More cash please...

[Nemesis]

I would suggest 17,000 is a conservative estimate!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6262735.stm


And by the time the Olympics has sucked more cash, the situation can only get worse.

 

[DaveBrigg]

In our District, over 50,000 pounds is being spent by the council repairing a listed bridge. All well and good, but the brick bridge is on a road which has since been diverted, so goes nowhere, and is over a drainage canal which has also been diverted, and so is dry. Investigations revealed that it was originally built with virtually no foundations, and so suffered from serious under scouring when in use. The repairs involve almost complete demolition of sections, and reinforcement with steel. Many of the bricks are also crumbling and will need replacement.
The CO has done a good job in insisting on the repairs rather than demolition, but with so many other buildings requiring attention, should funds have been allocated to possibly more deserving projects. (We've already had a full grant, thanks :wink: ) If cash is going to be limited, do some buildings deserve preservation more than others?

http://www.west-lindsey.gov.uk/section.asp?docId=1937 - the bridge is on page 18 of the PDF document.

 

[biffvernon]

Do you mean the Old Tollgate Bridge at Waddingham?

It's the County Council's fault that the bridge got into this state of disrepair. They should have looked after it many years ago but didn't. Now the chickens have come home to roost they absolutely must not be let off. It will only encourage folk (and Councils) to neglect listed buildings until it is judged that they are too expensive to be repaired and can then be domolished.

Well done West Lindsey District Council in standing up to Lincolnshire County Council.

http://committee.west-lindsey.gov.uk/comm_mins/documents/PL/Reports/PL0125R.htm

 

[Nemesis]

Sadly...

http://www.cumberland-news.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=452209

I'm very upset.

 

[DaveBrigg]

That's the one Biff. What an impressive knowledge of Lincolnshire buildings at risk! The CO is really on the ball, but does this structure have any merits, apart from just being old? For most listed buildings around here the reasons for listing are obvious, but should we try to preserve every old structure? There are a number of buildings on the local At Risk register which could have benefited from the cash instead. Or is this the start of a slippery slope?

 

[Nemesis]

I assume that this one actually belongs to the local authority, and it's therefore its respnsibility to ensure it is no longer at risk. Local authorities are supposed to set an example. Anyhow, it's a handsome structure and no doubt listed for a reason.

How many others are listed, and at risk, and belong to the local authority?

If others are privately owned then really the responsibility is that of the owner. If they are on the local list then why are they not notified to SAVE and put on the national one?

 

[biffvernon]

...but does this structure have any merits, apart from just being old?

Call me strange but I'm rather interested in features that make up the whole historic landscape, not just houses and the grander sticky-up objects. Sometimes the most insignificant looking structures, half buried and forgotten, can tell us much about our heritage and add greatly to the fabric of the land for those with eyes to notice. Structures associated with transport generally, and roads in particular, are easily lost when their economic use is over and they are in the way of new development. This bridge is significant in the history of both road and river transport and the changes in the drainage of the Ancholme Valley.

 

[biffvernon]

I assume that this one actually belongs to the local authority, and it's therefore its respnsibility to ensure it is no longer at risk.

That's just it. The County Council own it - it's actually still a highway (leading nowhere!).