Re: Re: List of Protected Structures

Probably like most people who who post here I am interested in buildings and would like some to be preserved from insensitive development. I have often made submissions to planning authorities on such cases.

Someone has to make the call as to what should be ‘protected’ and I am happy to leave it to the planners (but ultimately the councillors, sensitive souls, may overrule the planners).

Nevertheless, I too would question the idea of conserving for the appreciation of the few (at the expense of all).

Ultimately I have come to believe that we should conserve whatever is deemed worthy of conservation but that we must compensate the owners – I think it unreasonable to require an individual to retain draughty timber windows (and perhaps a thatched roof – or a set of railings which prevent off street parking) for my (relatively) rarified pleasure.

Why, for example, should an owner in an unprotected property be permitted off street parking (or an additional dwelling/s within his cultilege) when this is denied to the owner of a protecred structure? If society deems it important enough to restrict in terms of development then compensation should be automatic. Ditto for protected views and landscapes.