Press Release: Success in Southend – two historic houses saved from demolition
22 April 2016
Press Release: Success in Southend – two historic houses saved from demolition
SAVE is pleased to report that after four years of campaigning, 59-61 East Street, Southend-on-Sea, have been saved from demolition. With support from SAVE, the Essex County Preservation Trust have acquired the properties and a programme of repairs is now underway.
59-61 East Street are a pair of semi-detached houses in the Prittlewell Conservation Area, dating from c.1880. Derelict for more than a decade, they feature on Essex County Council’s buildings at risk register, and were added to SAVE’s Buildings at Risk register in 2013 to highlight their plight.
ECPT are now on site and works are well underway restoring 59-61 East Street. Plant growth has been removed, and the buildings have been reroofed. The intention is to reuse 59-61 as residential properties.
Mike Fox, Deputy Director of SAVE said: “This is really great news. SAVE has long championed the terraced house and unlisted buildings within Conservation Areas, and we are delighted that ECPT have successfully acquired Nos. 59-61 and started restoration work. We look forward to seeing the buildings back in use, and taking them off our Buildings at Risk Register.”
When threatened with demolition in 2012 by the then owner, the neighbouring Church of England school, SAVE campaigned with the ECPT to get the application refused. The Council subsequently purchased the buildings, promising to restore them, but further years of inaction followed.
A second demolition application was submitted in summer 2015, with the council citing public safety concerns and structural problems as reasons why the buildings had to be immediately demolished. Once again SAVE and ECPT strongly objected. The Trust received support from local Councillors and Sir David Amess MP.
Whilst the demolition application was still being considered SAVE was advised that the Council had begun works to remove the rear gardens of 59-61. SAVE sought advice from solicitor Susan Ring of Richard Buxton Environmental and Public Law, who confirmed the Council’s actions were not lawful whilst the planning application was still under consideration. Following letters from SAVE works were stopped, and the planning application was put into abeyance.
An offer to buy the buildings and restore them was submitted by ECPT in September 2015, an offer they had made several times in the past. The Council finally accepted this offer and ECPT acquired the buildings in January 2016.
ECPT are now on site and works are well underway restoring 59-61 East Street. Plant growth has been removed, and the buildings have been reroofed. The intention is to reuse 59-61 as residential properties, similar to the adjacent matching pair at Nos. 69-71 East Street.
Nos. 69-71 were acquired and restored by the Southend and District Preservation Trust in 2004, and are an example of what can be achieved with modest but valued buildings in a Conservation Area. When first acquired, No. 71 was in a far worse condition then either 59-61, but today makes a handsome home.
For more information and images please contact Mike Fox on 0207 253 3500 or mike.fox@savebritainsheritage.org or ECPT on 01702 445587 or buildingtrust@btconnect.com
Notes to Editors
The Essex County Preservation Trust works to preserve, repair, renovate, rebuild and generally promote the preservation of buildings and land for the benefit of Essex County and also the nation at large. ECPT can be contacted on telephone 01702 445587.
SAVE Britain’s Heritage has been campaigning for historic buildings since its formation in 1975 by a group of architectural historians, journalists and planners. It is a strong, independent voice in conservation, free to respond rapidly to emergencies and to speak out loud for the historic built environment.
SAVE produces a Buildings at Risk report containing 100 new additions ever year. The next report is due out in June 2016. SAVE also maintains an online Buildings at Risk Register, accessible to Friends of SAVE for £36 per year. For more information about buildings at risk, or becoming a Friend of SAVE please see our website.
SAVE Britain’s Heritage, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ
Registered Charity 269129
Tel. 020 7253 3500 Email office@savebritainsheritage.org
www.savebritainsheritage.org
Follow SAVE on Twitter: @SAVEBrit
Donate to SAVE via Justgiving
Press release