FIDLER ON THE HOOF John Fidler (qv) has been awarded one of ARCUK's research awards for a report to be entitled "The architectural impact of electrical mechanical and ventilating systems on historic buildings: a search for minimal intervention". With luck , this will intervene only minimally between John and his new job at the Commission and as Publicity Officer for the ACO.... ! REGIONAL NEWS South West The South West Region meeting in Frome on March 1st was organised by Robert Ladd, of Mendip District Council, and chaired by Chris Smith of Avon County Council. Guests were Michael Green, of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission, who was able to respond to a number of queries and quibbles about the workings (or otherwise) of the Commisssion; and Sophie Andreae of SAVE Britain's Heritage, who was there to gather information for a forthcoming SAVE report on towns in the south west. A morning's discussion was followed by an afternooon walk round the Trinity area of Frome. Discussion centred, as so often, on the re-survey, with some concern being expressed a½out an unexpected problem: the de-listing ot buildings which had had listed building consent for work carried out, and which, unbelievably, had in some cases also had the benefit of grant aid from the DoE - and in one case, had also won a Civic Trust Award! Chris Smith commented - wearing his listing inspector's hat -that the criterion for de-listing appeared to be that 'extensivP work' had been carried out - it was not often possible, given the limited time available,to go into the 11 planning background and ascertain if apparently over-enthusiastic restoration had been carried out with LBC. Michael Green recommended extreme'vigilance at the draft list stage, so that possible embarrassments can be sorted out. Alistair Brook suggested that there was a tendency now for listing to take account only of historic value rather than architectural and townscape value, which was undermining the achievements of the conservation movement. If current criteria were applied to St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, it would be unlistable because it had been largely re-built in the Cl9! Following a brief communal expression of extreme disapproval of the DoE's proposals in its recent consultation papers on changes in the Planning Acts, (to hand over decision-making on demolition of Gradel! buildings to local authorities), we moved once more to the vexed question of PVC windows; or, more specifically, the question of what can be done with the Planning Committee which refuses to take any notice of a recommendation from the HBMC following notification. In this case, the buildings concerned were in Royal Crescent, Weston-super-Mare, and because they are within the Weston Conservation Area the application to change sash windows to PVC (with pivoted sashes) had been notified to DoE. However, because the listing was not Grade 11*, no referral was necessary after the decision and therefore the Commission's optnions had no real teeth. During the ensuing discussion, Alis~air Brook suggested some guidelines for use of PVC/aluminium windows in listed buildings: that LBC was always necessary; that there should be certain agreed buildings where they could never be used; and that, if we were going to give consent, we must at least try and get the details right. Royston Edge concurred, and said that there was often a reluctance to get involved in technicalities - we should be working with manufacturers more often. During the walkabout after lunch, Robert Ladd expained that the Trinity area of Cl7/Cl8 housing had been scheduled
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