Dinner in the Hall on Friday evening was shared by our guests, including Howard Colvin and Mrs Jennifer Jenkins. We took the opportunity of thanking them, and all members of the Historic Buildings Council for their help over 30 years - of which li1rs Jenkins had chaired the last nine - on behalf of all conservation officers. We wished them well as new Commissioners. As a compliment to both our guests we were able to present Mrs Jenkins with Howard Calvin's book on Unbuilt Oxford, signed by the author and all present. Mrs Jenkins, in her reply, looked forward to a new partnership between the Commission and Local Authorities in which the AGO and all conservation officers would have a vital part to play. Brian Hennessey and David Warren on their last day as Civil Servants gave us the benefit of their experience in gathering the evidence of problems - and solutions -for the under-use of upper floors of historic buildings. If only the shopkeeper would return to living over his shop! The case studies showed a range of possible alternatives. J Douglas Cowell of Basingstoke took us through the minefield of Housing Act grants and requirements. Fortunately the £-½mspent on grants in Basingstoke is administered by housing officers who have some sympathy for conservat~ ion, and there is a close liaison with the Conservation Officer in the Planning Department. Other Authorities please copy! Carole Ryan of Shropshire and Tony Jenkins of Derbyshire showed the process of erosion amongst listed buildings and in Conservation Areas as the do-it-yourself enthusiast and the mode:rn window salesmen, backed up by the concrete tiler, the sticky stonemason and the Georgian Joiner work hard to remove the variations in our heritage, built without any obvious co-ordination - so that we can all enjoy the same factory-finished product. Home Improvement grants were £740m in 1982-84. Conservation grants in those two years perhaps a tenth of that. 'rhose who are concerned at a possible increase in the number of listed buildings should worry about those reviewed lists with LESS listed buildings as .buildings are de-listed because of destruction by alteration. '11he Workshop sessions on Sunday were summarised and concluded by a stirring advocate of Conservation, Roger Suddards who urged us - if we didn't already - to see the problems of maintaining and conserving our historic towns and buildings from the point of view of other people. 111rhe trained eye versus the Great British Public .. Can people afford anything else? .• Should we be seeking social control? (What?!) What choice has the Public got in price terms? ... nobody explains to them - there is a great need for Education -persuade the Abbey National and the National Westminster Bank, they are easier to get at, and local. Produce Broadsheets rather than glossy brochures - they go further (literally and within a budget). We should get in touch with window and door manufacturers, for example, or concentrate on one or two members - we do not want to see a situation where it is the conservationist versus the planning authority. We should be selective with conservation areas. Make sure the right people have the information. We must educate rather than rely on control. We want positive, not negative processes - Development Control was quite wrong - it should be Plan Implementation." If there was one message from Oxford, it was that we have to be not just historic buildings experts - we are - but people experts. We have to sell the benefits of conservation, not only to the owners of the buildings or the citizens of the historic towns, but to all those who make decisions affecting their future. We needed the powers of persuasion rather than the powers of legislation. (Conference re~ort by Mike Pearce)
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