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42 C O N T E X T 1 7 9 : M A R C H 2 0 2 4 benefits of the scheme outweighed the impacts on heritage assets. The city council as planning authority (as opposed to developer) should have complied with statutory obligations regarding the listed building, but neither consultees nor the officer report mentioned the Section 66(1) duty to ‘have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building… or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.’ My wife and I were among objectors at the council’s planning committee which approved the application on 28 March 2018. Because the application was by the Cambridge Investment Partnership (so technically not by the local authority), it did not go to the secre- tary of state. The county did nothing for 18 years to enforce the repairing lease, until July 2017 when I pointed out the water penetration to a county council property manager at the CIP exhibition. I sent a detailed building-at-risk report to both councils highlighting condition and planning challenges. The city conservation officers inspected, prompting the county to commission a condition survey. BWB’s report was submitted (but not published) in February 2018. It identified £200,000 worth of repairs and remedial work, but ignored vital issues for future viable use, including access, means of escape, parking and servicing. The CIP’s Phase 1 planning application was then ‘live’, but the county officers dealing with the former library did not comment on it. The city granted planning permission on 28 March 2018. County officers did not report the matter to their councillors until 25 May, two months later. That July the Petersfield Area Community Trust (PACT) nominated the former library as a community asset under the Localism Act. In November, building control emailed the county identifying the building as a dangerous structure. This was followed by a letter from the planning director, and another inspection and report by conservation officers. When I chased both councils for an update, the county council responded: ‘The council is liaising with ICCA, the conservation officer and building control to resolve the problems.’ An officer of the city council wrote that it was ‘concerned about the condition of the building and has now requested the county to undertake limited works to maintain the safety of the building and we are also pressing for a wider programme of repair.’ The CIP’s Phase 2 planning application was submitted in February 2019. This comprised 49 affordable apartments and a new community centre adjoining the former library to the north and east. The heritage statement noted the former library’s ‘high level of architectural and artistic interest’ and ‘considerable historic interest’, without mentioning its at-risk status. I wrote to city and county councillors: ‘The current proposals involve a new community building virtually adjoining the former library, while eliminating virtually all possibility of viable use of the county’s asset.’ At my sug- gestion, Cambridge Past Present and Future sought a meeting with city and county council- lors. This took place in June. We were told that the county had commissioned Insalls; it was hoping for a resolution of a way forward ‘within months’; and it wanted any future use to be by the community. It was blindingly clear that the planning application was premature, given this progress and pending resolution of the many issues, but six days later the city’s planning committee approved it. My wife and I did our best in our allotted three minutes. As before, the Section 66(1) duty regarding the listed building was not mentioned. The county’s negotiations with the ICCA led to them vacating the building in January 2020. The building was returned ‘in a state of disrepair due to the tenant’s neglect and inability to fund repairs’. In July 2020, the county’s commercial and investments commit- tee was told that the city’s conservation officers were considering taking repairs action against the county if urgent works (now estimated at £330,000) were not carried out. I promise some good news in the next article. John Preston was a conservation officer for Cambridgeshire County Council (in the days when it had three), then conservation officer and later historic environment manager for Cambridge City Council, until his post was cut in 2012. He is now a historic environment consultant. A local resident, he cycles past the former library several times a week. A serious crack, and delaminating transoms and mullions, photographed in July 2017 on the day after the local plan hearing