Elizabeth Pascoe is finally evicted

Update 5th February: Architects' Journal :

http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/-cabe-still-critical-of-pathfinder-scheme-despite-latest-revisions/5213863.article?referrer=RSS

and update 9th Feb to add this website:

http://www.housingmarketrenewal.com/links-and-publications.php


Sorry but there is no other word for it, it is eviction, and I feel so very sad.

Here is the latest news, and I took the above picture from here also, and duly credit Mr Bartlett with it and hope he doesn't mind me re-using it:

http://blogs.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/dalestreetblues/2010/02/edge-lane-campaigner-elizabeth.html

Not a lot more to be said, other than to send Elizabeth sympathy, and ask that people reading this read these links:

My past blog, with Elizabeth's own description of what she has gone through:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/04/two-heroines-against-pathfinders.html

with links to further sources of information (including Adam Wilkinson's damning report for SAVE) and a Commons Select Committee report.

Here is the BEVEL website, with so much more information and videos, including Elizabeth's 'farewell to a home' party:

http://www.edge-lane.info/ 

 I appreciate this is getting to be a habit, but here's a blast from the past, Malcolm Fraser in Building Design, and I absolutely agree with him:

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=427&storycode=3051676

Pulling down houses is not sustainability

27 May 2005

The Pathfinder programme — government investment of £2 billion over the next 15 years to revitalise nine northern English urban areas — ought to be magnificent news.

 By Malcolm Fraser

Having lived through the urban catharsis of the late 20th century — institutionalised contempt for the built environments we inherited, followed by a reactive timidity towards them — we must have learned by now how to take a good, balanced view of renewal.

We might start by looking at the resources we have inherited, namely a mix of industrial and residential. Patrick Geddes’s concept of “conservative surgery” is an excellent tool here — the idea that you repair, alter or conserve the best of the urban fabric while introducing open space and new buildings in place of the poorer.

You might imagine that such “surgery” would be unlikely to involve the demolition of Victorian terraced homes, which represent a huge resource, in both social and physical terms, embodying enormous energy — in both the cultural and kilojoule sense. That the Pathfinder programmes are threatening between 200,000 and 400,000 of them with demolition demonstrates that something has gone massively, even obscenely, wrong.

The scale is staggering, the obscenity both in the detail (people who love their houses being moved out) and at a city-wide scale. In Liverpool, for example, the proposed demolition of 20,000 homes has an unhappy symmetry with the 20,000-person waiting list for social housing.
That there is failure in these run-down areas is indisputable: but it’s a failure of employment and the spread of wealth, of social housing policies that blight whole areas, of perception and context. To blame this on the buildings in these areas is crazy — especially when those buildings are such successes elsewhere.

Their demolition is supported by the standard government view that big, physically dramatic acts, and big business and construction interests are preferable to the sort of small-scale repair and renewal programmes that involve small spends, and small builders, architects and landlords.

The iniquitous VAT regime where 17.5% tax penalises repair and renewal over demolition and new-build of course skews all analysis of the value of our built heritage. But even here the economic benefits of small-scale renewal are so clear that it doesn’t dent the basic case — as demonstrated on ITV’s Tonight Special, where a “derelict”, “failing”, “surplus” terraced house was transformed into a modern, open, insulated home for £18,000, matching the cost of its proposed demolition and way cheaper than a £100,000 replacement.

Such makeovers represent one approach. The comprehensive nature of the Pathfinder programmes should allow us to look at others that combine or subdivide individual properties to achieve market diversity.

But the post-war regeneration-by-wrecking-ball model remains, albeit disguised by buzzwords and doublespeak where “slum clearance” programmes are rebranded as “sustainable communities”.

But the biggest crime is against the idea of sustainability, its apparent high moral authority abused to justify the wrecking ball. It’s a mystery that sustainability seems only ever to be expressed in terms of new building, rather than as a complete analysis of the costs and benefits. And it’s a disgrace that this has cast heritage bodies — arguing here for a proper audit of the resources offered by our built environment — as somehow anti-sustainability.

