How easy is it to get a listed building delisted?

[AY1975]

How easy is it to get a listed building delisted? Can a local council or developer apply for a delisting just because they feel like it, or do they have to be able to demonstrate that the benefits of demolishing (or significantly altering) the listed building in question (and of building whatever they want to build on the site) outweigh any other considerations such as the loss of a historically important building?

 

[eMeS]

I don't know the answer to your query, but I do remember a historic building in Wheathampstead, Herts being demolished (over a weekend, from memory) when builders wanted it out of the way, before getting on with their development. Must have been around the 1967-1975 period.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I don't know the answer to your query, but I do remember a historic building in Wheathampstead, Herts being demolished (over a weekend, from memory) when builders wanted it out of the way, before getting on with their development. Must have been around the 1967-1975 period.

That might just have been the demolition of Town Farm, Wheathampstead which dated back to medieval times. It was demolished in May 1971 and replaced by housing. Not sure if it was ever listed as such, but the demolition was certainly considered controversial and in part led to a change in the regulations affecting the emergency listing of buildings.

 

[SuspectUsual]

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/guidance-de-listing-building/removing-building-from-list-jan19/

Here you go

 

[Busaholic]

How easy is it to get a listed building delisted? Can a local council or developer apply for a delisting just because they feel like it, or do they have to be able to demonstrate that the benefits of demolishing (or significantly altering) the listed building in question (and of building whatever they want to build on the site) outweigh any other considerations such as the loss of a historically important building?

As the owner and occupier of a listed building, I can answer unequivocally: almost impossible. This is why you get unscrupulous people ignoring listed status and, in the worst cases, reducing them to a pile of rubble. Then they say, in effect, ''what are you going to do about it then?'' to the local authority. Often, the answer is ''effectively, nothing'', unfortunately. Private Eye has cited dozens of examples over the years.

 

[DelW]

As the owner and occupier of a listed building, I can answer unequivocally: almost impossible. This is why you get unscrupulous people ignoring listed status and, in the worst cases, reducing them to a pile of rubble. Then they say, in effect, ''what are you going to do about it then?'' to the local authority. Often, the answer is ''effectively, nothing'', unfortunately. Private Eye has cited dozens of examples over the years.

Only a single counter example, but at least it shows that enforcement is possible:

Carlton Tavern - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Westminster Council made a developer rebuild the pub that it had demolished illegally.

 

[eMeS]

Only a single counter example, but at least it shows that enforcement is possible:

Carlton Tavern - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Westminster Council made a developer rebuild the pub that it had demolished illegally.

Fascinating - I wonder how many other councils would have had the energy and nous to do likewise! (I do wonder whether "Listing" gets as much scrutiny as it deserves, and whether the ethnic/social mix of the "listers" is reviewed! ...and by whom.)

 

[dosxuk]

Then they say, in effect, ''what are you going to do about it then?'' to the local authority.

What if it's the local authority who want to alter/demolish the building? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62574310)

 

[Busaholic]

What if it's the local authority who want to alter/demolish the building? (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-62574310)

They presumably ask themselves the same question rhetorically.

 

[THC]

Fascinating - I wonder how many other councils would have had the energy and nous to do likewise! (I do wonder whether "Listing" gets as much scrutiny as it deserves, and whether the ethnic/social mix of the "listers" is reviewed! ...and by whom.)

Plenty would have the energy and nous. Precious few would have the resources, Westminster City Council being one of them.

THC