From the Chairman:

I was delighted to see so many members and friends at our Banister Fletcher lecture in December. Ian Dungavell’s explanation of how the Victorian Society had made its mark as an effective campaigner, often by being not over-preservationist in what it fought for, was a good story. It made a great end to our year and we hope it was a good finale to the Victorian Society’s own 50th anniversary celebrations. We are grateful to the Victorian Society for helping with the publicity which brought a good attendance and made our Society known to a wider circle.

One of the initiatives we took last year, to co-operate with the Heritage of London Trust in making small grants to worthwhile conservation projects, has now brought its first result, in the works to repair the Alexis Soyer monument in Kensal Green Cemetery. Many members will remember looking at the monument in its unrestored state on our summer visit last year. Our specific contribution, at first suggested for the railings, has eventually been used for the restoration of the lettering. Our summer visit for this year will be on Saturday 27 June when we will go to the Royal Foundation of St Katharine, Limehouse. More details in the next Newsletter.

The change at the top, from Ken Livingstone to Boris Johnson, is bringing a new focus to planning matters in London. This is most noticeable in the Mayor’s opposition to the government’s wish to have a third runway at Heathrow. But the Mayor has also recently issued his proposals for revisions to the general strategy for transport in London. A recent meeting of the Society’s committee decided to recognise the importance of transport issues in good planning for London by forming a small sub-committee to consider how best the Society can react to and comment on transport proposals. This will include not just specific schemes but also the balance to be struck between public and private transport, the way in which transport planning can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases, and the significance of transport to the public realm which is so important in making London a pleasant place to live. I’d be glad to hear from any member who has a special interest in these issues and would be willing to help guide the Society’s views.

Members are also asked if they may be willing to help with a project sponsored by the Churches Conservation Trust and English Heritage to consider the significance and the present condition and use of all the listed places of worship in Tower Hamlets and Hackney. The project is being run through the Building Exploratory in Hackney; any member who may be able to help and would like further information is invited to contact Emma Tutton, the project manager, at emma@buildingexploratory.org.uk or on 020 7249 4409.

Another Mayoral initiative has unfortunately fallen between Newsletter issues so that by now it is too late for me to advise members to participate. This has been the proposal for ‘Priority Parks’ through which money will be allocated to ten winners among 47 schemes put forward by London Boroughs and voted on in an online poll by Londoners. While this emphasis on London’s open spaces is welcomed, we will have to feel sorry for those schemes which don’t win the Mayor’s money and perhaps be concerned about other issues which may be decided by this form of online democracy. I hope that the efforts made to put all the proposals together will result in improvements in many of London’s green spaces, winners of the Mayor’s money or not. The pressures on London’s breathing spaces can be seen in the paradox of Islington Borough Council nominating Bunhill Fields for one of the Mayor’s grants, whilst at the same time issuing a planning brief for an adjacent site which will replace single storey school buildings with a seven storey building. We are looking into this proposal which seems likely to have an adverse effect on one of London’s most historic open spaces.

Among my recent reading has been the November 2008 issue of The London Journal which is a special issue devoted to tall buildings in London; it prints some of the papers given at a conference in October 2007. This is partly historical in scope with accounts of tall buildings from medieval times onwards, perhaps the most recent ‘historic’ tower being the Charles Holden London University building, to which I drew attention in the last Newsletter. But the papers also include discussion of more recent controversial issues including the Mayor’s View Management Framework (by Lucy Markham who contributed a paper on the same subject to our Journal) and the intriguingly entitled ‘Livingstone versus Serota: The High-Rise Battle of Bankside’. This is an account of the attempts to scuttle the Hopton Street Tower (eventually successful, but through the operations of the property market rather than the planning system) which points out the anomaly of Tate Modern’s attempt to prevent this tall building being succeeded by its own proposals for an even ‘ziggurat’ (to which the London Society objected). The London Journal is an item regularly added to our Library and if any member wishes to consult it, please contact the office.

With best wishes,
Frank Kelsall

TheLondonSociety

From the Chairman:

The
London
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