C O N T E X T 8 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 19 critical of this split in responsibility, which, he said ‘can lead to breakdowns in communication, one side can be played off against the other, and strong EHS advice can be set aside and listed building consent granted by the Planning Service to the detriment of the building concerned.’ Planning control is set out in the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, and government policy on the conservation of listed buildings, conservation areas and scheduled monuments is given in Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning, Archaeology and the Built Heritage, originally published in 1991 and updated by the planning service in 1999. This policy document, which John Linden discusses on page 24 is broadly similar to PPG 15, and provides the basis for sensitive conservation of the historic environment. HLF put it. ‘This is one of the areas that causes us at HLF significant difficulty,’ he said, ‘because we rely on this legislation to protect our investment in the longer term.’ A ‘Second Survey’ of listed buildings attracted considerable criticism from several speakers. This exercise, which was generally considered to be underresourced, had already resulted in 304 de-listings and only 134 new listings, compared to the addition of 3,000 listed buildings and the delisting of only 50 in a similar exercise in Wales. In particular, Rita Harkin drew attention to the Carnlough conservation area where 18 buildings had been delisted, including the Waterfall Bar which, despite having an intact 19thcentury elevation, was delisted on the grounds that its interior had been gutted. Reliance on conservation area legislation to protect the exteriors of such buildings was held to be misguided, not least because of the reluctance to introduce Article 4 directions. On the positive side DoE(NI) has worked to produce conservation booklet appraisals for virtually all of its conservation areas, unlike other parts of the UK. Voluntary sector From this account of the annual school so far, it would seem that the event must have been extremely depressing. There was much that was shocking, it is true, but the overall atmosphere was far from gloomy. As delegates were regularly reminded, the situation is getting better, and there was considerable optimism among all the speakers. Furthermore, it rapidly became clear that there was a quite extraordinary level of activity in the voluntary sector. The achievements of organisations like the Foyle Civic Trust, Hearth, the UAHS, Belfast BPT, the Irish Landmark Trust and others were really quite astonishing, particularly considering the size of the region. This commitment was reflected in the assistance of the Foyle CivicTrust, the Walled City Partnership along with Derry City Council in organising the School.The article by Karen Latimer of Hearth (p21), which is the second oldest building preservation trust in the UK, illustrates this point most clearly, and points to the huge resource of ‘fiery spirits’ in Northern Ireland. The annual school’s programme included presentations and lectures by several voluntary bodies and non-profit making organisations. In addition to Hearth, others included the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, and the Walled City Partnership, a THI scheme run, not by a local authority as one would expect on the mainland, but by a voluntary body. As Kevin Baird explained, because local authorities in Northern Ireland have such a limited involvement in the planning process, they do not have specialist conservation expertise in-house. For the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), this posed a major problem, particularly where the Townscape Heritage Initiative was concerned, and as a resultTHIs nearly did not exist. However, the HLF was persuaded by Laurence Manogue and others that the voluntary IHBC Annual School 2004 IHBC Annual School 2003 IHBC Annual School 2003 Likewise, the Planning (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 introduced much tougher penalties for unauthorised alterations to listed buildings, with imprisonment and fines of up to £30,000. It also introduced spot listing and simplified enforcement with repairs notices. However, several speakers expressed concern that these policies were not being ‘fully or actively implemented’, as Kevin Baird of the 19 Bridge Street before and after restoration by the Lisburn THI:‘You know an area’s in trouble when the charity shops move out’ – Alan Jeffers, Lisburn THI
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