Paul Finch's letter from London Demolition policies are about more than heritage

摘要

Understandably, Save Britain's Heritage was delighted with the recent court ruling which extended parts of European law to the procedures and regulations surrounding demolition. Although subject to appeal, if the case is upheld it will make it more difficult to demolish more or less anything without going through considerably more hoops. Is this a victory for conservation, or another example of unwanted EU directives interfering with market forces? Possibly a bit of both, but there are some underlying issues surrounding demolition which are worth considering as we rationalise our planning system. Broadly speaking (at least until the recent legal ruling) you do not need planning permission to demolish buildings you own unless they are in a conservation area. This is odd. Why should the public have to look at a wrecked or hoarded site, possibly for many years, just because a building's owner decided to demolish without rebuilding? Why should citizens not fortunate enough to live in a conservation area have to put up with their patch being made worse because of non-existent planning rules?