Dorset House - Demolition Planned

4.55.06pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Jun 2009

Lib Dems in Headington have learned that a demolition notice has been sent in by contractors on behalf of Quintain, the owners of the Dorset House site, to demolish all buildings on the site except for the three nearest the corner of Latimer Road and London Road. The demolition work is scheduled to take place week beginning 8 June. This came as a complete surprise to local residents.

This means that Dorset House itself is set to be demolished, along with 1A Latimer Road, and the newer buildings to the rear of the site facing Latimer Grange.

Residents are perplexed about how the owners can simply announce demolition when the City Council has previously recommended the retention of the old buildings as being of local interest. In fact, five years ago, David Rundle and Stephen Tall called for extra protection for the House and the buildings were put on what's called 'the Local List'. But that's not the same as a nationally listed building and the site is not within a Conservation Area. In legal terms, when there are no other safeguards, an owner has a right to demolish their own property. That means that the Planning Department, to everyone's frustration, can't just stop the demolition happening.

There are, though, other aspects to the issue. Local Councillors have also found out that there are various trees on the site that have preservation orders on them, and have requested the planning enforcement officer to contact the demolition project manager to make this clear to him

There are also parts of the site which would not be a loss, in particular the newer buildings at the back of the site. Local Lib Dem Councillor, David Rundle, says, "We know that Latimer Grange residents are keen that the demolition of those buildings takes place as soon as possible, to stop the chance of anti-social behaviour on the site. We are setting up a meeting between them and the project manager to discuss issues around dust, noise, parking, access and egress, and, most importantly, security."

Councillors Ruth Wilkinson and David are continuing to investigate all possible routes to persuade the owners that the original buildings on the Dorset House site are worth saving. Ruth says, "We'll keep residents updated with news of those discussions on our website www.headingtonlibdems.org.uk

"Some residents have contacted us asking to sign a petition to save the House. So, we oblige! If you look down the right of the screen, you'll see our survey has changed. If you do want to try to save Dorset House, do respond to the survey, replying yes, and please provide your e-mail address. This is so that we can validate our response before submitting the on-line petition to the owners of the site.

"We will also provide hard copy for those who prefer to sign it that way. But, also, to those who would prefer to see Dorset House go or who don't care, do also vote in the survey. We do want to know the whole range of opinion out there."

Related Link:

Updates and survey.