to buy a timber or cast-iron bandstand.Contact I.Mitchell.Crossways cottage. Howey.Llandrindod Wells.Powys. 4. O)TSWOLD STONE SLATES Eat your hearts out concrete slate manufacturerstReal stone slates are again available in the Cotswolds.James Elliott,the listed buildings architect for Bath City Council informs us that a slate quarry has reopened at Filkins near Bampton.Telephone Mr.R.Aitken on Swindon 750150/1 DECORATING? Now is the season for cyclical maintenance repainting in local authorities and if yours owns any decent listed buildings th01 its usually headache-time too. "I want a George II paint scheme by 3pm" the boss says. PANICi t '· But too late ... the bronze car spray paint is already covering the gilding and that awful shade of orange is pulsating across the friezeiThe decorators have chosen a particularly lush flock for the walls and the glazing bars are painted so that they're twice as wide As before! I know your problems ... if the museum curator chooses another Morris design you'll vomit but where the hell do you get decent "historic" wallpapers? Fear not, dear reader.Help is nigh.Hamilton Weston Wallpapers have a collection of blocks from 1690-1840 for handprinting. At £17-22 per roll your boss's maintenance surveyor may have a fit but at least it'll keep the dreaded Morris honeysuckle at bay for another ten yearstContcet Bob Weston on 01.940.4850. How to impress the chief planne:- and the local architects?Easyt Spend £76.50 on two books and you'll have enough preservation buzz words and technical phrases to get you through any site meeting.
J James Marston Fitch's seminal "Historic Preservation:the curatorial management of the built world"(McGraw Hill.1982) at £26.SOp has an ambitious title but surprisingly comes close to succeeding.The former modern-movement architect"saw the light"to become the first Professor of a conservation course in the western world at Columbia University in New York. ( Turkey had the very first conservation course for planners and arc hi tee~. Fitch' s insight into the forces that make us conserve cultural property and his analysis of logistical problems in managing the "built world" make the book a must for those who wish to understand the "Why?" in our work. For those of a more practical bent in the "How?" school of conservation, there is Bernard Feilden's mammoth"Conservation of Historic Buildings". The ex architect of York Minster & S~-Pauls and Norwich cathedrals and recently retired director of ICCROM(international school for conservation in Rome) rambli?.s through international technical approaches to repairing old buildings in a patchy volume costing £SO.Most of the recipes and tricks of the trade are here but some are now out-dated and others are missed altogether. The index leaves much to be desired and generally,it is a difficult reference book to use. Still, for the conservation officer with the reinforced bo(k shelf, these two volumes are a must to join Powys,Caroe & InsaTI~ BAD LANDS GOOD LANDS Durham County Council has won a Diploma of Merit from Europa Nostra for its achievements in derelict land clearance. s. GLC' s POLICIES /\T WORK Its been a very busy six months in the Greater London Council's Historic Buildings Division.At the end of the 1982/3 financial year it doled out a windfall of £600,000 in grants to restore major redundant or underused historic buildings in the capital. In April it began the CPO of Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, the west London home of that noted victorian conservationist and more importantly socialist, William Morris ..... in order to prevent any alterations to the house and to provide some say, a left-wing shrine in London. Rut the GLC has not stopped the initiatives.Last month it bought by agreement a house in the earliest uniform terrace in all Britain: No.SS, Newington Green, Islington ... one of a terrace of four built in 16S8,listed Grade L A snip at £30,000t Meanwhi 1e, in the City of Lendon the GLC has b~en wielding the, big stick.The owner of Nos.8&10 Rrushfield St., started to take down the buildings without any consent.(No.8 is an unlisted building in a conservation area and No.10 is listed).Prompted by a local tip-off, so the story goes, gallant officers of the Historic Ruildings Division formed a posse with City police and scared the demolition crew off the site for a day or so. But demolition continued so the GLC served an injunction to stq::> further works, directed the City Corporation to refuse listed building consent for demolition and served a notice under S.101 of the 1971 Act for emerqencv repairs.(heady stufftEct.)The proverbial mystery fires,apµeal
