moving house.

[jess marley]

I'm having a bad day here, one where the road noise outside my house seems unbearable. How does anyone think my c.o would react if I asked him to remove my house, slate by slate, stone by stone and re-erect it somewhere a long long way away...?

 

[Penners]

No problem, so long as you can demonstrate that it would be necessary, like-for-like repairs. (To the house - not you).

 

[middi]

That same road must have been there yesterday and the days before that , unless the council has moved it closer to your cottage without your knowledge, in which case it may be within your right to shift your house the same distance as it was before. You will most likely be fined £20,0000 and go to jail for six months though.

On the other hand you could dismantle and move it to the back of beyond without telling them, then complain to the CO that following a long holiday your cottage has been knicked, that will confuse them for a while.

 

[Penners]

Brilliant, Middi! That's what I call creative thinking!

 

[jess marley]

There exists planning permission for an unspeakably ugly 4-bed detached in the back garden..maybe I should threaten the c.o with replacement windows on our frontage unless he lets me re-construct venerable old house on same spot.

 

[Penners]

Yeah, right. That'll work. :?

 

[jess marley]

O.K, how about pinching a 'road closed 'sign and sticking it earlier up the road ?

 

[Penners]

In order to validate the sign, it might also be advisable to dig a flippin' great hole in the road.

 

[middi]

you can always tell the authorities that their existing road layout is getting in the way of your development expansion plans , that should have their staff rolling around the office floor.

 

[jess marley]

It is actually possible to see directly into our property from the windows of the planning and conservation dep'ts, as the council offices are our nearest neighbour, something wich may have helped protect the house from development and modernisation so far...all I'm asking for is a return to the days of the horse and cart, or even quiter, a nice canal. Ho hum.

 

[jess marley]

Sorry. Moaning again.

 

[plumbers mate]

Might be harder to do if it's in the middle of a terrace - I'd love to take my house with me but I fear the gap in the street would be rather obvious.

Perhaps a plastic card 12ins to the foot scale model stood in it's place would fool people for a while....

 

[Ed Holloway]

I can't remember the details but somewhere in (I think West) London they knocked down a terrace house to build a tube line underneath it. Then they mocked up a facade over the line and apparently it is pretty hard to tell from the street. Doesn't seem the best way to conserve our heritage though, and I don't think they rebuilt the house anywhere else.

 

[Ed Holloway]

Found the pics, maybe it isn't that hard to tell from the street!

http://www.urban75.org/london/leinster.html

 

[Nemesis]

There are an awful lot of historic buildings in London (including the Astoria Theatre) both listed and in Conservation Areas which are going to be demolished for Crossrail.

And no-one's going to rebuild them after...

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/001/289.pdf

SAVE is trying to mitigate some of the damage, but...

There's an open air vent in Smithfield, behind Red House cold store. The Metropolitan Railway opened Saturday 10th Jan 1863, and ran between Farringdon Street and Paddinton.

I have a poster with the timetable on the wall in front of me!

 

[Ed Holloway]

Seems a real shame. The fight to save the Astoria could be an interesting one, an alliance between rock fans and conservationists.

 

[Nemesis]

Sadly I think Crossrail will win.

Adam did try by attending the Select Committee... they have suggested that a handful of buildings could be looked at again, but it all boils down to cash really.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmcross.htm

(click on the words in maroon UNCORRECTED EVIDENCE)

18th July uncorrected oral evidence - scroll down past the first part, to para 16073

PS some of us are conservationists and rock fans too...

 

[Ed Holloway]

Oh I don't doubt that for a second, I'm sure there is large overlap between the groups! Apologies for casting aspersions on anyone's music fan credentials.

 

[plumbers mate]

But the inserted "building" looks better - the windows, false though they may be, puts the ones to the right of them to shame!