After being labelled “middle class idiots” for opposing plans to bulldoze a row of derelict Victorian villas in Birmingham, conservationists have launched a legal challenge against the city council. Neil Elkes reports.
The outburst came during a fierce debate over plans to knock down six derelict Victorian houses in Birmingham to make way for a retirement village.
Conservative councillor Len Clark launched a tirade against heritage groups which had vehemently opposed the plans to demolish the villas, including the former Lambert Court Hotel in Hagley Road.
“These middle class idiots haven’t a clue what’s been going on for the last 50 years. This is a major commuter route, if we don’t do this it will be left as a blight on the city,” he said.
But now conservation groups are calling on the Government to review the committee’s controversial decision to allow the development to go ahead.
They claim the planning committee ignored a raft of conservation policy and the advice of heritage experts in approving the demolition of the six derelict Victorian villas lining Hagley Road.
This has prompted the Victorian Society to write to Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles calling for a review of last week’s controversial planning committee decision.
They contend that the council ignored planning policy and suggest there was undue political influence from city council leader Mike Whitby. They also fear it could set a precedent for further development of heritage sites in the city. It means that the Government will now review the decision and can either uphold it, order a change or call a public inquiry.
The buildings have been boarded up and left to rot for about a decade, prompting owner Calthorpe Estates to offer the land to Birmingham City Council and ExtraCare Charity team for their third major retirement village.
The houses have some legal protection as part of the Barnsley Road Conservation Area although recent attempts to beef this up with a Grade II-listing have failed. One of the houses, built in 1895, is the last surviving house designed by Arts and Crafts architect Ernest Barnsley, after whom the area is named.
The debate over Hagley Road was one of the most heated the planning committee has seen.
Coun Clark rallied the demolition lobby, crucially securing the support of one Labour councillor, Keith Linnecor, to see the city’s housing department’s plans for the Florida-style retirement village passed by a narrow eight votes to six.
Joe Holyoak, architect and Victorian Society member, said: “We have written to the Secretary of State asking him to call in the decision on Hagley Road.