notices,dangerous structures arguements and the possibility of listed building enforcement notices must surely follow? Watch this space for further adventurest F'ROMWITI-IOUTRATHER THAN F'ROM WI THIN • ............ ~ ........ . Good things from the Northern Conso:tt:ium of Housing Authorities come in the form of information leaflets and discussion notes on such topics as "New life for redundant buildings" & "the use & m~suse of tempo~ary buildings" Copies and details from the Secretary,John Moralee,DMA,MILGA The Civic Centre,Newcastle Road Chester-le-street,Co Durham. Tel 882521 ext 215. An Historic Buildings Survey and feasibility study for the reuse of empty old buildings has been undertaken by Rosemary Curry RIBA in Middlesborough, sponsored by the Teeside Civic Society,Teeside Branch of the RIBA in co-operation with the Borough Council.over 106 old properties were identified,dated and studied in depth with the aim of securing their retention & reuse. SCORING POINTS Congratulations to Burnley Borough Council for publishing a leaflet on the dangers of strap pointing.In June 1982 the Council banned strap pointing on all its own properties and commenced printing the advice note.Available for free within the district and for 25p out of town, it makes good reading. Many CONTEXT readers will know of pointing atrocities in our stone walled areas.Is anyone tackling the problem at source in the bricklaying colleges? CANNY SCOTS The conservation officer for Glasgow has been a busy boy.The district have produced a series of advice notes including those on "Shopfront design","Stone cleaning & repair" and the problems of "Replacement windmvs" Tel 041.221.9855 for details. 6. ,1storic Building:, an agreement for :ection 5A of the ments Act I953, , or for a consider but that it is not 1hom the buildin :xcept by virtue ~rt may, under ,h a scheme ~ ::inn if ' Tony Jenkins writes: LEGAL EAGLE PROBLEMS WITH COMPULSORY PURCHASE COMPENSATION AND SECTION 115 (FULL REPAI.R°S-) NOTICES ON LISTED BUILDINGS A fairly severe obstacle has recently presented itself when trying to assess compensation for compulsory purchase following a full repairs notice. I think it is now fairly common knowledge that to go for 1minimum compensation 1 is almost impossible, since it depends on proving that the owner had deliberately neglected the building so as to secure its demolition. No owner is likely to admit this and those dealt with usually express the intention of repairing the building and often have schemes drawn up. for the purpose even if they persist in doing nothing over long periods of time. In the light of this I think we were prepared to pay market value so as to secure buildings from dereliction, allowing for the cost of repairs in the calculation. However, following a recent repairs notice, it seems that in a good proportion of instances, development value would also have to be paid. The fly in the ointment here is that seemingly little known effect of Section 6 to the 1974 Town and Country Planning Amenities Act. This section amended Section 116 of the 171 Act so that when assessing compensation for compulsory purchase, it could no longer be assumed that demolition would be allowed. But, and it 1s a big but, the section goes on to say 11except so far as they ( the words 1or for its demolition 1 ) refer to demolition for the purpose of development of any class specified in the 171 Act (or-Schedule 6 of the 172 (Scotland) Act) (development not constituting new development)". Referring to Schedule 8, para 6, we are informed that compensation including
I I - presumably redevelopment value, is payable if the use of the building is still within the same use class as it was at a material date, or if it has been unoccupied since 1 January 1948. There are other provisos too which become even more technical. Many properties, especially residential ones of course, remain in the same use for generations and the net effect of the above, as I understand it, is to prevent the majority of compulsory purchase actions being at all viable from the Local Authorities' point of view. I am having all this checked out in more detaH but I would be very interested to know meanwhile if anyone else has come up against this problem. It would seem to be just one more argument for a complete new Historic Buildings and Conservation Areas Act to correct all the anomalies and problems we are currently suffering. THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL 1983 AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF CABLE SYSTEMS AND SERVICES -HOME OFFICE, DEPT OF INDUSTRY (WHITE PAPER) The above measures, now thankfully dropped, at least temporarily do not seem to be very well known. Yet the information given to a recent meeting of SPAB Conservation & Listings Panel by a representative of British Telecom indicated just how wide the new permitted development powers were intended to be. The new measures would be very complex and as I understand it would, for example, enable not only statutory undertakers but private cable TV companies to install overground wfre distribution systems without any permission being required from Local Planning Authorities The wires are also much thicker than telephone wires, being about the same diameter as TV co-axial cable, say 5-7 mm. Although it is assumed that most distribution by British Telecom would use existing underground distribution where this exists, all distribution by private companies would, it seems, not have access to this facility. Consequently all their distribution could be above ground. 