The greater truth in all this, that clarifies and guides all others, is that “conservation” and “sustainability” are not separate boxes to tick, not at war with each other, but are, properly applied, one and the same thing: a view of the world we have inherited as a resource that needs treating with care and respect.


Malcolm Fraser is principal of Malcolm Fraser Architects http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk/

and I hope all right thinking people agree also. That's not the government of course, whose Big Idea all this was...  (based on the most flimsy of evidence 'Housing Market Renewal' of this nature would work)

...and clearly not certain of the fuckwits who post comments* on the Liverpool Echo site, but you have to wonder at man's inhumanity to (wo)man and try to forgive their stupidity, although I'm finding it difficult. (*Update... I note the worst  comments have been removed... thankfully.)

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/01/liverpool-edge-lane-campaigner-forcing-me-to-leave-my-home-is-a-violation-92534-25730351/





Nem

Postscript: Another relevant post: http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/01/seeing-red.html

and another eviction:  http://www.msa.mmu.ac.uk/continuity/index.php/2007/11/19/nina-edge-nothing-is-private/


and a further example of pointless destruction and a split community: 

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/news/article.php?id=54

Dresden stripped of World Heritage Site status

Dresden yesterday had its World Heritage Site status removed, at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Seville.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/522

It has been on the 'in danger list' for some time, while UNESCO tried to work with the authorities to build, instead of the hideous traffic bridge pictured above, a tunnel, which would not have damaged the landscape of the Elbe Valley which was a major part of the Outstanding Universal Value for which the site was inscribed.

There was a great deal of discussion, but in the end it was felt that allowing Dresden to remain a World Heritage Site, after all that had gone before, would signal to other sites that they could do pretty much as they liked and not heed UNESCO reports.

So, the unthinkable has happened, and hopefully it may encourage others who thought that UNESCO was without teeth.

It seems to me that when countries put forward sites for inscription, they also agree to protect the Outstanding Universal Value for all of humanity. That Dresden did not do so is a cause for deep regret.

More background, an opinion piece by the Friends of Dresden in the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/opinion/05iht-edblobel.html?_r=1


The Committee has said that if Dresden wishes to apply again with a different part of the city and fresh thinking, but with smaller area and without the bridge, it can be considered, but that's a long way ahead, if it happens at all.

Meanwhile, the draft report on Bath was published yesterday, making recommendations regarding what the city council needs to do to further protect the site and its landscape setting. The report indicated that had the Dyson Academy plans for the Grade II listed Newark Works not been withdrawn that may have had serious consequences, but they were so that threat was removed.

More on that here:

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/newark.htm

It's clear that things already built or given planning permission will have to go ahead, UNESCO can do nothing about those, it would be futile to try, regrettable as some are, but it will be interesting to see what happens with the next phases of the deeply disliked Western Riverside scheme, and the latest Park and Ride, given the recommendations made in the report. It's a pity that many newspapers seemed to think that UNESCO visits and then simply decides to remove World Heritage Status, and that because Bath has not had that removed it is safe. That may be the case for now, but it would be well advised to look at what has happened at Dresden, and get its collective finger out.

From the Bath Preservation Trust website:

UNESCO DECISION

Bath Preservation Trust has welcomed the decision before UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee today (25th June 2009) particularly with its emphasis on greater protection of Bath’s landscape setting and the call to revise the plans for Western Riverside.

Although the Council has described the report as a ‘clean bill of health’ , Bath Preservation Trust would encourage the Council to demonstrate their commitment to the promises made to UNESCO by placing historic environment and landscape setting SPDs into their plans for the Local Development Plan, by introducing article 4 directions for development across Bath, and to convert the many strategies and plans into direct policies and actions.

The full UNESCO Draft Report and Decision can be found here:

http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/

From the BPT Press Release:

‘The Trust is pleased that UNESCO saw fit to send the inspection team to
Bath, to remind the Council and indeed central government of their
responsibilities. It is now incumbent upon them to provide the resources and
the planning framework necessary to manage the World Heritage Site in a
way which secures its qualities for future generations.’

