Oughtibridge Mill, Sheffield
A large industrial site is to be cleared to make way for brownfield housing:
Not an especially beautiful mill complex, however I am fond of this the sweeping road front. Makes you know just where you are.
In a perfect world this would be a mill shop. But we can’t save everything can we?
St Johns Hall, Cleckheaton
St Johns Hall, another Kirklees owned building is being pulled down:
https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/planning-applications/search-for-planning-applications/detail.aspx?id=2016/90743https://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/planning-applications/search-for-planning-applications/detail.aspx?id=2016/90743
Although a diminutive building, these civic halls offered spaces for scout packs, brass bands, and various other institutions that make bolster social capitol. Sad to see this type of building go. I need not mention the importance of brass bands in social history.
Kirklees Council continue to plunder their building stock to brighten their balance sheets.
Strange that there is no system that separates powers when both the applicant and the decision maker are one and the same. No chance for the objectors at all.
Westfields, Knowle Park, Mirfield
Loss of another beautiful mansion house as councils continue to jetison their property:
A great description of the building and the politics surrounding the sale and destruction of this piece of history can be found here:
Article in the Examiner can be found here
It infuriates me that the council claim ‘because it isn’t listed we can not stop the demolition of the buildng’ – well you could, firstly by not selling your historic building stock to volume house builders, and secondly by invoking an article 4 ruling. You really can keep ths building alive should you choose to.
You just want the money though. This generation will be looked upon as reckless iconoclasts one day
West Vale Works, Greetland
I’ve feared this one for a while now. An empty Victorian mill won’t stay put for long, what with all that brownfield land underneath it. The magnificent West Vale Works in Calderdale will be demolished:
https://portal.calderdale.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=O0U6L9DWL1400https://portal.calderdale.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=O0U6L9DWL1400
Heritage England contemplated listing the building, but it would seem that if another example of said building exists (ie a Victorian Mill) then protection is not warranted, regardless of how important the building is to the landscape or local context. I’m glad this logic did not apply to the Colosseum.
The rows of terraces lead to the mill, telling the story of daily life in Victorian West Yorkshire.
No one really knows about West Vale. Some argue that it doesn’t exist, and it is in fact Greetland. I’ll leave that decision to the people who live there. I do know however that driving through this village just outside of Elland is West Yorkshire embodied. Photos sadly can not capture how to feels to move through this town past these monuments.
So perfect is the industrial townscape of West Vale, I considered moving there. The loss of this mill and the onset of suburbia in its place will personally devastate me. One by one, the places which embody our Northern identity are being sterilised. We long for authenticity in life, and allowing the market to dictate land use in this way will soon render England soulless.
The Royal Pub, Shipley
Pub in Shipley set to be demolished:
Not an astounding building, but definitely a sight for sore eyes should you find yourself in this sink estate of the impoverished North Bradford conurbation.
It may look derelict now but this building will have more history and meaning than we can possibly imagine.How many people will have dropped a load of clothes off at the launderette before popping next door for a swift pint?
What a shame, another old public house lost. Come on people, this is our culture we are levelling!
Weaver’s Cottage near Holmfirth
Application to demolish a beautiful farm house/weavers cottage:
Just……Why?…its perfect.
The moorland to the South of Huddersfield is stunning, punctuated with small hamlets. Typically, this old building comes from an era prior to the great industrialisation of the area, and can be seen from miles around. The buildings are integral to the landscape. What a strange thing to want to destroy.
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.