7. ,In addition to these problems the question of dish aerials to receive satellite transmissions was also raised. Individuals could receive the signals direct by using a 1 metre diameter dish ( this would avoid the need to pay rental to a distribution company). These would need to be sited carefully and thus prominently so as to get a good signal. Cable companies would use a 3 metre dish sited in a good reception area to serve a large number of properties with the cable system referred to above. Not much imagination is needed to anticipate the effect upon sensitive locations, including conservation areas. Perhaps the picture is not as black as it was painted to the meeting. I sincerely hope so but it seems these measures will soon be re-introduced in one form or another, so now is clearly the time to make our views known. Accordingly I intend to write to the relevant authorities and if anyone wants to comment first please let me have your views so they can be incorporated in the representations. vvri te to Tony Jenkins. 1 7, Crimi car Lane.Sheffield.S10 4FA.South Yorks, C:'\JvlBRIDGESHIRE STARTS C\SE U\\,v FILE Readers will know of the leqal guide published by cambridge:;hire County Council that makes light the dour verbaqe of the Town & Country Planni~g Acts on conservation.One of the many problems of our everyday work is to interpret the law and whilst the guide is most useful as a tool, it has always suffered by not referring to case-law.Now this is to be remedied and ACO member Rob Walker, the guide's present author is busy collating appeal decisions relating to listed buildings and conservation areas for an annual digest of decisions.Please send him any interesting case histories that you have,to: Cambridgeshire County Council Directorate of Planning & Research.Shire llalL. Castle Hill.Cambridge.CB3 Oi-\P.
RESEARCH.. . THREATENED HISTORIC BUILDINGS In an attempt to try and draw some overall picture of the number of historic buildings threatened by neglect, misuse, redevelopment etc, I have begun the task of collecting as much existing information as I can find. So far unfortunately the records I have are rather limited and mostly restricted to a few areas of the country. The data I know of besides my own area relates to Hampshire, Kent (currently under revision) and South Wales. To this may be added the data prepared by SA VE, eg: the recently prepared Estate Villages report, together with records kept by the Ancient Monument Society, SP AB, Georgian Group and for the present the Historic Buildings Bureau. Some of this is related to direct threats to specific buildings, but much is not. In addition, the way data is presented varies widely. However this is a relatively small problem when related to the overall need for information. I am sure that much more information exists and if anyone has anything to add to the above, I would appreciate it very much. Homesteading/Deferred Repayment Mortgages for the Restoration of Small Historic Houses. Allan Gilham, a building surveyar with the Greater London Council has been working on practical methods for financing the repair of derelict historic properties by adapting existing fiscal tools. 8. Gonservation and Historic Building Officers know to their cost that, while the Listing and Conservation Rrea Designation process is relatively easy and inexpensive, little or no consideration is given at the time of listing or designation to the financial and organisational problems of trying to prevent the total loss of the derelict Historic Buildings and Buildings in Conservation Areas that almost inevitably appear. Society has decided that we wish to retain these "derelicts" but without any real idea as to how to secure their retention. The Section 101 and 115 processes are pretty ineffectual and the amount of finance available from taxation is ne.er sufficient to provide a funding package for what amounts to Historic Building Rescue. The period 1979 to 1983 has seen the successful use of deferred commencement of repayments mortgages for derelict small Historic House restoration and investigations are proceeding with a view to setting up a Historic Buildings Rescue Scheme based on the· use of deferred commencement mortgage funding. There appears to be no published data as to the scale of the problem in terms of how many small derelict Historic Buildings and Buildings in Conservation Areas there are. The next issue of the newsletter will include details of the derelict property record forms necessary to set up the data bank on derelict small Historic Buildings for the scheme to be able to function. To be able to complete these forms could members please start identifying in their areas those small derelict or poor condition Historic Buildings and Buildings in Conservation Areas that are suitable for use as single family dwellings or for conversion into two dwellings. COMPETITION RESULT Obviously CO's don't have time to readl Last issues query devised by GLC's Paul Calvocoressi was not easy. Answer "Gesamtkunstwerk" Bertolt Brecht's "Ich benotige keinen Grabstein •.•. " written shortly before his death in 1956.No prizes.Sorry.
