Rose Cottage decision deferred; here's why

The below was sent to Mancheste Climate Fortnightly.
Rose Cottage is a very old building that Manchester Airports 
Group would like to demolish to make way for a big warehouse.
There was supposed to be a decision made at a Council meeting tonight (15/1/09),
but now isn't.


The decision about Rose Cottage has been delayed for the following reason.
The information English Heritage (EH) wanted from the Airport's agents, White Young Green (WYG),
has not been sent over.
WYG were supposed to supply EH with either plans that incorporate Rose Cottage within the
development (which they have resisted) OR information over WHY they cannot incorporate Rose
Cottage within the development.

It's very important that WYG gets this right due to PPG15 - the most important bits being:

     ...The Secretaries of State would not expect listed building consent to be granted for demolition
unless the authority is satisfied that real efforts have been made without success to continue the present
use or to find compatible alternative uses for the building...
   ...There may very exceptionally be cases where the proposed works would bring substantial benefits
for the community which have to be weighed against the arguments in favour of preservation. Even here,
it will often be feasible to incorporate listed buildings within new development, and this option should be
carefully considered: the challenge presented by retaining listed buildings can be a stimulus to imaginative
new design to accommodate them...

What this delay means

Manchester Airport Group (MAG), are NOT sympathetic to the EH's suggested compromise, and
EH left the recent meeting with MAG with the feeling they would get reasons why the compromise
could not be reached. They said if that's the case, they would continue to oppose the plans.

If WYG are writing up the reasons why they can't compromise, then they have to make sure they
are very good reasons, as stated above: "unless the authority is satisfied that real efforts have been
made without success to continue the present use or to find compatible alternative uses for the building... "

And those are the key words: "REAL EFFORTS". If WYG cannot demonstrate that they have put
in enough "REAL EFFORT" to incorporate, and we can demonstrate this at the hearing, then under
PPG15 they should (in theory) refuse.

If on the other hand, this delay is because WYG can't find feasible reasons why they can't incorporate
Rose Cottage into the design, then they may be re-designing the whole damn thing, and this is why it's
delayed. If this is the case then it may be more than a few weeks delayed as it would require a substantial
effort to re-draw the plans and possibly re-consult the statutory bodies (Police, GMPTE, etc).