Pic of the Week

[biffvernon]

Allegedly, my local Conservative Club changed some of their old windows for plastic. Maybe they thought that by painting them blue no-one would notice, but the keen-eyed man from the council spotted them and knew that planning consent within this Conservation Area was required but had not been obtained.

Now the Conservative Club have been ordered to remove the offending windows and replace them with ones deemed suitable by the Planning and Conservation Officers (just as soon as they can find a joiner).

 

[Nemesis]

Isn't this the party of Law and Order?

David Cameron said, "Britain's crime crisis is just one part of the social breakdown we see around us. We can and will fight back."

 

[Penners]

That looks like CRAP* to me.




*(Crime Against Property)

 

[DaveBrigg]

String 'em up. It's the only language they understand.

 

[Nigel Watts]

What a shocker. Waging war on Iraq for no obvious reason to do with self defence, supported by sexed up and deliberately misleading intelligence reports, is nothing compared to this!

 

[chuckey]

So the crime is not the awful blue paint, its whats underneath it? Seems daft to me.
Frank

 

[Nemesis]

Not big on conservation, are you Frank?

 

[chuckey]

Being an old fart, when I walk down a street and see those great big lumps of blue I feel an act of desecration has occurred. I can't see exactly whats under that paint, so I don't worry about it.
All three windows are of a different style, I presume its the upper one that is grieving you? What about the two flues? Oh yes, and the plastic waste pipe?
The front of buildings should be looked after but the off street sides? Do we have to have cast iron vent pipes? There is a balance between conserving the front of a building and the problem of actually having a building that is suitable for the 21st century.
Unless the building has some unique feature, providing it "in style" from the road its enough. If it had some unique arrangement of prototype windows at the back, they should have some special listing, and of course their surroundings, i.e.. the whole of the back.
We are talking about what looks like a fairly bog standard victorian town dwelling. While we doing this I bet there are developers who are commiting acts such as the wrecking of the tiles around the door of the Hoover building on the A4.
Lets save our shot for a decent target.
Frank

 

[Nemesis]

No, not big on conservation then.

 

[biffvernon]

The wall in the Picture is a side wall to a building that fronts directly on the street pavement. Both sides, with their new blue plastic windows, are very visible from the street and could in no way be thought of as 'round the back'. They contribute materially to the streetscape of this Conservation Area. The law has been sensibly applied IMHO.

 

[Penners]

I bet there are developers who are commiting acts such as the wrecking of the tiles around the door of the Hoover building on the A4.

The Hoover building is already a classic act of vandalism in itself. Only the facade has been left, hiding a supermarket behind.

 

[Nemesis]

'Our' shot?

Glad you do things then Frank!

 

[ljn]

Glad they got shopped, the building looks a total mess. Why blue, though. Aren't conservatives painting things green these days?

 

[Moo]

The paint colour is just another item in the catalogue of nasty things that have been done to that inoffensive wall over quite a long time. Old windows filled in and new ones opened up, oddly placed vents, then more (plastic?) vents.
Whether or not the offending window is replaced, and/or the paint colour toned down, the whole thing is a not a feast for the eye.

 

[biffvernon]

Curiously, I noticed today that the offendingly plastic window, illustrated at the top of this thread, has now, rather than being replaced by a wooden one fit for its Conservation Area status, been painted a darker shade of blue. Whether the Conservative Club has any association with members of the Conservative Party led Council, particularly those on the Planning Committee, I would not know.

Maybe the rules have been changed to allow plastic windows so long as they are dark blue.

 

[Penners]

Curiously, I noticed today that the offendingly plastic window, illustrated at the top of this thread, has now, rather than being replaced by a wooden one fit for its Conservation Area status, been painted a darker shade of blue.

I guess it was done after the Conservative Party conference. It's a metaphor for DC's deeper commitment to the home, the family, children, trees, clouds and fluffy animals.

 

[Nemesis]

I suspect that in reality there is b..... all that the CO can do, as it's iffy really whether or not they have done anything illegal (unless there is an Article Four). It may have gone to an Enforcement Committee, which thought painting a colour from the approved list (many local authorities will have one which they would like people to use in Conservation Areas) would solve the problem.

I bet a whole heap of local councillors are on the committeee. Bet many are conservatives.


(Happened in my local authority with a listed building.)

 

[biffvernon]

Oh yes, Article 4 applies in this area and you are right about the composition of the council.

 

[Nemesis]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7114949.stm

 

[Gareth Hughes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7114949.stm

Different rules north of the border, though.