OXFORD CONFERENCE (continued.) the role of central government, Day Two conservation control, including the role of the local authority Conservation Officer and the voluntary and independent bodies at local and national level; and Day Three the implementation of conservation legislation. Roger France of Oxford Polytechnic, who was primarily responsible, in collaboration with the ACOConnnittee, for the content and management of the course, introduced the first sessi0n. His welcome to ACOmembers (and other ranks) was echoed by Mike Pearce as Chairman of ACOwho reiterated that the main purpose of the Assocation was to bring together local authority conservation staff with connnon interests and problems, so that no-one need feel isolated in their job. This course was therefore also a first conference for ACO and he hoped that the opportunity would be taken to make new contacts within the Association and extend the membership. DAY ONE: USTING THEUSTING OF 19th AND20th CENTURY BUILDINGS: JUUAN ORBACH Julian Orbach is an Assistant Inspector specialising in the buildings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is consequently familiar with the aesthetic and practical problems of the preservation of the recent past - problems that have existed since the beginning of the preservation initiative in the 1870s. The listing of post1840 buildings over the past few years has caused far more controversy than the listing of buildings of earlier periods, with complaints of 11eyesores 11 being listed and of exceptional buildings being missed. Criteria are necessarily differ -ent in some respects -for example, 11intactness 11 is not in itself a qualifying factor, as it is with pre-1840 build -ings. Post 1840, only buildings of definite quality and character are included, and for 1914-39 the criteria are even more stringent. The terminal date for listing has constantly to be revised - Morris regarded 1700 as being the limit of respectability. Mr. Orbach summarised the principal problems of listing buildings of 1840 - 1939. The correlation of age with interest that is valid for earlier buildings may often have to be abandoned as the earlier examples of a style are often of lesser interest than later buildings of greater confidence and sophistication. He acknowledged 9. that personal taste does influence choice, but stressed that this taste is always based on wide experience on the ground, and if there is an element of doubt the problem will be submitted to a consensus of Inspectors. When dealing with the Victorian period, there is a problem of establishing a national standard, even though the coverage of the country is more uniform than with buildings of other periods; quality is hi~her in the large metropolitan Centres. Consequently, uniqueness in a particular context does have to be acknowledged as a qualifying factor; otherwise, seaside towns, for example, would be represented by only a few monuments not characteristic of the general flavour of the architecture. How definitive should the new lists aim to be? The 11greenbacks 11 (bound volumes) produced from 1970 onwards have now been published for most urban areas, and are being produced at an accelerated rate for the rural areas. These were intended to be definitive, and therefore closed lists, to minimise requests for the spot-listing of buildings which had already been surveyed and rejected. Since the process of re-survey is adding numerous Cl9 and C20 buildings - more, proportionally, than were added during the last decade -there is likely to be continued pressure to re-open supposedly definitive lists, compiled 5 or 10 years ago, for the purpose of adding buildings of this period, particularly the C20. Following the demolition of the Firestone factory in 1981, a new initiative resulted in 150 outstanding buildings of 1914-39 being added to the lists. There is always going to be a problem in attempting to fix standards of quality when public and professional interest constantly alters perspect -ives. THEUSTING OF VERNACULAR BUILDINGS: MICHAELGREEN Continuing the analysis of the process and rationale of listing, Michael Green -Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings,-spoke on the listir:g of vernacular buildings. He described the current re-survey as probably the last opportunity to examine our national stock of historic buildings; the later this is left, the more will be lost. The result of the change of heart during the re-survey is that the new lists contain up to 10 times as many buildings in rural areas as the old lists did.
