SANDBLASTINLGIMESTONEBUILDINGS The recent use of sandblasting to clean the facade of a fine John Wood the younger house in Bath has highlighted once again the legal difficulties of preventing this damaging and disfiguring technique. Listed Building Consent is not required for cleaning in Bath (which is usually carried out by washing with water at tap pressure) because it is considered that if it does affect the character of a building it does so only benefi'cially, and because the Council does not wish to place an obstacle in the way of a practice which it wishes to encourage. The Council's lawyers doubt whether they could demonstrate successfully (except in the most extreme cases of damage) that sandblasting is an unauthorised alteration which is contrary to S.55 of the 1971 Town and Country Planning Act-and even if they could, such retrospective action would probably be too late anyway. We are beginning to consider if after all the Council should require Listed Building Consent to be granted for cleaning. We should like to know of other local authorities'experiences in dealing with this problem and would be glad to pass on our findings to anyone else who is interested in them. SIMPLEXSETS We receive enquiries from time to time about obtaining Simplex sets for use with sash windows (the sets are described-in MMSheet 2.05/3 of~ Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses) and are hoping to persuade Graham Reeves (who stock them in Scotland) to stock them in Bath. Their great benefits do not seem to be widely appreciated south of the border, but we should be interested to know if they are being used anywhere in England or indeed if anyone else is hoping to make them available. Please write to: Arnold Root, Assistant Listed Buildings Architect, Dept. of Environmental Services, Bath City Council, Abbey Chambers, Bath. BA1 1NT or telephone on Bath 61111 ext. 512/516 (~ditor's Eote: does no-one but B~th have -,robler.rn these days? ,i11ere a.re you, if you do? ~rite soon!) PLASTICWINDOWS:UCCESSONAPPEAL The Secretary of State recently backed ~ath City Council when an owner appealed against their refusal of ltsted building consent for the insertion of white PVC-framed windows in a Georgian terrace. In December 1982, listed building consent was refused for the installation of three white nonsliding PVC windows on the front elevation of 24 Thomas St, Bath, on the grounds that "the installation ... would seriously detract from the 0 character and appearance of this listed building." Notwithstanding this refusal, the windows were installed ' and the owner appealed against the refusal. The Inspector, Mr. M.P. Parsons, said in his decision letter in February 1984: "~lthough Thomas St is blemished by some inappropriate improvements, the terrace has retained a good degree of unity above basewent level ... when I visited the site I found the difference between the old and the new which the Council described at the Inquiry to be immediately ~vident. The windows are practical and robust but the detail of the opening lights is coarse by comparison with the refinement of the traditional sash windows which I think make an important contribution to the character of the terrace. I therefore consider that the new windows are aesthetically inferior to those which they have replaced and consequently harm the appearance of the listed building." The Secretary of State agreed with the Inspector's recommendations and added that" ... it is accepted that unsympathetic alterations have been carried out to other buildings in the terrace in the recent past, these do not justify further harmful works being undertaken." Dept. of Environment reference: South-West Regional Office APP/POlOS/E/83/000678 29th February 1984.
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