Listed Buildings Prosecutions Database Commentary
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LISTED BUILDINGS PROSECUTIONS DATABASE COMMENTARY Compiled by Bob Kindred MBE BA IHBC MRTPI [email protected] Edition 7 - January 2017 LISTED BUILDING PROSECUTIONS This resume is a response to requests from the courts and local planning authorities for additional information about individual cases beyond the standard short summary in the IHBC Listed Buildings Prosecutions Database [q.v.]. Where further material has been made available it is set out for ease of reference below in alphabetical order of the authorities concerned. Readers should bear in mind the dates of cases. Penalties for offences under Section 7 (and more uncommonly S.59) of the Planning (Listed Buildings & Conservation Areas) Act 1990 were increased by the Planning & Compensation Act 1990 with effect from 25th September 1991. Up to that date the maximum fine per offence in the Magistrates Court was £2,000 but after that date fines were increased to £20,000 (but were unlimited in the Crown Court). References to English Heritage pre-date the formation of Historic England in April 2015 ______________________________________________________________________ Aylesbury Vale District Council [10-2014] Church Farm, Stratford Road, Nash Listed Grade 2. Unauthorised work was carried out to the 17th century farmhouse by dismantling the walls and removing the timbers leaving only two partly rebuilt chimneystacks intact. Mr. Simon Lascelles of St Albans, pleaded guilty at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Court was fined £6,000 and costs of £24,401. The court found significant culpability on Mr. Lascelles’ part, as he was well aware of the statutory significance of the building in architectural and historical terms and knew when the works were executed that they were not authorised, and there was some attempt at financial gain. The prosecution was initiated by the Council after enforcement officers were made aware of the work. In 2010, the Council had applied to the High Court for an injunction to prevent further breaches of listed building control. This resulted in Mr. Lascelles providing a written undertaking to cease unauthorised works until outstanding applications for permission were determined. A temporary stop notice was issued in 2011 requiring the unauthorised works to stop. An Enforcement Notice was also issued requiring certain remedial steps to be undertaken. Later that year, an appeal against the council’s refusal to grant planning permission and listed building consent was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate, as was an appeal against the Enforcement Notice. (Source LPA) Barnet London Borough Council [01-2000] Totteridge Green, Barnet, North London, Listed Grade 2. Unauthorised alterations were made to two windows in this listed house. The defendant, a celebrated TV doctor had replaced two dilapidated 1950s 1 metal frame windows in a three storey detached house with purpose made double glazed sashes in November 1998. Barnet LBC considered this had a most adverse effect on the listed building. The defendant argued that there had been a hotchpotch of windows when she moved in in 1988 and the two in question had been in a parlous state with gaps around the sills. Because of an early guilty plea the defendant was fined £2,000 for each window and costs of £850. (Source: The Press, Barnet). Barnet London Borough Council [01-2015] No.1 Wildwood Road, Barnet, North London Listed Grade 2. Unauthorised alterations were made to this house of 1912, to the designs of G. L. Sutcliffe, listed in 1996 and situated within the Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area. One of a pair of houses making strongly asymmetrical compositions with scattered fenestration and features taken from the Vernacular Revival styles linked by a garden wall and garages, designed by G. L. Sutcliffe in 1912. The house is one of an excellent group Nos. 1-15 by Sutcliffe; all the houses being paired and designed to a restricted range of complementary plan forms. The owner Mr. Maurice Lawee bought the house for £3.7m in 2008 and in 2010 was granted Listed Building Consent for an extension to his basement, which included installing a lift, and a garage conversion. Complaints were received by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust that the owner was carrying out unauthorised work on the property and these were found to include the building of two large conservatories, removing inside walls, the original staircase and doors, and joining outside buildings into the main structure of the house. There were also complaints that the brickwork had been harmed. Conservation officers visited the site and required the works to cease, however notwithstanding repeated assurances by Mr. Lawee and his architect that they would stop, further visits showed the works had carried on regardless. Wildwood Road, Barnet before (left) and after (right) The solicitor from Barnet Council's shared legal practice, HB Public Law contended that “Irreversible damage has been caused to the brickwork and