Indeed.

We still wait the release of the full report on Edinburgh, which was visited last November by the same mission team.

Meanwhile, despite the antics of the City of Edinburgh Council's planners, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust is ploughing on with its excellent work conserving, enhancing, and educating.

All the latest news in now on the EWH website, including the June edition of Director's Notes from Adam Wilkinson, which I now shamelessly nick and reproduce here.

http://www.ewht.org.uk/News.aspx

Director's Notes June 2009

Last week saw the opening of the EWH funded learning space at the Museum of Edinburgh at the launch of the Old Town Festival. It was a simple and delightful event – a mug of coffee in the courtyard of Huntly House, attended by local school children, councilors and those involved in both the festival and the museum, and a fair scattering of other important folk. We were regaled with tales from the chairman (an 18th century equivalent of a taxi driver), then from our Chairman, Charles McKean, Councillor Deirdre Brock and Donald Smith, Director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

The learning space itself is a lively little room in the museum, well equipped with materials to keep your children busy and involved on rainy days. The immediate challenge will be keeping it well stocked and fresh. The longer term challenge is much greater. This is the first step on the long road to giving every school child in Edinburgh the opportunity to explore the World Heritage Site and relate it to their heritage. The next step will be pulling together an online toolkit for teachers to incorporate into the curriculum for excellence. Other steps are underway to ensure that the heritage and history of the city centre remains relevant and accessible to all Edinburgh, such as our support for the excellent Scotland Street Tunnel Youth Project. We’re excited by the prospect and promise of this grass roots scheme and look forward to seeing how we can use World Heritage Status as a tool for inclusion.


As I walked towards the learning space, my eye wandered on to the museum’s displays, including James Craig’s plans for the New Town. This is but a tiny bit of the mass of wonderful documents and plans within the city’s archives that are yet to be opened out to the public – another long term aim for us must be to encourage and enable this to happen.

These aims and ambitions are emerging as we define our plan for the next five years or so. This should be completed by the end of the summer and will give us a framework in which to flourish and take opportunities as they arise. One of these which is at present occupying us is the Energy Efficiency Design Awards. EWH’s conservation funding programme is a brilliant vehicle for bringing together disparate groups of private owners, and we feel that an important part of ensuring the building stock of the WHS is in a good state and relevant for the next 50-100 years is to ensure that once repaired it is as energy efficient as possible.

We are currently applying to EEDA for a grant to apply simple and replicable measures to a B Listed tenement in private ownership (previous work has been to tenements in the single ownership of a housing cooperative), as well as one or two possibly more complex measures. Whether we win funding for this venture or not is a moot point – calculations show that we can achieve a 60% reduction in carbon emissions from a building type classed as “hard to treat”. Changing perceptions such as these is going to be a major challenge, given the level of funding that Government seems willing to throw at the problem and the relative vacuum in terms of ways of achieving this level of reduction that are benign to the architectural and historic interest of the buildings. It is only right that we should be at the forefront of working out the best way of achieving such reductions.


Nem

Heritage Counts?

Today's blog title is nicked from the English Heritage annual surveys of the same name. The 2008 one can be found here:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/hc/

As it says on the tin:

Heritage Counts is an annual survey of the state of England’s historic environment. It looks at principle changes in the historic environment. This year there is also a focus on Climate Change and the part the historic sector is playing in tackling this very important issue. More information on the Heritage Counts series

However, at times I have heard some shorten the title a little when describing English Heritage. Lost vowels can have quite an effect. I do wonder just how much heritage actually counts at government level. Although the current economic climate has meant several building schemes which would be destructive of the 'historic environment' have been shelved, at least for the short term, many more will still be pushing ahead, such as the ghastly Pathfinder related demolitions of so many homes (see http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/04/two-heroines-against-pathfinders.html).

