DCS Ref: 100-049-075 Hearing Year of Decision: 2007 Inspector: C COCHRANE
County: NEWPORT Summary of Decision: DISMISSED
Description:
Demolition of fire damaged Listed club building in conservation area of town centre. No evidence that it would not be economically viable to restore the building. No attempt to dispose of building to someone willing to restore it. Demolition without suitable replacement would harm character and appearance of conservation area. Abstract:
Demolition of listed building not justified
An inspector refused to sanction the demolition of a fire-damaged listed building in a conservation area in a south Wales town because it was not justified.
Having received the appellant's estimated costs of repairing and rebuilding the listed building, the council was of the opinion that the appellants had not met the tests in paragraphs 91 and 92 of Welsh Office Circular 61/96. This guidance stated that the Assembly Government would not expect consent to be granted for demolition simply because demolition and redevelopment was economically more attractive to the developer than repair and re-use of an historic building. In order to assess the viability of restoration the inspector found that it was necessary to consider the potential value of the restored building and the whole site, bearing in mind that there was an extant permission for the conversion of the building into two dwellings and the erection of two new dwellings as enabling development in the grounds. He reasoned that such a scheme would have a substantial after value, but noted that the appellant had not suggested any figures for comparison with the estimated refurbishment costs. Consequently, he found that the appellant had failed to demonstrate that it would not be economically viable to preserve the building, as there was no estimated value of the renovated property for comparison. He noted that it appeared from the evidence that the building had been deliberately neglected since the appellant took it over as there had been no attempt to make it weatherproof or to stabilise the damaged areas.
The inspector noted that the building had not been advertised for sale on the open market and there was no evidence to show that it had been offered to a charity or community organisation as an alternative means of securing its future use. Its viability had therefore not been tested in a wider market.
The inspector did not accept that all reasonable efforts had been made to retain and preserve the listed building and therefore decided that it would not be appropriate to allow it to be completely demolished.
COMPASS Index Terms | Issue Codes | | 300 | | Site within conservation area | | 540 | | Demolition of Listed Building or locally listed building in Conservation Area | | 560 | | Viability of Listed building | | |
| Appeal Codes | | 02 | | listed building consent - Appeal against refusal of . | | |
| Site Codes | | 040 | | Town centre fringe only - Post August 06 cases | | |
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