Civic Society call on Council to save Warrington’s remaining heritage assets

WARRINGTON Civic Society is calling on the Council to protect the town’s remaining heritage assets amid growing fears that other important buildings in the town centre could be demolished soon.

The plea comes following the recent demolition of the Garnett’s Water Tower with fears the locally listed Packet House on the corner of Bridge Street and Mersey Street,  could be next.

Member Sean Clemo said: ‘The demolition of the Water Tower was a tipping point for the people of Warrington. There is a total lack of respect for Warrington history and culture by the developers who own our historic buildings, that’s been handed out to us for decades, and now we’re saying ‘enough!’ The Civic Society is seeking answers for Warrington people from the developers, and particularly from the Council, about what they’re doing to protect our buildings that are in their care.”

James Gibson, a conservation architect and planner born and brought up in Warrington, said: ‘The Council could quite easily have used its ability to deal with untidy and derelict land and buildings under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to ensure that the owners maintained the fabric of the Water Tower. It could also have called upon Section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as to the ‘desirability of preserving or enhancing the character or appearance of the area’. Both of these ensure that developers who own historic buildings maintain them properly and could have been used to save the Water Tower from becoming unsafe.

“The Water Tower was locally listed by the Council as a building of significant regional importance and included in the Bridge Street Conservation Area to give it further protection.

“The Bridge Street Conservation Area contains over 90 buildings considered locally or nationally important and was set up by the Council in 1980 under the Civic Amenities Act. The Council undertook an Appraisal of the Conservation Area in 2006 which found many of the buildings within it ‘exhibit a wealth of detail and ostentation rare outside the largest towns or cities in the region’ giving Warrington ‘a legacy of fine commercial buildings representing the highest architectural standards of the period.

He added: “The Bridge Street Conservation Area Appraisal is an excellent document that was written by dedicated staff at the Council in 2006 with the intention of it forming the basis for a Management Plan of the Bridge Street Conservation Area. The difficulty is that, as far as can be ascertained, this Management Plan was never written and the recommendations in the Appraisal have not been carried out. The Council’s Conservation Officer was moved into a different role many years ago and the post has never been replaced.”

Sean Clemo added: “‘The buildings in the Conservation Area are heritage assets and Warrington has been putting its money under the bed, rather than in the bank, for decades now. The Cabinet Works could quite easily have been turned into a short-term leisure or community resource if the fabric of the building had been properly maintained. Developing it as a museum on Warrington’s previous town centre industries would have brought in money from tourists.”

The Civic Society are calling on the Council to stop the rot, not only by making sure that all other owners of historic buildings maintain them in a safe condition but also by ensuring that any building in, or adjacent to, a Conservation Area is a high quality development that retains and makes the most of Warrington’s distinctive character. The Council has a duty to do both of these by law.

Another member Barbara Clarke said: “Warrington is a unique town in which Warrington people take a great deal of pride, with a long cultural and technological history. Many of its buildings are not just regionally but nationally important. People would have come from all over the country to look at something like the Water Tower, had it been promoted properly, but they can see similar buildings to the ones being put up now in any city in any part of the world.”

The Civic Society wants to see Warrington’s heritage assets become a vibrant part of a wider cultural scene in the town that will bring in people and money, not dismissed by developers uninformed about the town’s history as mere nostalgia that needs to be swept away.

Another member Victoria Madden said: “Warrington was the birthplace of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, and Warringtonians the entrepreneurs that drove it. We had the first canal in Britain, the first railway branch line in the world, the first steam engine, the first municipal library. We were even the first place in Britain, outside London, to have our streets lighted by gas.

“Warrington’s history and culture means there is tremendous potential here for a thriving tourist industry – but only if we have the buildings. It is vital for Warrington’s future prosperity that we save the heritage assets we have left.”

The Bridge Street Conservation Area Appraisal can be downloaded from the Council’s website at www.warrington.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/8651/bridge_street_conservation_area_appraisal.pdf

A spokesperson for Warrington Borough Council said: “Warrington Borough Council is committed to, and continues to invest in, preserving the heritage of the borough. Sadly not all private land-owners share the same aims.

“Warrington Borough Council would like to invite members of Warrington Civic Society to meet to discuss future developments in the borough and would welcome their input.”