The listing of rural buildings has raised problems with owners; many country landowners resent their property becoming subject to planning control and the Country Landowners Association has queried the desirability of what it calls 11arbitrary 11 listing, and the financial implications for owners of being forced to maintain in good repair buildings which may no longer be economically viable. Michael Green explained his personal justifications for the listing of buildings. That historic buildings are beautiful and irreplaceable; that they arehistoric documents comparable to musemn artefacts as repositories of historical evidence; and that they serve a sociological function, maintaining historic continuity and acting as anchors for society in times of rapid change. Finally, they are vulnerable by reason of the demands made on them by changes of use and fashion, and therefore need protection. Many of the audience were left with a dim sense of impending doom - the prospect of a possible tenfold increase in the number of Listed Building Consent applications as massed armies of greenbacks appear over the horizon. We can only hope that Michael Green's experience so far of the increase in numbers of listed buildings will turn out to be untypical, or that the proud owners of newly-listed buildings will be so awed by their new responsibilities as to be almost completely inhibited from daring to make application to alter theml ANCIENTMONUMENTSANDHISTORIC BUILDINGS - PROPOSAIS FOR CHANGEIN THE ADMINISTRATIVEORGANISATION: PETER RUMBLE Peter Rumble -Under-Secretary at the Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings, DoE - gave what he called a 11bird•s eye view" of the present system and how it will change with the establishment of the new Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission. His review of the present system was a summary of information already familiar to most of the audience. He stressed that the objective was not to save money or manpower in the Civil Service nor to institute major policy changes; the main changes will be organisational. There would also be an increased level of commitment amongst staff once removed from the necessity of movement between departments inherent 10. in Civil Service structure. Amendments to the primary legislation set out in the National Heritage Bill will give the HBMC wide-ranging powers, replacing in effect the advisory powers of the Ancient Monuments Board and the Historic Buildings Council, which will be disband -ed once the HBMCcomes into operation. There was naturally much interest in possible implications for the listing process and LBC procedures. The statutory responsibility remains with the Secretary of State but the expertise goes to the Commission although some administrative staff will remain temporarily with the DoE. Lists will be compiled by the Commission for approval by the Secretary of State. It seems likely that the present balance of responsibility between the DoE and local planning authorities will survive in the relationship between the Commission and local planning authorities. be The Commission is expected to/operation -al by April 1984; no Chairman has yet been appointed and Mr. Rumble was giving no clues. There was some tough questioning on points of detail, relating to the composition of the Commission's Board and their qualifications (it was pointed out that there was apparently no require -ment for any Commissioner to be qualified in architectural history). It was also pointed out that there is a proposed amendment to the 1971 Town and Country Planning Act, Section 28, which adds a requirement that the Commission shall be sent a copy of ill notices of applications within Conservation Areas. (Can they be serious??). Mr. Rumble squeezed a cold sponge firmly over a suggestion that, since there were due to be large increases in the number of listed buildings in rural areas and therefore large increases in LBC applications, the Commission might see its way clear to attempting to persuade local authorities to step up their levels of conservation staff. Several members expressed concern that there could be conflict between the Commission and the Secretary of State where a decision to list might have political implications or be likely to hinder or prevent devel -opment. Mr. Rumble asserted that, of course architectural or historic merit would remain the sole criterion for listing, and that he hoped the Commission would be 11able to stand up to the Secretary of State" on such P1atters.
