Gothic building in Otley to be knocked down
Permission for the demolition of a beautiful cottage ‘Church View’ in Otley has been applied for:
A splendid blackened building that adds so much to the route along the road here, as the gothic vernacular emerges amidst the hedgerows. The demolition and replacement of this cottage will seriously detriment the aesthetic quality of the local cluster of buildings, and would set a dangerous precedent for future replacement dwellings in rural estates.
You can sense the reluctance of Indigo Planning to support this proposal in their Heritage Statement. They acknowledge the unique importance of this building, but have found a tenuous argument along the lines of ‘the building s not listed’, and ‘a previous application to extend the property did not warrant concern over conservation’.
Incidentally, should anyone from a planning consultancy be reading this, I want to make it very clear – your profession is not in town planning but quite the opposite; the manipulation of planning law to serve speculators at the expense of society.
Eccleshill Methodist Church, Bradford
Another Wesleyan Church is set for Demolition in Bradford:
This is a relatively recent building, built in the aftermath of Victorian Methodism in 1911. Nonetheless the sentiment was still there, and these chapels capture the austere modesty of Victorian towns like no other public buildings. The Wesleyan church is integral to the Victorian urban landscape along with the chimneys, the viaducts, and the mills. These buildings embody northern astringent culture perfectly. Hopefully some will be saved in spite of the decline in worship. They make great wine bars don’t they?
Old Fire Station and Chapel, York
Quite a lot of objection made to this application to demolish a whole street in a conservation area in York:
I’d be very surprised if this gets passed, as the people of York tend to rally in these situations, however there are quite a number of letters of support for this proposal, which I find odd. I would like to know how much of a vested interest some of the supporter have for the development. I can not fathom why a resident of York would take time and effort to write to the council to support the demolition of a beautiful cluster of buildings within arms length of Clifford’s Tower. Perhaps they are iconoclasts, or perhaps they genuinely do support more houses/cars in the narrow streets of York City centre, but from my own experience on the dark side (planning consultancy), it is generally favours called in by the developer.
Pubs being flattened in South Yorkshire
A couple of applications to demolish pubs in South Yorkshire:
The Travellers Rest Inn, Pogmoor, Barnsley:
The Thorncliffe Arms, Chapeltown, Sheffield:
The Thorncliffe Arms is over 200 years old and its loss will be lamented by the local community, as indicated by the coverage this application has received in the local press:
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/councillors-lament-loss-of-200-year-old-sheffield-pub-1-7349329
The Travellers Rest Inn is also a good robust building that has served as a community asset for well over 100 years.
Unfortunately there is not much we can do about the market for pubs – if residents of Pogmoor or Chapeltown don’t want to go to pubs any more, they will close. However, that is always subject to change, and rather like Beeching pulling up the railways, demolishing community infrastructure is short sighted. A retail use or otherwise would offer a mothballing scenario, and perhaps one day, when suburban culture feels the need to socialise again, a pub would be viable.
And there are no excuses. The planning legislation to allow local authorities, or neighbourhood planning groups to block these demolitions exists.
Unforgivable demolition of theatre in Hoyland
Speechless……
Wish I had come across this before the permission was curtly passed.
Hoyland is a small town in South Yorkshire, with a decimated centre that was formally a microcosm of Victorian creativity and urban thinking. This building is without a doubt the most impressive example of the era that remains in the centre (please explore street view to see what is left of the centre of the town). First used as a playhouse, then as a cinema, the building has remained redundant for a while, and after having been snapped up by Commercial Development Projects Ltd is now to be flatted to be replaced by:
I just can not understand firstly how the consultant architect can write a design and access that condemns the building to demolition (oh yeah thats right, money), and secondly, how the planning officer can not at least get this to a committee.
To lose this last vestige of Victorian splendour in Hoyland would be a cultural crime, and I’ll be setting about doing everything I can to stop it being even scraped by a bulldozer.
