{"id":40677,"date":"2024-08-13T17:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=40677"},"modified":"2024-08-13T17:00:27","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T16:00:27","slug":"reminder-ihbcs-context-180s-bumper-issue-part-2-special-features-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=40677","title":{"rendered":"REMINDER: IHBC\u2019s Context 180\u2019s BUMPER issue, Part 2: Special Features update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The new issue of the IHBC\u2019s members\u2019 journal, Context<\/a>, No. 180, as well as its themed articles \u2013 on heritage and nature – includes a wide range of topical features, with the spotlight here on John Preston\u2019s \u2018Take 2\u2019 on a library battle that \u2018shows what can happen when heritage comes low in local authority priorities, despite the best efforts of conservation officers.\u2019<\/h3>\n

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John Preston writes:<\/p>\n

Part 1 of this article (\u2018The battle for Mill Road Free Library\u2019, Context <\/em>179, March 2024) concluded with Cambridge City Council\u2019s depot site development in progress, next to the former library, a listed building at risk \u2018due to lack of maintenance\u2019 by the county\u2019s tenants, the Indian Cultural and Community Association (ICCA). The cost of carrying out full restoration works was estimated at around \u00a3200,000. The county engaged Donald Insall Associates, who submit- ted a listed building application for repairs, and internal removal of timber boxings and blown plaster to allow inspection and drying out.<\/p>\n

The county had offered to undertake the repairs, with costs spread over a 25-year lease, but the ICCA declined this. The city conservation officers threatened formal repairs action. The county invited tenders for the consented works and the removal of various fittings installed by the ICCA. None of these removals had been mentioned in the listed building application. In March 2021 the county\u2019s group asset manager told me that the repossessed former library was being considered for \u2018delivering services in Cambridge\u2019, but no provision was made for reinstating heating and services. Shell-and-core repairs started with the removal of everything inserted by the ICCA. The carved stones of the Hindu shrine were destined for the skip until an inspired intervention by local hairdresser Piero D\u2019Angelico. Exemplary repairs to the former library proceeded under the direction of Insalls\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 When will Historic England include Grade II buildings in its heritage-at-risk purview? Surely local authorities should be required to act, in their own dealings, in accordance with statutory responsibilities for the heritage? The county says that it will consider whether offers for the old library deliver environmental and social benefits, but it does not mention cultural benefits. The county\u2019s new Land and Property Strategy 2024\u201329 does not even mention the historic environment or listed buildings\u2026.<\/p>\n

Feature articles include:<\/em><\/p>\n