The demise of the Civic Trust, reported in the blog on Monday, and also featuring in today's Building Design:

Two former RIBA presidents are among those expressing sadness over the demise of the Civic Trust, which went into administration today after more than 50 years of campaigning to improve the quality of the built environment.

George Ferguson and Paul Hyett both spoke of their regret after the trust folded due to lack of funds, with Hyett calling it a “great tragedy”...

http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3138845&origin=BDdaily

is a sad symptom of the current collapse of financial security. It's difficult to know what the ramifications of that will be for the regional civic trusts. I wrote and posted a web album too of Gayle Mill on Monday, one of the buildings featured in this evening's Restoration Revisited, presented by Griff Rhys Jones.

Set The Video: Restoration Revisited, BBC Two, Wednesday, 22 April, 9pm

One thing Britain is really good at is Old Stuff. That's why all Americans think we live in Gothic caves filled with antiques and maps made from human skin. Of course, they're completely correct. The Swedish however, think we're all sexually backward. Of course, they're correct too. Mercifully, it's the former we're focusing on here as we're treated to Restoration Revisited (BBC Two, Wednesday, 22 April, 9pm) which will see Griff Rhys Jones going back to Old Stuff and seeing if it looks like New Old Stuff.

Over three series, the Restoration team became the architectural equivalent of The Campaign For Real Ale, celebrating the old way of doing things... shouting from the rooftops about how great some British buildings are and how we should give them a cuddle and a spit-wash.
Through the television and phone votes (pre-scandal), Griff Rhys Jones helped us all decide which buildings got restored to former glories, which knackered old gems should be revived and breathed back to life. Everyone cheered as the fireworks went off at the close of each series... however... what happened next?

Well, this show will tell us that loads has happened, with a staggering £100 million being raised for 72 buildings. As swell as that is, it's the transformations that we'll be shown which will be the real pay-off. Should be very nice and pleasant viewing.

http://www.tvscoop.tv/2009/04/set_the_video_r_35.html

Gayle Mill was one of those, which benefited from the cash and the publicity, and I urge all to visit - an unsanitised and tea shoppe free zone, aspiring to be a working sawmill using some rather wonderful old machinery, and with a room for community use thrown in (although it's only a very short walk from Hawes and indeed only a short stroll from the Wensleydale cheese factory and visitor centre,

http://www.wensleydale.co.uk/

with a decent caff for those in need of a cuppa after all that culcha oop at t'mill).

Gayle Mill's 'restoration' (or repair if you are a SPABie) was masterminded by Graham Bell and team at the North of England Civic Trust, which owns the building. From the NECT website it sounds as though that organisation at least is safe for now:

http://www.nect.org.uk/

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/eng-woodfuel-yandh-gayle-mill-cs.pdf/$FILE/eng-woodfuel-yandh-gayle-mill-cs.pdf

Indeed, here it is again - Heritage Counts 2006, with a picture giving a flavour of the fine interior to be enjoyed, and no gifte shoppe flogging Yorkshire pot pourri in sight either (although some suspiciously clean overalls):

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/hc/upload/pdf/YORKSHIRE_20061110144551.pdf?1238405029

So the failure to thrive of the Civic Trust (President: Griff Rhys Jones) may not immediately bring national shock waves, but the withdrawal of its valuable work (such as the annual Civic Trust Awards and National Heritage Open Days) and expertise will be a sad loss to all who value the built environment.

About Us

http://www.civictrust.org.uk/

The Civic Trust is the independent nationwide charity dedicated to helping communities make better places in which to live, work and play. The Civic Trust has campaigned for better places for people since 1957, and continues to be a powerful, definitive and distinctive voice which helps communities to imagine, shape and deliver inspiring places and an enduring future. The Civic Trust is the umbrella organisation for 700 Civic Societies across the country, representing a quarter of a million people, who care passionately about their environment. Each year it organises Heritage Open Days where over a million people celebrate and explore their cultural and architectural heritage during a long weekend in September.
Through its activities, the Civic Trust raises the standard of our parks, towns and cities. The Civic Trust’s Award schemes reward the best in our environment, and develop and define best practice. Education, consultancy and coaching programmes help others to understand and achieve excellence in designing, creating and campaigning for better places.