DAYTWO:CONSERVATIONI PRACTICE. THE ORGANISATIONOF CONSERVATIONI LOCALGOVERNMENT: RUSSELLWRIGHT Hardly surprising with a subject so close to the hearts of most of the audience, that Russell Wright•s research work on the status, function and distribution of conservation officers in the UK should already be familiar to many of the audience, even though the Department of the Environment has as yet not been able to publish it. According to Russell Wright there are now approximately 650 conservation staff alive and (often) well, in the local authority planning departments of England and Wales. We tend to conform to standardised prescriptions or models; the most common is the "historic buildings expert" who originated in the 1960s. However, the HBE model has been joined by the "entrepreneur" who attempts to stimulate investment in historic urban areas, relating planing issues to architectural issues; a shift from the passive consultative to the active role. Finally the "conservation planner" (the latest model) is mainly concerned with strategic socio-economic planning and management for conservation areas c~vered by local plans. Although there are approximately 400 staff in district councils and 200 in county councils, Russell Wright has iden• tified some areas of the country which are under-populated with conservation staff; the North West, the hinterlands of the Wash and the South West peninsula. These (mainly rural) areas have minimum coverage and predominantly have depressed local economies. (It was suggested at this point that lack of conservation staff might be not unrelated to the predominance of feudal-type land owning elected members in these regions and the consequent opposition of committees to such appointmentsl) The numbers and distribution of conservation staff are only two aspects; equally important is the variety of patterns of organisation within planning departments. Russell Wrightts Staff Models show the varieties of relationships of conservation teams to other groups within the planning department. In terms of the status of the Conservation Officer, Russell Wright distinguishes between 11bureaucratic 11 status (hierarchical position within the local authority structure) and 11social 11 status - how important the job is seen to be by the localcommunity and interest groups. Bureaucratic status for conservation staff seems to be dependent principally upon qualifications in architecture or town planning. The survey shows, however, that a large proportion of conservation officers are not qualified in either profession, yet are performing the same tasks as their qualified colleaguesa Russell Wright queried whether there was any evidence to suggest that either of these two professional qualifications are the most suitable basis for work as a Conservation Officer in a local authority. He concluded that, overall, current conservation staff resources are inadequate. He was particularly concerned that any planning authority can vet applications for Listed Building Consent on Grade II buildings without the involvement of specialised officers. During discussion afterwards, coucerning the extent to which it was possible for Conservation Officers to change the climate of opinion in which they worked, Russell Wright stressed the importance of education of decision-makers as to what models of Conservation Officer are available (the "historic buildings expert", etc.) so that the job description and hence the person appointed matched the needs of the area. The appointment reflects initial attitudes, and it may be that the appointee is not the right sort of person to change the terms of reference once in the job. Further questioning raised two more points of interest. Firstly, the possession of a diploma in conservation studies appears to have no effect on status, (position within the bureaucratic hierarchy), despite the fact that the first conservation course, at York, was established 11 years ago. Secondly there is no system at the moment for monitoring the workload in terms of numbers of LBC applications handled by conservation staff country-wide. (Communal ad-hoe estimates of½ an 11.
application per day met with some agreement and some hollow laughter). It was generally agreed that this monitoring process could usefully be taken on by the new Commission. THEROLEOF THEINDEPENDENT AGENCIES: DESMONDHODGES Mr. Hodges caught our attention with his opening assertion that we wouldn 1t be in our present jobs if it wasn't for the various voluntary bodies active in conservation, and that conservation staff should therefore play an active part by joining local and national amenity societies wherever they could. the local community in development decision~aking. The Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee was established in the early 197Os and since its inception has administered nearly £2-½min grant towards £4.in worth of repairs. Its maintenance manual for owners of properties in the New Town 11The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses", has become a standard work on the subject. In addition to published advice, the Committee also provides an annual maintenance inspection service for owners, recognising the importance of planned maintenance in preventing the worst diseases that can befall older houses. The encouragement of regular inspection also helps ensure that the effect of grant given for repair is not negated by subsequent neglect. The Committee regards quality control in conservation work as being of prime importance; one benefit of a long-term conservation programme in an area such as the New Town is that continuity of work is assured for craftsmen; a grantadministering body is well placed to set standards of workmanship as a condition of grant aid particularly in an area of homogeneous architectural quality. Although the Connnittee has succeeded in its task of 11stimulating and co-ordinating action" and helped to reverse the downward spiral of decay in less-favoured areas, it is still very much aware that there are wider issues in conservation than ensuring high standards of repair and maintenance. Mr. Hodges raised and illustrated a number of familiar issues which continue to exercise the Committee; the importance of retaining the architectural integrity of a building in the face of demands for 11facade-retentiononly 11 schemes; the lack of good modern buildings in Edinburgh, leading to the jibe that conservation is an easy design option in an historic city; the dubious success of conservation when the use of a building has radically changed. THECIVIC TRUST- PASTAND FUTUREROLES: PETERROBSHAW Shifting the focus from the locallybased to the national independent