These simple steps could help to save our heritage

Jul 12 2008 by Sue Bardon, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT IS heartening to see that the plight of Huddersfield’s listed buildings is being taken seriously (Examiner ‘Buildings at Risk’ July 8).

Low Westwood Mill at Linthwaite is a cause for particular concern since the loss of roofing has resulted in a serious deterioration of the fabric of the building.

Kirklees Council bears some responsibility for this, since it failed to respond to calls for enforcement action made by the trust set up to try and save the mill a decade ago.

It seems that the planning department is more intent on chasing people who install PVC window frames, than those who, by wilful neglect, try to destroy listed buildings.

Low Westwood is the oldest remaining mill in the Colne Valley and, apart from Lords Mill at Honley – also in a sad state of neglect – the oldest in the Huddersfield area.

It is an important part of our industrial heritage, as well as being in a scenic location between the canal and the river, which adds to its amenity value.

The mill dam is also an environmental asset which should have been protected and not allowed to deteriorate.

The mill was formerly powered by a water turbine and, with modern technology and some imagination, a development on the site could generate its own energy.

If our heritage is to be protected then three things need to be done. The Government must pass legislation allowing the confiscation, without compensation, of neglected buildings and money must be made available to invest in them.

If over £1bn can be squandered on the Millennium Dome and up to £9bn on the Olympics – both London projects – why can’t the money be found to protect our historical and architectural heritage throughout the country?

On the other hand, those owners who are willing to look after their buildings should be helped and not penalised.

Closer to home, some of the millions being wasted on the St George’s Square revamping could be put to better use.

I hope the ‘plans’ Kirklees Cabinet member Clr Ken Sims cryptically alludes to for Low Westwood and Folly Hall Mills do not involve the use of Chinese granite and that, due to the recession in the building industry, it’s not another case of ‘too little, too late’.

Alan Brooke

Honley