The 2009 Civic Trust Award winners can be found here:

http://www.civictrustawards.org.uk/

Heritage Open Days 2009:

http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/

The picture at the top of today's blog is of another bit of Britain's heritage, indeed it's part of Edinburgh's Royal Mile in the Old and New Town World Heritage Site.

The Director of Edinburgh World Heritage seems to have managed to leave behind the current woes of Caltongate and the Haymarket Tower and hotfooted it to Penang and the World Heritage Site of Georgetown earlier this month.

http://eastasia.britishcouncil.org/public/event.aspx?country=Malaysia&eventname=Managing%20a%20World%20Heritage%20Site:%20Lessons%20from%20Edinburgh&Event_ID=969a781d-e11a-41a6-a796-d03a2f897975

When Secretary of SAVE Britain's Heritage, Adam was hardly shy of publicity for the cause. Indeed he made a guest appearance in SALON again this week (along with a certain Conservation Officer and blog, which I thankfully note has resumed in fine style):

http://www.sal.org.uk/salon/#section13

and mention of Paddington Span Four brings me to a previous blog in which he features:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/overhead-paddington-station-span-four.html

Here he is again then, meeja tarting for Britain halfway around the world, in a newspaper interview published for World Heritage Day (last Friday, in case it had passed you by) with useful things to say about his aspirations for Edinburgh (inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1995 http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/728) and giving sound advice to those experiencing teething troubles with managing Georgetown WHS (inscribed 2008 http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1223):

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/4/19/lifeliving/3703375&sec=lifeliving

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/4/19/lifeliving/3703356&sec=lifeliving

Penang Heritage Trust:

http://www.pht.org.my/

For those not lucky enough to be invited to see the World Heritage Sites of Melaka and Georgetown for themselves, these two videos give a flavour of what you are missing:

http://www.tourmalaysia.com/2009/03/27/videos-melaka-georgetown-world-heritage-part-1/

http://www.tourmalaysia.com/2009/03/28/videos-melaka-georgetown-world-heritage-part-2/

Meanwhile back home, sad news from the Save Dreamland Campaign that what remained of the historic River Caves at Pleasureland, Southport went up in flames last night:

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1817

As one of those heavily involved in the attempt to save Pleasureland from the bulldozer it's particularly poignant; a listing attempt was thwarted by what can only be described as cock ups by those supposedly in charge of our heritage. Heritage counts indeed.

River Caves, with their fantastical voyages through tableaux of scenes round the world, were a form of education and entertainment for the masses, in the days when flying halfway round the world to visit in person would only ever be a dream. Thankfully, some of the parts from Pleasureland were rescued by Nick Laister and the Save Dreamland team, and hopefully and, yes, we are back to that ever diminishing pot of lottery funding again, a new/old River Caves will arise again at Dreamland, Margate. For more of those plans, and news updated yesterday evening, and the proposed Heritage Amusement Park:

http://www.savedreamland.co.uk/

There's even a Youtube video, featuring amongs other joys the River Caves and the Waterchute rescued from Rhyl, another mad last minute escapade, funded by those for whom heritage really does count - ie members of the Save Dreamland Campaign (donations always welcome!).

For more heritage news, including posts on the worrying threat to the Leas Lift at Folkestone, as first reported on the Victorian Society website, do join and join in on the Heritage Forum:

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

Nem

PS Fame or notoriety?

http://www.bajr.org/BAJRforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2264

(Water Mill: http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/chilterns-water-mill-grand-designs_07.html)

Two heroines against Pathfinder

Edge Lane, Liverpool

UPDATED FEB 1st 2010

Elizabeth's eviction (for that's what it is) from her home:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2010/02/elizabeth-pascoe-is-finally-evicted.html


As I said when I briefly wrote in the blog at the end of March of the sad end of Elizabeth Pascoe's heroic legal struggle against the breakup of her community, and the Compulsory Purchase Order for her home in Edge Lane, Liverpool, there would be more. Today's blog is that more.

