Heritage Now

20   HISTORIC BUILDINGS & PLACES CASEWORK to the Stevenson Square conservation area and illustrates the area’s evolution from residential to a commercial district. The listing includes the late-19th century warehouse that extends to Back Piccadilly at the rear. We objected to amended plans for a 13-storey hotel that would demolish the warehouse and envelope the townhouse. The tall hotel building would be completely out of char- acter with established development within the conservation area and do little to ‘contribute to a coherent’ historic environment (MCC Local Plan, Policy CC9). The loss of the internal walls and fea- tures of the townhouse, leaving only its shell and a stair, is particularly harmful to the significance of the building, particularly where the planform of the house would readily lend itself to a hotel room or meeting room use. QUEENSBURY STABLES, NEWMARKET, SUFFOLK We objected to the partial demolition of the Grade II listed Queensberry Stables in Newmarket to create a gateway and access point to an adjoin- ing site. Historic England’s list description notes that the stables were established by the Duke of Queensbury in the late 18th century and ‘hold an extremely high level of group value with Queens- bury House, Lodge and Cottage, as one of the earliest racing stable groups to survive in New- market’. The stables and adjoining Queensberry Lodge have been listed on the Suffolk historic buildings at risk register due to prolonged lack of maintenance. West Suffolk Council was forced to carry out the emergency works in late 2020 after the owner declined to respond to an earlier urgent works notice. The application did not demonstrate any benefit for the listed buildings and the loss of a stables building would harm their significance and undermine their group value. We there- fore recommended the application be refused or withdrawn until a suitable scheme for the repair, restoration and reuse of the stables and lodge is brought forward. EDGEHILL MANOR, BARNET, LONDON Locally listed buildings are not afforded the same level of protection as other heritage assets, but make an important contribution to local charac- ter and distinctiveness. They are, however, more vulnerable to redevelopment, particularly when a local authority does not have an up-to-date local heritage list. We recently objected to the complete demolition of Edgehill Manor within London’s Mill Hill Conservation Area, that the applicant claimed was of limited local interest. It is listed in Pevsner’s Buildings of England as ‘... a large mansion in Free Classical of c1910, four dentilled gables, Georgian sashes.’. And Barnet’s Local Heritage List notes it has considerable aesthetic and architectural interest. The proposed 12-bed- room replacement dwelling would be a pastiche monolith that would not enhance the conserva- tion area. Nor was any justification provided that demonstrated the existing building wasn’t in a vi- able use, or that it was structurally unsound. The council agreed and refused the application in July. SITE AT ST MARY-LE-PORT CHURCH, HIGH STREET/WINE STREET, BRISTOL The area around St Mary-le-Port Church was largely destroyed during the 1940 Bristol blitz. The site was cleared and a park and sever- al modern financial office buildings were built around the remains of the church in the 1960s. The office buildings have been vacant for over a decade and are themselves now the subject of a redevelopment scheme. While we acknowledged the opportunity for regeneration and repairs to the remains of the church (Grade II/scheduled ancient monument), we objected as those benefits did not outweigh the overall harmful impacts of the scheme on the church and the wider City and Queen Square conservation area. The church tow- LEFT: 47 and 49 Piccadilly, Manchester (Stephen Richards) RIGHT: Queensbury Lodge and Stables, Newmarket (Keith Edkins, 2017)