WARRINGTON Civic Society plan to look into the responsibilities of other owners of historic buildings in the Bridge Street Conservation Area after the recent demolition of Garnett’s Water Tower.
Members of the society are disappointed the iconic Garnett’s Water Tower, which had been a feature of the town’s skyline for 112 years and Cabinet Works and the Unitarian Chapel Sunday School, had been left to become derelict for decades, despite being important part of the Bridge Street Conservation Area.
James Gibson, a conservation architect and planner born and brought up in Warrington, said: “The Council set up seven Conservation Areas in the town centre to protect historic buildings in Warrington, under the Civic Amenities Act 1967, because they recognised how important these buildings are, not just to Warringtonians but in many cases to the whole of Britain. In 1980 Bridge Street was considered to be the finest example of a Victorian/Edwardian shopping street outside Chester and the Council rightly acknowledged this by putting it at the very heart of the Bridge Street Conservation Area.”
Conservation Areas safeguard the appearance and character of an area with a legal framework that takes into account unlisted buildings, street patterns, and the spaces between buildings. Any new development has to preserve or enhance this character. Developers who buy in a Conservation Area do so on the assumption that demolition of heritage buildings will not be allowed and with the knowledge that ‘conservation area consent’ is specifically required to demolish even unlisted buildings.
Civic Society member, Sean Clemo, said: “The demolition of the Water Tower is a direct snub to generations of Warrington people from developers outside the town – they’re basically saying we don’t care about your history, we don’t care how much these buildings mean to you and we’re going to completely ignore our duties and responsibilities as owners of a listed building – all we’re interested in is the value of the land it stands on.”
Statutory ‘Listing’ identifies buildings throughout Britain that are of significant national, and sometimes even international, importance that must be preserved for the knowledge and enjoyment of future generations. While the majority of these are listed as Grade II, around 5.5% are currently identified as particularly important to Britain and listed Grade II*. 2.5% are currently listed Grade I – of the highest importance to Britain, and possibly the world. Local Authorities can list other buildings themselves that are regionally important.
Warrington has 87 statutory listed items in the town centre alone, with six of these listed Grade II* and three listed Grade I.
The Bridge Street Conservation Area has 21 listed buildings: 70% of the buildings on the west side of Bridge Street and 60% of buildings on its east side are either statutory or locally listed.
Another member, Victoria Madden said: “These buildings are not commercial assets to be exploited by developers to line their own pockets; these are heritage assets that belong first and foremost to the people of Warrington and their future generations. You do not own a historic building like the locally listed Water Tower, you hold it in trust for the nation, in the same way that an owner of a stately home does.’’
Barbara Clarke, another member of the society, added: “The developers were fully aware of the legal responsibilities and obligations which come with buying a listed building in a Conservation Area and blatantly chose to ignore them. The Civic Society will be writing annually to all owners of heritage assets within the Bridge Street Conservation Area, which have been allowed to become run down, to ask them to maintain the fabric of the building. This has been an ongoing problem in Warrington for decades and it’s high time it was addressed by someone.”
4 Comments
Warrington Civic Society should focus its urgent attention upon the reasons for the long-term inaction of Warrington Borough Council to save the Water Tower and its contiguous buildings wbich had been decaying for years. WBC posesses several very powerful legal instruments to save the buildings: The Planning (Listed Buildings + Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and Section 215 of the Planning Act 1990. But WBC chose not to use these draconian powers, but chose the Building Acts to demolished them instead thereby circumventing the Planning Acts. The same process of allowing buildings to decay can be seen re. The Packet House and Grappenhall Rectory. Warrington Civic Society should hold WBC to account as to why it continues to desist from robustly using the powerful planning legislation at its disposal. Other towns and cities are mainly successful in protecting their architectural heritage and local distinctiveness; why not Warrington ? Buildings owners have no legal responsibilty for protecting historic buildings which they own. They, naturally, have responsibilties to themselves and legal responsibilities to their shareholders. So its no use arguing that they have ‘moral’ responsibilities which cannot be enforced.
Is it too much to hope we may soon see some meaningful input from the Civic Society into the mess that is WBC’s planning process? Which has ill served the people of Warrington for more than most of us care to remember. Although they have had the powers to to so: “Local Planning Authorities have prime responsibility for taking enforcement steps for a breach of listed building, conservation area and planning controls. They may bring prosecutions, serve enforcement notices or seek injunctions,” WBC ‘planning chiefs’ have consistently failed to exercise them. More power to the Civic Society and its aims and objectives.
However well-meaning members of this Civic Society may be, “writing annually to all owners of heritage assets……….. to ask them to maintain the fabric of the building”, in the belief that this will achieve anything is totally unrealistic! Their letters will just be binned upon receipt!
More worrying is their refusal to address the real problem – the ‘blame’ is put on “developers outside the town”. The true reason we have lost so much of our built heritage and that what remains is being left to rot is because we have a council who don’t care a damm about us or our history and who completely ignore their duties and responsibilities as protectors of our heritage and whose only interest appears to be in ‘the value of the land it stands on.’
We have a council who chose to employ a ‘Regeneration Officer’ infamous for his disregard for heritage. Quote from the Chester Sheaf; “Mr Farrell’s thirteen-year reign has been little less than a disaster for this most unique of English cities and Warrington is welcome to him”. The writer gives details; – http://thechestersheaf.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/so-farewell-then-andy-farrell.html
One might wonder that it was incredible that with such a “CV” Mr Farrell actually gained further employment in the field, even more incredible that WBC employed him as ‘Regeneration Officer’ for the Town Centre project! Utterly incredible that after CABE DESIGN heavily criticised and refused to give their support to the Town Centre plans that Warrington Councillors continued, full steam ahead!
The threat to Warrington’s heritage is not from ‘developers from out of town’ it is from ‘planners from out of town’ and shamefully, mostly from Warrington’s own Town Councillors!
If the Civic Society is going to be in any way effective, they firstly need to acknowledge the truth of who/what is the threat to our heritage and be prepared to put up a fight to save it, otherwise what is the point of this group being in existence?
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