Memorandum by Oxfordshire Architectural
and Historical Society (HIS 41)
1. We are pleased to offer our response
to your invitation to contribute to your examination of this subject.
The Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society has a longstanding
interest in the historic environment having developed from the
various strands of ecclesiology and promotion of Gothic architecture
in Oxford in the 1860s to a county-wide organisation with almost
800 members concerned with archaeology, built heritage and history.
Our members include people of national and international standing
in these fields. Our Listed Buildings sub-committee review all
planning applications relating to listed buildings in the county,
and in 2001 wrote 115 letters to the local planning authorities
on such proposals. Of these, 39 were on behalf of the Council
for British Archaeology, for whom we act as agents in Oxfordshire,
on cases involving demolition or partial demolition. We thus have
a deep and wide experience in researching, communicating and engaging
in the processes relating to the historic environment.
2. We believe that historic buildings and
public places are of immeasurable importance to our urban areas.
Most of our towns and cities developed from medieval cores, sometimes
even on the basis of Roman or Saxon street patterns, and although
the buildings are invariably later, in many cases the layout of
roads, boundaries and spaces reflects earlier development. Such
areas help to connect people with the past, and provide a human-scale
sense of place which is often lacking in later planned redevelopments.
Large-scale post-war "slum clearance" projects, such
as the Westgate Centre in Oxford are often out of scale with their
surroundings, and the type of "urban regeneration" they
bring is of the car-based standard high-street shopping variety.
The alternative of using existing buildings provides premises
for the growth of locally-based businesses, and flats above for
domestic use attractive for town-centre living. Shopping in such
areas is pedestrian based, diverse, and attractive to locals and
visitors alike. As can be seen in the pedestrianised centres of
many towns today, such development is appreciated and commercially
viable.
3. "Urban regeneration" in the
sense sought by the Committee's question, can perhaps best be
illustrated in Oxfordshire with reference to Wallingford. Over
the past 25 years this market town has, in most cases through
the dedication of local groups, used its historic buildings and
spaces to spearhead regeneration from traffic-stifled semi-dereliction
to a thriving local centre. The former Lamb Inn, at the centre
of the town, is now a vibrant mixed-use facility; the Corn Exchange
was converted by the local drama group into a theatre/cinema,
the immense Norman castle site, once one of the most important
in England, has been adopted by the town and opened to the public
as a major new amentiy space, and the "public realm"
strategy for the market area has seen the removal of parking and
a new paving scheme which have added immensely to the quality
of the townscape. The background and further details of this remarkable
example of urban regeneration involving historic buildings is
set out in the attached article by our current President, Dr Malcolm
Airs, published in the journal of the Town and Country Planning
Association.
4. Other towns have for some time depended
on their historic centres for trade and visitor interest, but
recent developments in Banbury, involving the restoration of Tooley's
Boatyard, and associated canal-side projects involving historic
structures, are transforming a previously neglected part of the
town centre. In Oxford, there is currently great interest in the
ways in which the former castle and prison site can be the focus
of greater understanding of this neglected part of the city's
history, re-integrated with the city centre and opened to public
access. The proposed re-creation of the former basin at the termination
of the Oxford Canal will also provide a new and attractive public
space and assist in the regeneration of a neglected part of the
city.
5. One area with which we have a particular
difficulty is in the redevelopment of former industrial buildings
in the town centre. Notable failures in Oxford to find alternatives
to demolition include the former LMS railway station (Grade II*)
and the former Morrells Brewery (deemed unlistable), while in
Abingdon, Morland's Brewery suffered the same fate. Industrial
buildings such as these form part of the collective memory of
the townscape, and of the people who worked there, and we believe
that more effort should be made to retain and use them more effectively.
THE ROLE
AND EFFECTIVENESS
OF ORGANISATIONS
RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE BUILT
AND HISTORIC
ENVIRONMENT IN
ENCOURAGING URBAN
REGENERATION
6. In a property-owning democracy, it is
ultimately only the owner of a building who has responsibility
for it; bodies such as English Heritage have responsibilities
for administering the law and government policy in this area.
Accordingly, the role and effectiveness of these organisations
is constrained by the need for consensus and acceptance by owners
that the historic environment is a national asset of which they
are custodians. The educational role of national and local bodies
must be key to this, and budgets need to be set with this in mind.
THE LISTING
SYSTEM
7. We believe that the basic principle of
the listing system plays a very valuable part in urban regeneration.
By ensuring that buildings of historic or architectural value
are recognised, that information about them is recorded and made
available, there is heightened public awareness and respect for
the historic environment. In practice, however, it gives no guarantee
that listed buildings will not be demolished or altered in major
ways, and a determined developer will very often win an appeal.
The other respect in which it is inadequate is that in many cases
it focuses on individual structures, rather than on "townscape
value". There is a reluctance to use the available legislation
on Conservation Areas to limit "permitted development"
to achieve a similar aim. Accordingly, we think the system needs
to be extended and tightened, but involving local people in defining
the values which characterise their town and city neighbourhoods.
ORGANISATIONS RESPONSIBLE
FOR URBAN
REGENERATION
8. We have no direct experience of these,
but would comment only that their advice should be moderated by
the use of architects trained in historic building conservation,
rather than be dominated by those whose main interest is in demolishing
and rebuilding.
DO ALL
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
TAKE ADEQUATE
ACCOUNT OF
THE HISTORIC
ENVIRONMENT?
9. Tempting as it is to answer this question
with reference to the lack of interest in DEFRA to the fate of
historic farm buildings following the foot-and-mouth epidemic
and its effects on farming, this is not of much relevance to urban
regeneration. However, it illustrates the need for "joined-up"
thinking in this area, as potentially every department has some
responsibilities for the historic environment. Transport is a
case in point, where in 1999 a regrettable failure in the approval
process relating to the former LMS station was that a public enquiry
was held into the Oxford Transport Strategy, which entailed removal
of this building, yet the inspector was unable to comment on that
part of the proposal. This despite the fact that, if listed building
consent had not been obtained for demolition, the transport strategy
would not have been able to go ahead in its present form.
10. Another major issue is the attitude
of the Treasury. There should be tax incentives for businesses
and individuals to spend money on conservation schemes, either
relating to their own buildings and environments, or in respect
to donations to voluntary bodies and others, particularly to help
with running costs. The removal of VAT on repairs to listed buildings
seems an essential step in changing attitudes and giving incentives
to owners.
COMMENTS ON
"THE HISTORIC
ENVIRONMENT: A
FORCE FOR
OUR FUTURE"
11. There are many fine sentiments and proposals
in this document, but in those few cases where it does actually
promise action, for example in reducing the VAT burden on places
of worship, it falls far short of what is needed. There is also
no attempt to reconcile the inherent conflicts between areas of
policy, such as protection of historic fabric and increasing accessibility,
for example to the physically disabled. In encouraging the wider
extension of the "blue plaques" scheme because it encourages
public involvement, no account is taken of the potential damage
to historic buildings or the intrusion of yet more signs into
town centres which already scream at the visitor to the point
where the result is counter-productive.
WHAT FISCAL
AND LEGISLATIVE
CHANGES SHOULD
BE MADE?
12. We have already referred to the need
to remove VAT on repairs to listed buildings, but there are also
other ways in which the government could encourage constructive
re-use of historic buildings through a strengthened listing or
conservation area system, for example by increasing the amount
available in grants.
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