agencies, Peter Robshaw ran over the origins and objectives of the Civic Trust. Its brief was deliberately restricted at its inception; it was not to have a subscribing membership, so that kindred spirits have always been encouraged to form their own societies locally. The Trust does not feel that it should have an obligation to appear at local inquiries; spreading resources too widely would probably mean a loss of impact. So the Trust intervenes relative -ly rarely and usually where it feels tha the issues will not otherwise be represented by a conservation body. The Civic Trust is constantly under pressure to lobby for tighter controls to be available to local planning authorit:ieS However, Mr. Robshaw was not persuaded that new legislation is necessary, but only a more rigorous use of the powers that have already been made available to local authorities over the last decade, some as a result of pressure from the Trust. There is little evidence that compulsory purchase powers, for example, are being used. Local authorities have always pleaded poverty as an excuse for not using their powers, but all local authorities operate under the same caucus of law; some do nothing, while others achieve comprehensive progrannnes of conservation and enhancement. Many local planning authorities do not use their powers under the 1962 Act to grant aid repair work to historic buildings. What is needed, he thought, was some fine tuning of the existing legislation; for instance the definition of curtilage in relation to listed buildings and the definition of demolition, particularly in relation to demolition of part of a building. Practice was now based on High Court judgements reached as the result of appeals against decisions on Listed Building Consent applications. A wider issue about which the Civic Trust is concerned is the insular nature of central and local government, which inhibits debate. Within local authorities much closer liaison is needed between departments, particularly between
planning and building control at district level and between planning and highways at county level. Conservation is a team job; the aim should be to improve visual literacy wherever possible rather than retain a narrow specialism. Finally a deliberately provocative closing remark: is the fact that we have to give special protection to historic areas a reflection on the planning system? Shouldn 1t the system be able to look after 11special 11 areas without a separate code? Does more attention to Conservation Areas result in less :attention to other areas? "Enhance the best, improve the rest 11 should be the motto. Conservation shouldn't be twodimensional in their approach, but be prepared to involve other disciplines and professions in a co-operative attempt to improve the whole environment. The question session, following these exhortations to local authority conservation staff, brought in return some equally direct suggestions for the Civic Trust. One suggestion was that the Civic Trust should invite subscriptions -it could retain its 11professional amateurism" while tapping the huge reserves of goodwill in local amenity societies. Peter Robshaw fielded this by replying that the Trust is in fact about to appoint a fund raiser. Another speaker expressed the opinion that a national body is definitely needed to bring in all those people who don't currently have or support a local amenity society. The huge membership figures of the National Trust and the RSPB were quoted as indicators of the likely market to be tapped. Peter Robshaw was doubtful however whether support on this scale would be forthcoming; he didn't have "something to sell 11 in such an easily definable way as these other national bodies. The question of Listed Building Consent statistics again reared its head. No the Civic Trust doesn't compile any ' statistics; but Peter Robshaw doubted whether such statistics would do any more than indicate a general trend and that its case should not depend on' statistical arguments. The point was pressed, however, from the audience, that there would be a value in accounting the increase in LBCs when all the new lists have been published; we lag behind all other European countries in using LB statistics as a forward planning tool. Peter Robshaw agreed that there was an element of optimism in the Government's professing to give greater freedom to local authorities while handing them greater responsibilities without increased resources. Returning to the subject of more stringent use 0f available controls, one questioner thought that in areas of high unemployment, imposing too high a standard of control over development could jeopardise the existence of new schemes - developers would simply look elsewhere. In reply Peter stressed the importance of demonstrating that conservation is an economically viable option; it can be commer -cially respectable, and there is more hope in making it so than in using ratepayers' money to prop up buildings with no economic use. DAYTHREE: IMPLEMENTATIONOF CONSERVATIONLEGISLATION: GEORGEALI.AN George Allan is a solicitor who is also Chairman of the Kent Building Preservation Trust and has been involved in a number of cases in which owners have been pursued through the courts as a result of neglect of historic buildings. His illustrated case histories confirmed his theme that implementation of the available conservation legislation in the Town and Country Planning Acts is dif+'icult because of (a) lack of inter-departmental liaison between authorities, (b) lack of supportive policy from councillors and (c) lack of manpower or expertise in local authorities to pursue preservation policy with the appropriate finesse. • While some of the shortcomings of existing planning law were familiar, (for example the lack of any powers to force owners to take proper precautions against fire), Mr. Allan provided an invaluable service by drawing to our attention some lesser known clauses in the Public Health Acts and Housing Acts which can be used to advantage. The Housing Act 1957 states that 11the use of any powers in this Act shall be subject to consideration of the need to preserve buildings of special architectural or historic interest". This means that the use of a Closing Order can be opposed in law in the case of a listed building. Similarly the Public Health Act 1961 states, in relation to dangerous structures 11use of powers in this Act shall be ;~bject to the laws of Town and Country Planning". Therefore a Listed Building Consent is required for anything other than the repairs option in that Act. The area of Administrative Law is one that is unfamiliar to most of us. George Allan explained that this is law 13 .
