news briefing
ByGeorge.ArtofCastleHoward’s earlySPABmanon showat last
SPAB gains first details of rail plan’spotential heritage harm Official:HS2’s toll
THE SPAB has secured the clearest picture yet of the impact on the historic landscape and historic buildings should the high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham (HS2) ever be built along the proposed route. Following a request made under Freedom of
Information (FoI) legislation, the Society has been told that 314 grade II listed buildings lie within the 350-metre “buffer zone” either side of the planned double track. Opponents of the £32bn scheme argue that quality of life would be greatly impaired at such proximity to the rail line area, not only by near- constant noise from trains, but also as a result of the construction period, expected to last many years. As well as grade II listed buildings within the
350-metre zone, a further 16 grade II buildings would be “physically impacted” by the present plans – most likely demolished. They include six grade II buildings and structures in the area around the proposed new line’s London terminus at Euston, and various historic farms and buildings across the rural Midlands. The number of as yet unlisted old buildings of all
periods which lie adjacent to or near the proposed route is likely to be considerably larger than that of listed buildings. Information on this “second tier” of old buildings and other structures – which, though unlisted, may nevertheless be of historical and architectural interest – is hard to gather. However, the Society has learnt of one grassroots project along the proposed route, led by local historians, which is assessing in fine detail the local risk to old and ancient buildings and sites, listed and unlisted. “Cornerstone” has itself visited historic buildings
apparently within the “buffer zone” – indeed almost underneath the tracks, according to the present scheme – which are not included on the list supplied to the SPAB following its FoI request. As well as the demolitions, the response to the
SPAB’s FoI request has confirmed that five Scheduled Monuments lie within HS2’s buffer zone, with one of them, the important, iron age Grim’s Ditch earthwork in Buckinghamshire, “physically impacted”. It is unlikely that a detailed, comprehensive audit
of all historic buildings, structures and sites – whether statutorily protected or not – along the entire HS2 routewould be possible within the timetable set by the railway developers, rail firms and government. The question of blight around the proposed HS2
line is causing growing concern to those who live along the route. As the Society saw around Stansted in Essex, proposals for an extra runway led to the degradation of the historic environment formiles around, as owners were bought out by the airport company BAA, property values fell, and decay set in. Last month property search firmSearchFlow
issued a warning that local authority searches, a key element of the house-purchase process, were, potentially, leading some house-seekers into unwittingly buying homes that were very close to the proposed HS2 impact zone. The firmpoints out that the present “Con29” local authority property search is obliged to highlight only whether homes are within 200 metres of the HS2 lines. “The government has already admitted that the construction and operation of HS2 will cause significant disruption from noise, dust and vibration, smell, fumes, smoke and artificial lighting,” SearchFlow says. The existence of an official 350-metre “buffer
zone”, as set out to SPAB in the FoI response, would seemto support SearchFlow’s contention that the immediate area of disruption is indeed far greater than the 200metres allowed for in local authority searches. Supporters of theHS2 scheme have recently
launched a fight-back against rapidly growing local and national opposition to HS2. In March The Campaign forHigh-Speed Railwas launched by Professor David Begg, an engineer and non-executive director of BAA, the airport companywhose plans to expand Stansted were recently abandoned. The new group says it will target “the British
‘commentariat’ of government, media and NGO opinion-formers” who do not support or are undecided about HS2, by “making our case through the national/regional press, the blogosphere, opinion research and one-to-one briefings”. The public consultation period on HS2 ends on
29th July, and government is expected to announce its decision by the end of the year. Design work is underway for the extension of the HS2 line from Birmingham to Leeds andManchester. HS2 enabling and construction work would commence in 2015, with the London-Birmingham stretch opening in 2026. The SPAB’s Guardians will bemeeting this June
to formulate the Society’s formal response to the HS2 consultation. RobinStummer
Cornerstone, Vol 32, No 2 2011 5
Aphotographerof warandoldbuildings
TIM Hetherington, the leading international photojournalist, who provided images for one of Cornerstone’smostmemorable photo-features, has been killed while covering the conflict in Libya. He was 41. Tim combined brilliant work in some of the
world’s most dangerous locations, notably war zones inAfrica andAfghanistan, with powerful doumentary studies of “ordinary” life. Architectural heritage interested Tim, and his images of Georgian and Victorian houses in Freetown, Sierra Leone, “encrusted” with wood andmetal sheeting (see below),made a highly praised feature for Cornerstone in 2005.
GeorgeHoward, later 9th Earl of Carlisle, was not only the master of one of our finest houses, a palace in all but name, but a gifted artist–and key early SPABmember–too. This overlooked Victorian talent (left, in his studio), a friend of Morris and Burne-Jones, is the subject of an exhibition at Castle Howard, near York, marking the centenary of his death. Until 30th October.
ESTATE OF CASTLE HOWARD
TIM HETHERINGTON/PANOS
PANOS
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