The Veneto motorway - awful news

[Nemesis]

A friend went out last weekend to inspect the site of grim news for World Heritage Sites.

Despite the long and hard campaign against this by SAVE Europe's Heritage, Italia Nostra, and a brave legal battle by the Landmark Trust, the beauty of this area is being ruined by a motorway, which I gather is more about making cash for some than transport needs.

Deeply depressing.

Same in this country - the ghastly stuff happening in Bath, the Caltongate crud in Edinburgh, and development in Avebury...

New houses preferred to regeneration in Avebury WHS site

Plans to build five new homes within the Avebury World Heritage Site were passed by Kennet District Council on Friday, 18th January by twelve votes to one, despite objections from the National Trust, English Heritage, The Avebury Society, the International Council on Monuments and Sites UK (ICOMOS-UK), Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Kennet’s own Conservation Officer is reported by the local newspaper, the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald, to have recommended rejection of the plans as not being in accordance with Kennet’s own local plan policies, but the planning committee felt that the application to demolish Bond’s Garage on Swindon Road and erect five new homes was ‘the best solution for the future of the site’.

These organisations would prefer to have seen the buildings re-used rather than demolished, and converted to a hostel or hotel but local councillors expressed the view that to stifle development at Avebury because it was a World Heritage Site would be wrong.

From this week's Heritage Link



http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/seh_unforgiveable.htm

Printed copies of the SAVE report are still available from the office, but here it is as a PDF:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/seh-unforgiveable.pdf



http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/pdf/Autumn_05_Newsletter.pdf

http://www.heritagelink.org.uk/docs/Updates/Heritage%20Link%20Update%20no%2069.pdf



http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/

http://www.thebigdomain.com/search.php?propertyid=59



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[Penners]

local councillors expressed the view that to stifle development at Avebury because it was a World Heritage Site would be wrong.

Quite right, too.

After all, what's the world's largest known stone circle, about 2500 years old? It's really just a bleedin' field and a few rocks, innit?

But five shiny new, executive dwellings - that's about £2 mill. in the back pocket.

Luvverly!

 

[Nemesis]

http://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/002658.html

http://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/display.var.1958394.0.0.php

Given what has happened in Bath (no call-in) I think it unlikely that this will be. Hope Edinburgh will be as it involves demolition of listed buildings, but trying to fight it at a public inquiry, given the fact HS did not object, may be nigh on impossible.

In fact WHS really have no statutory protection to speak of.

http://letmespeaktothedriver.com/forum/?thread=45895

Interesting short discussion...