Sir, The Prince of Wales is right to draw attention to the plight of World Heritage Sites at risk from inappropriate high buildings, and to Bath’s situation in particular (report, Feb 1).
There is no explicit statutory protection for World Heritage sites in UK law, and while we hope that the proposed draft Bill for heritage protection will remedy this, Bath is currently still at the mercy of developers driven by commercial interests, a local authority that has not even produced detailed planning guidance on tall buildings and a London-centric media. Just this week the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government refused to call in a planning application that imposes buildings up to nine storeys at the heart of the city of Bath, the UK’s only entire World Heritage City. Her ground for the decision was in part that it was a matter of merely local importance that had not caused “sufficient controversy” — presumably sufficient to embarrass national politicians.
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The destruction of large parts of Georgian Bath in the 1960s and 1970s became a national scandal. We regret that the imposition of nine-storey residential blocks in its heart is not seen to be one today.
Caroline Kay
Chief Executive, Bath Preservation Trust