(Hopefully) more to follow…
Former high street in Huddersfield
Plans to demolish the last remnants of the Victorian High Street in Mold Green, Huddersfield:
http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/business/planning/application_search/detail.aspx?id=2015%2f93781
So many times I have driven past this row of buildings, concerned by the portent of boarded up windows and council issued safety signs. There was a time when this part of Huddersfield was Victorian, and the streets were defined by the buildings that fronted them. Then slowly they were demolished to be replaced by car park walls, shrubbed verges, and budget supermarkets. In no time at all the place became formless. This row is the last vestige of traditional urban culture on the road, and its presence helps us to remember how this area once thrived with pedestrians, before it became an arterial road. Sadly the buildings are council owned, and so planning permission is but a formality. Should anyone from Kirklees read this, please reconsider – the housing crisis, the environmental crisis, and the need for identity in northern towns, belies all reasons for demolition. Think on.
Pub in Baildon to make way for flats
Application to needlessly demolish The Little Blue Orange public house to make way for a plot for 6 houses and 9 apartments:
Surely it can be justified that a pub/restaurant in this location is sustainable?
A perfectly robust building that could be used in a number of commercial incarnations, or at worst, converted to very attractive housing, is to be flattened. Pubs have huge car parks, which make such premises easy options to bolster profits when under the cross-hairs of the annual asset audit at a major brewer.
It is a major flaw in the development industry, and is the fault of the planning consultant that hastily fails to consider whether extant buildings are viable for retention. The private consultant works with red line plans only, seeing only hectares and minimum dwelling densities.
Cross Church Street, Huddersfield
Application to extend the Kingsgate centre involving the demolition of part of the historic street front of Cross Church Street:
http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/business/planning/application_search/detail.aspx?id=2015%2f93584
Although not an ornate building, this is an example of a wider context that will be diminished by a development. This street is an in tact albeit rough Victorian Street, with yards tailing off every now and then. Somehow the entire street has survived bombings, redevelopment, and depressions, and it would be a shame for the extension of the Kingsgate Centre to truncate this survival. Strangely enough, the buildings would make way for a cinema. Town centre cinemas were a thing of the past I was told. Lets hoe this indicates something of an urban renaissance.
And while I’m at it, I wish the developer would think more about the frontage they are proposing for Venn Street. This development could actually forge a new quarter in Huddersfield with just a bit of architectural innovation applied.
Oakbank School, Keighley
Another old school building to be demolished in Ingrow, Keighley:
The school itself was constructed in 1963, however in the core of this asbestos/plywood complex is an impressive Manor House known as Haggas Hall.
This image taken in 1963 (thanks to David Kirkley of Keighley Schools Heritage) shows the building in all its manorial glory. Sadly not spectacular enough for Bradford Council to consider intervention, this is yet another historic building to be lost during the current wave of school rebuilding.
Of course it is fantastic that funding is going into building new education facilities for our young people, but there does seem to be a culture of scorched earth redevelopment, rather than the existing sites being analysed as the composites of buildings they are.
Its somewhat lazy, and the new school will lose some capital derived from having a historic ‘core’ building as a centre piece. By all means get rid of the prefabricated periphery, but retain the sturdy stone nucleus.
Hilltop Works, Chapeltown, Leeds
Another grand old Mill building near Leeds is to be razed for housing:
Here is an aerial view of the existing site. I can not find any close up images of the buildings sadly.
Not the most inspiring Victorian building, but impressive nonetheless. As ever it is a shame the developer can’t see the value in conversion to domestic rather than erecting a suburban utopia. A lot of the site would need to be thinned out granted, but if the main edifice of the mill building could be retained, then another fragment of our unique industrial landscape would remain in place.
I am also quite sure that this building is situated in a conversation area – specifically a conservation area predicated on industrial heritage.As ever such designations are entirely meaningless when pit against the planning concepts of brown field land and five year housing supplies.
The Demolition Register 