Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Sun, February 01, 2009

Tony, I couldn’t agree more. The problem is, as we have both experienced, that no owner is obliged to let a field-worker near their property. There are a couple of examples in Gloucestershire where even the County Sites and Monuments people have been refused permission to check the current state of a mill building. At one mill I went to (without an appointment, I must say) the owner was seriously concerned that I wanted not just to see his mill but to get it listed, thus burdening him with responsibilities which he did not want. We are all also aware of cases, some of which have been causes for concern to SPAB, where current owners are quietly dumping the machinery from a mill in order to convert the empty shell into high-priced housing. Water mills are a more awkward problem than windmills because of their often more secluded locations. I have never been in favour of more legislation - it is the owner’s property, after all. Perhaps some concerted campaign by SPAB and similar bodies could be attempted, based upon conservation rather than restoration? Certainly you are right, and we must try to do something. In Gloucestershire, the conversion rate is nearer 80% than 50. Regards, Mike Beacham

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