Buildings Sub Committee Report - January 2010

YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2009

Members of the Building Sub-Committee:

Jon Goodall, John Aston, Peter Ellis, Gwyn Jones, Christine Jordan, Janet Lawrence, Richard
Lawrence (Chair), Grahame Lees, Rowan Roenisch, Mike Taylor, Jenny Westmoreland.
Special thanks to Janet and Richard Lawrence for their hosting of the Sub-Committee meetings.

Overall View of the Year

This was the first year since Rowan Roenisch stood down as our Conservation Adviser and her duties have been shared out amongst other members of the Sub-Committee.  Given this transition it is perhaps fortunate that the economic situation has meant a sharp downturn in developers’ activities.  There continues to be a surplus not only of office space but also of city centre apartments – which historically have been the two main areas of interest for speculative development.  Thus, for example the demolition of the former Thomas Cook Hotel in Granby Street and the skyscraper developments near Bath Lane are both on hold.

The downside of this is the reluctance of developers to spend money on maintaining listed buildings.  A few examples of this are given later.

Major Concerns

Without a doubt the structure which has generated the most local publicity over the year was the former ‘bowstring’ bridge in Western Boulevard (built by the Great Central Railway in 1898), together with the nearby public house (The Pump and Tap).  For both these the City Council and De Montfort University have come in for much criticism.

However, it should be noted that in the case of the public house this was, strictly speaking, entirely the responsibility of the University, for they owned this building, which, despite the splendour of its beer, was not suitable for listing.  As it was not in a conservation area they could demolish it whenever they wished, with no reference to the planning authorities, which they duly did. 

The bridge was a completely different matter however.  Owned by the City Council it had been adapted as part of the Great Central Way – a pedestrian and cycle way running in from the outskirts.  Thus its future was thought to be reasonably secure.  However the Council carried out little or no maintenance on the structure and several years ago closed it to public access, declaring it to be unsafe.

It was at that time that our Society applied to have the bridge listed.  However it was turned down by English Heritage on the grounds that it was not an especially rare structure, albeit of local interest.  This rejection virtually sealed its fate since (as was discovered in the court hearing last year) the Council was under no legal obligation to maintain the bridge.

As English Heritage’s own guidance rules say that an application will only be reconsidered if significant new information is forthcoming, the Civic Society’s much publicised submission in 2009 stood little chance of success.  This was indeed the case and thus the bridge was finally demolished towards the end of 2009 – a sad end.  Many lessons have been learnt.

As mentioned earler a downside of the economic depression is the reluctance of developers to maintain listed buildings.  The worst example is Donisthorpe’s Mill on Bath Lane (mentioned in last year’s report).  This Grade 2 listed building is just on the edge of our time period and would have been the centrepiece of the riverbank development.  This is now in abeyance and the building has been heavily vandalised.  We and other conservation groups are pressing the City Council to take appropriate measures.  Other buildings are suffering to a lesser extent but on the other side of the coin it is pleasing to note that, although they still await new occupiers, the three empty banks in the city centre appear to be well looked after.

Other Activities

To assist the City Council we, in conjunction with other groups, carried out external surveys of the condition of buildings within Conservation Areas.  Four such areas were surveyed by our group and it was extremely encouraging to note that remarkably few buildings (even those in multiple occupancy) were in poor condition.

In September members of the Building Sub Committee attended a one-day event organised by English Heritage on the subject of Planning Policy Statement 15 (PPS15).

Throughout the year Jon Goodall has been the Society’s representative on the Leicester City Council Conservation Advisory Panel.  Although scheduled to meet monthly it should be noted that, reflecting the economic downturn, certain meetings were cancelled or merged due to the lack of agenda items.

We continue to have a keen interest in Welford Road Cemetery, where John Aston keeps us up to date at our Sub-Committee meetings.

Looking to the future one expects that the economic climate will improve and it is likely that church redundancy will feature increasingly in our workload, speaking of which more volunteers are always welcome.

Jon Goodall

12th January 2010