which governs the way in which statutory bodies make their decisions. Statutory powers must be used reasonably and in good faith; for example local authority members must not be guilty of bias, even where there is no pecuniary interest involved. Decisions of the Secretary of State following Inspectors' reconnnendations on Public Inquiries can be challenged; an example was given where the Secretary of State had differed from his Inspector on a question of fact, had given a decision against the Inspect -or 1s reconnnendation and had subsequently had action taken against him, success -fully, by the local authority. In a less happy case, the Inspector's reconnnendations on an appeal against refusal of LBC for demolition of two cottages had been to allow consent on the grounds that the cottages "were not outstanding examples of their type and suffered from a lack of natural light". Had the Kent BPI' been able to afford it, it would have sued the Secretary of State for the unreasonableness of this decision I George Allan's presence generated lengthy and detailed discussion of particular cases, demonstrating -if this were needed - the innnense value to conservation staff of having available legal advice other than that of the usual cautious district or county solicitor. Most of us do not have the detailed legal knowledge to challenge a legal opinion which may be influenced more by reluctance to initiate action than by a desire to explore available powers of protection. We shall be looking to George for further advice. RESOWTIONS With the critical faculties finely honed by the steely advocacy of Mr. Allan, the opportunity was seized to proceed straight away to the determination of Conference Resolutions. Several resolu -tions were rejected on voting before the final seven were fixed. We were aware of the lack of credibility of resolutions of the 11Against Sin11 variety, but on the other hand felt that some issues were so important that reiteration was essential. (Resolution 3, 4 and 7). A degree of pragmatism was however evident; Peter Robshaw's motion to remove all Permitted Development rights was defeated, and Michael Green's pleas for moderation in demands being made for further projects for the DoE were received with sympathy, 14. The following resolutions were passed:- 1. Control of listed buildings should return to the DoE where (i) the local authority has a financial interest or (ii) the DoE has funded a grant. 2. The Secretary of State should advise Local Authorities that listed building consent may be required for external cleaning or painting. 3. ACOis to urge all Local Authorities to increase the level of resources available for conservation and to seek new sources of finance. 4. ACO believes that listed building owners should be given fiscal incentives to good management. 5. ACO is to urge local planning authorities to make lists of threatened historic buildings in their areas. 6. ACO is to ask DoE to publish (i) available information and an index to appeal decisions; (ii) statistics on prosecutions (iii) statistics on budgets under the 1962 Local Authorities (Historic Buildings) ·Act and (iv) analysis of listed building decisions. 7. ACOis to ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to eusure that the Department or Historic Buildings and Monuments Connnission are adequately staffed to meet their existing and future workload. CONCLUSION The consensus was that the course had been extremely valuable, not only in the amount of information disseminated and discussion generated, but as a first conference of the Association of Conservation Officers. We do hope that all Conservation Officers will feel encouraged to play an active part in ACO. We are extremely grateful to Roger France and to all the speakers for making this course possible, and hope that this will be only the first of many opportunities to gather all the members of ACO together in such congenial surroundings. Report by Jenny Birkett
ihbc.org.ukRkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=