30 Y e a r b o o k 2 0 1 0 of all documentation and drawings accompanying the application, and ensure that this is adequate to allow the impact on the special interest of the building to be properly assessed’ (Circular 01/2001, para 19). Many councils appreciate the value of national amenity society advice and view this input as a useful complement to their own expertise. The SPAB may, for example, be able to supply a specialist opinion about materials and methods of repair, about conservation philosophy, or obtain free advice from a specialist member such as a conservation structural engineer. There is perhaps an understandable wariness among some conservation officers about involving other experts, but the society is there for the building and will give solid backing to any council advocating conservation. Councils with good conservation teams, such as Basingstoke in Hampshire, acknowledge this by actively seeking our opinion. In one recent case, for example, senior conservation officer Andrew Barber sought the society’s advice in a case where trial cleaning of a building’s historic timbers had produced a harmful opening up of the grain. Our technical team was able to offer suggestions and information. While the society will always be concerned about major demolition proposals affecting buildings within our period, we are often just as interested in matters of repair and alteration. At Newbury, for instance, we recently advised on an application for proposed removal of cement render from the front of a listed brick building. At the request of the owner, and conservation officer Denis Greenway, we gave further advice at a post-application stage when questions arose about whether or not it was desirable to fulfil the condition of the consent that required application of a replacement lime render. In another example from 2009, at Mere in Wiltshire, we were able to join the applicant and council’s conservation officers for constructive discussions about a difficult stone replacement issue. This led to a negotiated listed building consent. We are particularly keen to be involved from an early stage of the discussion process. Recent preapplication advice was given, for example, at a Grade II* listed farm at Dymock in Gloucestershire. We were invited to discuss the scheme by the applicant’s surveyor. We were particularly pleased to be involved because the local authority (Forest of Dean) had very regrettably dispensed with its conservation officer. We also see ourselves as back-up to conservation staff, where needed. At Maldon in Essex we are currently supporting the council in an appeal against enforcement action over an alleged breach of listed building control. During 2009 the society’s statutory role gained two new dimensions. Firstly, we became one of the consultees for major infrastructure schemes. Perhaps more significantly, on 1 December 2009, our role in relation to listed building ‘call-ins’ grew. In the case of any listed building application in England involving substantial demolition, if the SPAB or one of the other national amenity societies make a formal objection and request call-in, the planning authority must now refer the application to the Government Office before it can be determined. We are yet to see how Richard Jordan (right), a roofing specialist and former SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow, helps train young people at a course run for Wigan’s Townscape Heritage Initiative scheme.
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