Quality of Conservation Officers

[treepruner]

I am newly (2yrs) exposed to the wonders of Listed Building consents with a G2 house.

I live in South Oxfordshire where by repute, and now by direct experience, the conservation officers in the District Council are extraordinarily bureaucratic and self opinionated about what can and cannot be done. Repairs identical to those that friends in neighbouring districts have had 'nodded through' are here put through and unending meat grinder of pettifogging with an attitude that suggests that far from seeing my wish to conserve my own property as a good thing they assume that I must be as philistine as the worst of professional property developers.

Everyone else in our village has advised us just not to tell them anything about anything but our repair is too big to go unnoticed and is now on their system. I fully understand the advice however!!

Recently, Clive Aslet, Editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, published an article including the statement: 'In fact, to many owners nowadays, the greatest danger comes from the poorly trained conservation officers who seem to have carte blanche to impose their stylistic whims.' This is what we are suffering from. Does anyone know how to get these people to behave reasonably? We have tried everything we can think to no avail.

 

[skier-hughes]

Each and every house is different
Each and every CO is different.
Whereas what you see as a perfectly reasonable idea, because it happened to another house in another area, your CO may see as a big problem, as it affects your house in a totally different way.

No idea what you consider unreasonable as you haven't said, but the only ay to get on with CO's is to get on with them, talk, talk and more talk.

Whning on here, where several CO's regularly post, is possibly not your best way forward, in particular as a first post.

Maybe explain more about your plans and why they are not rasonable.

Graham

 

[Moo]

Oh, come on, Graham - we all know that not all COs are all the same. I've been lucky enough to deal with two who were exemplary (both in this region), but had a glancing encounter with one who was an absolute nightmare and seemed to take a vindictive delight in being as unpleasant as possible. I subsequently learned that he was notorious for being like that with everyone.

Most of them, like our PPUK members, are dedicated, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and grossly overworked, but in every barrel there may well be the odd manky apple and there's a chance that treepruner may be unfortunate enough to have found it.

As you say - "Maybe explain more about your plans and why they are not reasonable."

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Each and every house is different
Each and every CO is different.

And, each and every owner is different.

 

[skier-hughes]

Ooops yes, should have added that one Gareth.

 

[Penners]

our repair is too big to go unnoticed

Do you really mean "repair"? If so, then no LBC should be required, assuming you're simply carrying out like-for-like repairs.

I used to live in South Oxfordshire, and I carried out extensive work on a listed Grade II house, near Chipping Norton. I have to say that I had no trouble at all with the CO. In fact, he was helpful and enthusiastic about it. This was, however, about 16 years ago, and I imagine there will have been a fair turnover of staff between then and now.

I don't deny that there may be some difficult CO's out there (not to mention, as Gareth says, some difficult owners!), but you have to remember the crucial point: the CO's duty is to the listed building, not to what you want to do with it. If those two principles come into conflict, then you will invariably lose the argument.

I've always believed that the best approach is to seek the CO's help, rather than simply placing a series of demands on the table (I'm not accusing you of this - just outlining general principles). If you can sit down and explain what you want from the building, you may well find that the CO will come up with some ideas that could circumvent problems and broadly achieve the ends that you're seeking. But you have to be prepared to be a bit flexible.

I'm afraid that conflict will rarely end in a good result for you.

 

[DaveBrigg]

I have to say that our CO and his staff are absolutely excellent - couldn't ask for more or better support and guidance. I understand that he wasn't as popular with the county council who wanted to demolish an old listed bridge, but ended up having to spend thousands on repairs, but as Penners said, their duty is to the building. You haven't said whether you repairs have actually been refused, or whether it is just the lengthy process that is dragging you down. If your plans have been turned down, it might be worth explaining the problem, and then asking him/her for their suggested response. Negotiation is difficult when the CO has all the cards, but at least it could be a starting point.