outhouse and original features appear to have been destroyed or removed from the building.” Mr. Lawee, pleaded guilty to four offences of carrying out unauthorised work to a listed building at Willesden Magistrates' Court in January 2015 in a prosecution brought by Barnet Council and was fined £45,000 and ordered to pay the council’s costs of £14,000. The owner subsequently applied for retrospective consent for the works, some of which were approved but others were refused. The architectural adviser for the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, David Davidson, remarked that: “The suburb is an area of international significance in the history of town planning and architecture, and alterations to its buildings need to be carefully considered in order to retain its special characteristics”. (Source: LPA) Braintree District Council [08-1990] Foxhearth Hall, The Street, Foxearth, Essex, Listed Grade 2*. Built in c.1300 the house had been the subject of few adaptations of modifications. In the 15th century the open aisled hall was floored to give 2 accommodation at first floor. Unusually the Hall also had an extra floor inserted to give an attic area accessed by an oak solid tread stair. The high quality of workmanship, extent of the surviving ancient timberwork and rare attic floor was responsible for the Grade 2* listing. Following complaints to the local planning authority from the previous owner, the local planning authority visited the building in August 1989 and the new owner was advised to stop work. A year-long investigation in conjunction with the Historic buildings Specialists at Essex County Council concluded with the owner Mr. Raymond Pluck pleaded guilty to 10 counts including removing the attic floor; the solid tread staircase and ancient timbers as well as the removal of partition walls and ceilings on the first floor; removal of the partition to the staircase enclosure in the hall; removal of wall linings and two fireplaces and removal of the front porch. The defendant who owned at least one other Listed building (on which unauthorised work had also been undertaken) was un-cooperative throughout and was a maximum (at that time) of £2,000 on each of eight counts and £1,000 on each of the remainder by Halstead Magistrates Court; totaling £18,000 with £5,158.60 costs. The defendant was given seven days to pay. (Source: LPA) Braintree District Council [10-2000] Hole Farm, Kelvedon, Listed Grade 2* The building was described by the person responsible for listing it, John McCann, as a remarkably unaltered specimen of a mediaeval hall house. The owner undertook The unauthorised replacement of windows; removal of an early staircase, cupboard and door; installation of a new staircase; removal of one fireplace and alteration of another, and cutting of a tie beam. The owner was found guilty on four counts and was fined £2,000 with £2,150 costs. There was some pre-trial plea- bargaining as a result of which some charges were dropped. The owner had also instructed the unauthorised shotblasting of soot-blackened timbers for which the contractor Aquablast Ltd was fined £1,000. Essex County Council remarked that although the owner would have to change all the windows, most of the damage could not be rectified. (Source: LPA) Brecon Beacons National Park Authority [08-2015] Llanwenarth House, Grade 2. Built in c.1532 in sandstone but remodeled in the 18th century, the seven bedroom manor house in the picturesque Usk valley was where Irish composer Cecil Alexander is thought to have written the lyrics where Irish composer Cecil Alexander wrote the lyrics to the hymn 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' with lines thought to have been inspired by the River Usk, which flows close to the property boundary. The building was listed in 1956. Property developer Mr. Kim Gregory Davies carried out £1million-worth of work and about sixty alterations without consent. After Davies had carried out the work, officials from the National Park Authority received an anonymous tip-off in 2009 that unlawful renovation work was being carried out. They visited and tried to gain access to the property several times but were refused entry by Davies, who locked the gates to keep them out. A warrant was issued and Council officers eventually managed to gain access in 2012 and discovered that substantial changes had been undertaken including the removal of 18th century Regency features and replacement with 'mock Tudor' interiors including replacing historic doors with modern 'Tudoresque' ones, taking up parquet flooring and laying down modern tiles in their place, removing historic timber windows and turning a bedroom into a bathroom, hard cement had been used for the renovation work instead of lime mortar. The defendant also installed a mosaic-clad spa bath, altered the coach house and courtyard taking up the old cobblestones replacing these with flagstones. The headstones of three children who had died more than 100 years ago - David, 4, Rosie, 3, and 11-month-old Thomas taken from the village of Llechryd, near Rhymney had been used as wall plaques for interior decoration.