A brief reminder:

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/03/25/elizabeth-pascoe-fails-in-her-latest-bid-to-stop-liverpool-s-edge-lane-scheme-92534-23222282/

Here's Charles Clover, whose articles in the Daily Telegraph against Pathfinder (Housing Market Renewal) for so long kept the story in the nation's eye. Sadly he is no longer there, but this week he took up the cause again and wrote of Elizabeth's story in The Spectator:

"It would be a mistake to conclude, though, that her battle against state bullying is all for nothing. It has defined an area of law in which modern Britain is little better than Zimbabwe. It used to be the case that the state could take away your home for a road, a railway or an airport because it was to the greater public good. It used to be the case, even during the clearances of the 1960s, that to succeed with a compulsory purchase order for a housing scheme it had to be proved that the properties to be demolished were unsound.

What the Edge Lane case has shown is that compulsory purchase orders can be used under the present law to do whatever public officials want to do with them. The state can now take away your home just because the ones next door are scruffy and because a site needs to be created for Bellway Homes to have a sufficient profit margin, as in this case..."

Read on:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3521696/a-granny-in-the-front-line-against-new-labour.thtml

Elizabeth is one of the network of fighters collectively known as Hutties, pulled together and kept informed by another doughty campaigner, Sylvia Wilson, of Homes Under Threat.

Immediately after the court decision, the following was received by all 'Hutties' in the early hours from Sylvia and Elizabeth by e-mail. As it's elsewhere on the net I post the link, rather than re-post it all here, but I have to say I read it with deep emotion, having spoken to Elizabeth not long before in Liverpool, at the opening of the SAVE Liverpool exhibition, when we still had hope.

25th March 2009
"As I see it the battle is like housework. We don't ever `get anywhere' but my goodness it is so much worse if we don't try. I gave it my best shot." Elizabeth Pascoe

Yesterday Elizabeth Pascoe, who has been fighting to save her home in Edge Lane, Liverpool, for four years, finally lost her case in court after initially staving off demolition. Here we print two e-mails. The first is from Sylvia Wilson of Homes Under Threat (HUT) and the second is a reaction from Elizabeth herself.

More: http://www.salfordstar.com/article.asp?id=68
Later, when the initial shock was over, Sylvia nd Elizabeth sent out another e-mail to all Hutties, and they have both kindly given me permission to repeat the messages here.
A message from Sylvia:
Fellow Hutties,

After the founding of HUT almost 6 years ago and of being attached (it seems at times, by umbilical cord) to my computer and phone to help all Hutties the best way I know how, I have to send my thanks to you all for sticking with it for so long, and continuing your battles and refusing to give in... as in the case of Elizabeth Pascoe.

We have spent many years together fighting "almost" the same cause, whilst the principle is the same, each case is different, you are all battling a cause, whether to save your homes, your livelihoods, the environment, your history and heritage even a village green, that are targeted to be re-built on, a few of you have sat quietly in the background supporting us, offering practical help and cheering us on! To you all, Thank You!

In the beginning, we seemed to be on a winning streak, until the Councils and Government realised what was happening and took a different tack to using CPO's, their idea was to wait us out and "Voluntarily Acquire" our property, but even that didn't work well or fast enough for them, so trying to box us in, they have now altered the Planning Laws that were set in place to protect us... they may think they have us all by the short hairs... but I have such faith in you all, that we will find a way around this pathetic maneuver together!In this recent Economic Crisis, we now have the chance to put extra pressure on the Councils and Government to stop Demolition and New Build, and go for the Refurbishment of homes and properties, (that Ms Beckett publicised the other week) this needs to be reinforced by you in your areas to your Councils! Letters to them with the emphasis on the Economic Crisis, cease further demolition, building only on the areas that have already been cleared (of which there are many and lying fallow) global warming, and the inert energy in extant buildings, which only need refurbishment to get them back on the market and free-up dwellings for the hundreds of thousands of folk without a home!

