Its Gaviscon time at Town Hall Towers, stomach churning Rotherham politics at its very best, it’s the only game in town when it comes to the planning application by Rotherham United Estates Ltd to demolish parts of the grade 2 Guest and Chrimes building.
Guess what’s going to hit the fan on this one?
English Heritage has stepped into the fray and what a lot of trouble that is causing.
It’s laughable to listen to Elected Members spouting planning and architectural terms they do not understand and even more funny to see them trying to distance themselves from the Leader and the decision.
Seasoned Officers are making sure their backs are well protected on this one.
A firewall of silence has been put in place to stop any prying eyes, FOI requests blocked etc.
The cunning plan is to give a green light to the application and come up with an argument that withstands external scrutiny, and stops any adverse public comments.
Even the once independent Rotherham Advertiser is spinning the line via the Charlie Graves pages that the site has little value.
The web pages of Rotherham Business News have comments from sources supporting the demolition.
Sad to say the application will be passed and there goes another part of the Boroughs heritage.
The light at the end of the tunnel, could this be the issue that brings down the current RMBC Cabinet?
Peter Baker
Rotherham Politics 
Oh yes, RMBC Planning Dept. at its best.
Remember when the big telly in All Saints Square was considered perfectly acceptable in the historical context of the Parish Church (or minster, or whatever they’re calling it this week) and then it wasn’t – so the fact that the Guest and Chrimes building has lost its importance in the context of its ‘Riverside’ location, comes as no surprise whatsoever.
Planning policies in Rotherham aren’t worth the digital bytes that they are produced in.
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Plannig in Rotherham stinks. The plannig officers are either incompetent or stupid or both. Councillors too thick to understand what they are doing. There is a row going on in Maltby about the Old Grammar School frontage. No wonder that peoiple always say money talks and the Advertiser has been under the thumb of Rotherham Labout Party for more years than I care to remember.
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Wales square is the centre of the old Wales village. It is in a conservation area. Yet we have now had two applications to demolish the Lord Conyers. A building which had stood in some form or another for 100’s of years. The present owner was a prime mover to get the pub closed – before he bought it of course. He is also a member of the family who demolished the oldest building in Wales – a property they did not own. The stupid planner did not use his enforcement powers so the old blacksmiths was demolished.
On the first application to demolish the Conyers he wanted to knock the Conyers down and build some more houses. His application stated this was the only way he could make a profit on his purchase. Many of the objectors said the Borough Council shouldn’t be responsible for him to make a profit. There were numerous objections and the officer involved wrote a report which said the building was a integral part of Wales village square and should be retained. Duly the application was turned down. A victory for the parishioner’s we thought.
Don’t be silly – back he came for another go!
The parishoners went in again with many objections. The office in charge was this time wasrecommending demolition ! What changed his mind I wonder? What happened to change the nature of the building or indeed the conservation status? He did not make the written objections available to committee members , nor even give the number – why I wonder?
To their credit the planning committee turned down the application but how many times can an application be presented – seems to be as many times as he wants.
We will I expect lose this 150 year old building with its distinctive exterior – it seems crazy to lose our heritage just to provide some chancer with a quick buck.
But even more questionable is the officer change of mind. How can an important building suddenly become worthless.
So it goes to show that attempted mindless destruction of our heritage is happening all over the Borough – we must not let it happen – we must be vigilant and protest whenever we can. This is a potted version there are many twists and turns and all in the name of ‘trying to turn a fast buck’
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The ‘potted version’ just serves to stimulate curiosity? We would be very interested in publishing the fuller version, if you would indulge us?
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If FOI applications really are being blocked, that’s a disgrace. Would like to talk to the journalist who made the comment!
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