As for your own battles, keep going, don't give up and don't give in!!!

Sylvia

http://www.officianet.com/directory/Profileview.cfm?profileitem=57


Elizabeth has said she is happy for me to make this statement from her public on the Republic blog. She cannot afford to battle on any longer, financially and emotionally it has all been a terrible strain.

Dearest Hutties,
I have so very much needed your support this last 4 years, in that without knowing of the hundreds of others, and probably tens of thousands, I would have succumbed to the view that it was selfish / insane for me to fight for my home and community.
Thanks for leaving me in peace to grieve this last few days. Sylvia has passed on the messages just to let me know people are thinking of me, and understand.
Over this period of time I have "grown up" a great deal, in that it has become painfully apparent that government is clueless, even before this financial melt down. So, I have learned to trust my own judgement, have respect for my own gut reactions, stop doing as I used to do about various problems "intellectualise" them. This really hurts, besides being very wrong.
I am extremely frightened about the future, least of all in financial terms, far more in social and environmental terms, as all these accumulated "mistakes" coalesce. All this hype about "increased aspirations" and the people of the planet (or at least in the "developed" world) sold into commercialism and consumerism, of which housing market renewal is a typical manifestation. I hope it isn't irrevocable, as we see younger generations have such a different mind-set to ours.
Most of you are my age, and we have the vestiges of the make-do-and-mend capability and the "old-fashioned" idea of living within one's means, which had its own rewards. Times are going to get extremely tough, and as we are all aware that government not only doesn't know what it is doing, it is digging a pit of debt for future generations to come. It is needlessly uprooting citizens it is supposed to serve, in the name of wider public interest! They are tearing to shreds the lives of well integrated naturally occurring peoples that have survived the tough times and created our communities in the first place. This appetite for "throw away" and replace with new-build is detrimental to the very life-support systems of the planet!
I think it is up to us, as a moral obligation to the future, to let them know in no uncertain terms what fools they are, about a great deal more than HMR. I have tried "ladylike" and "the proper channels". It didn't work, despite the insight and sympathy of the judge.
I don't know what I am going to do next. I am completely certain that the judge who had to decide against me fully grasped what was going on, but there was no remedy in law once the CABE view of the proponent scheme took a 180 degree turn-around at a date too late for me to put in other grounds (and we weren't granted an adjournment to be able to do that).
The law isn't infallible, even though in the good old days its creation was as a device to protect us. "Unfortunately" this current government has created even more draconian legislation, just last December to be even more destructive in the name of "progress", which gives citizens even less chance or even the opportunity to voice never mind challenge their "big ideas" (that the nation can't financially afford and the planet can't afford in essential terms).
We have come together under Hutties for a reason which is now apparently just the tip of the iceberg. I think we need as a nation that has been lucky enough to have been subject to fairly reasonable governance in the past to now "wake up" and start being less passive, for the desperate sake of future generations. As the saying goes "The price of freedom is constant vigilance". And of course "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".
I have established beyond all reasonable doubt that the systems developed to support us are now being used against us, and that even the judiciary, whose sympathy I have, are unable to rectify the situation.
As I said, I don't know what to do next. I do begin to have sympathy with the idea of drastic measures and possibly a "civilised" version of that will be to attend the demonstrations in London April 1st. I have been too busy for 4 years to be involved in anything much at all. We certainly need to stand up and be counted, and not "merely" rely on the systems created by government through which we are supposed to be heard. As far as I can see it, no matter how well one manages to present oneself, allowing that we didn't have a legal team, the effort may seem futile, maybe direct action would work better, risky as that is (because of all the nutters that jump on the bandwagon, AND that government is creating laws to prevent us from doing that).
Of course we all have problems and can't all find the time and other resources to fight as I (who doesn't have a job or family around me) did. But we, who know what harm is being done, as it is to us, are obliged to fight back some how or other, to make sure that we get heard. We can't allow all these "mistakes" to keep on rolling out.
Maybe so far we have been "too nice". Maybe I will cease to be nice, I just don't know. Some say I have been "dignified". Maybe I'll change. Having taken my home and half my income and taken up 4 years of my life, and totally scuppered my chances of a doctorate in the greening aspects of urban regeneration I had worked towards for years before that, what have I to lose?
It is early days for me, free of this particular battle. I can't advise or even think yet how to make evident my feelings. Yes I am very sad, and yes I am very afraid, not just for my future (how I will now end my days / where I will live after generations of owner occupier mentality) but for the whole world if this sort of governance is the best there is. Mainly and overwhelmingly I am angry and wonder whether I will stay sane, or, maybe I'll decide to try "insane" for a change. I am not yet ready to give in to despair.

So "Carry on fighting" is all I can say, in your own way with your own particular battle. Most of you are not up against such an intricate mesh of quangos as I was, for such a series of supposed "benefits" (road widening to take more faster traffic into the city centre, and such like, not just housing). In the end 15 acronyms had their logos across the bottom of proponent documents.
It will add greatly to the burden on my back if any of you "fold". I didn't, and even now in defeat I haven't given in. Again I thank you for that, knowing that I am right, as not just me thinks as I do, it was 70 witnesses, some of them representing 13 different universities, and in essence representing all of you. But for now I am too close to this week's events to decide "What next".
The very best of luck, everyone, and hold in your hearts "WE ARE RIGHT!". Have no self doubts, our case is proven by events. I very much wish I believed in hell so that they might all be punished for creating hell on earth. Unless we try our utmost, the worst is yet to come!

Elizabeth


For more on Pathfinder, still available is former Secretary Adam Wilkinson's damning study for SAVE, see publications:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/publications/publications_in_print.php?startswith=P


http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmodpm/295/5020801.htm

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmodpm/295/295.pdf


I'm not often lost for words Elizabeth, but I really can't find the right ones to express my sorrow and anger at what this country has descended to, with the wickedness of 'Housing Market Renewal'. Keep the faith.

More news:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/news/article.php?id=54


Nem

Overhead: Paddington Station, Span Four

A short blog entry (may be back later) to bring excellent news sent today by a citizen of the Republic

http://www.cnplus.co.uk/News/2009/02/images_roof_work_to_restore_paddington_to_edwardian_glory.html

that work is actually happening at last to restore Span Four at Paddington Station, threatened with demolition by Network Rail and SAVED as a result of a long and hard fought campaign spearheaded by SAVE Britain's Heritage http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/ .

The campaign included submissions to a Commons Select Committee, an appearance on Radio Four's Front Row by SAVE's then Secretary Adam Wilkinson:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frontrow/frontrow_20030730.shtml (scroll to bottom of page to listen)

a publication by SAVE:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/publications/publications_in_print.php?startswith=S

a mass postcard campaign and letter writing by rail enthusiasts the world over, spurred on by news in rail magazines, heritage railway societies' journals, and aided by several booksellers of transport books.

Network Rail hoped that it could have this demolished and replaced by something nasty with a huge office development on top. CABE even thought it a good plan.

From the SAVE archives:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/docs/articles/apr%202001.pdf

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/docs/articles/News%201%202006.pdf

and victory:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/docs/articles/News%202%2006.pdf

http://www.sapling.info/newsletter/200608_spanfour.shtml

2009:

Paul Futter, Network Rail's senior project manager, said: "Paddington station is one of Network Rail's most beautiful. Restoring the fourth span and opening it up to the light will make it even better for our passengers."

Rather a contrast to what Network Rail had to say about it when it wished to demolish - something along the lines of draughty old fashioned trainsheds...

Some you win...

Nem

PS see comments, live links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6230106.stm

http://www.eustonarch.org/

http://eustonarch.blogspot.com/

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/news/campaign.php?id=14