Coventry Society Newsletter - October 2018

A vibrant Upper Precinct in the sixties showing the upper tier with its period street furniture, the bridge linking both sides of the balcony shopping and its stairways.

Even the underground loos take centre stage!

I have said it before and I’ll say it again.

Bowing to the big boys without proper consideration for locals, whether they be retailers who have invested in a shop or simply members of the public who care about their city, has to be a bad idea.

Currently we have several issues that cause major concerns. The controversy over the Coventry Cross; the proposals for the listed Upper Precinct; the six-yearold City Centre South comprehensive redevelopment plan. All hugely controversial and well worth a moment to review each one of them.

Coventry Cross Whether it’s acceptable to move the Coventry Cross to another location is clearly debatable, but one thing is absolutely certain, it’s a major feature of the medieval Cathedral Quarter and fits well with its sandstone neighbours.

But the Council has decided to favour a nearby Caribbean fusion restaurant, Turtle Bay, that would be the occupier of the land on which the Cross stands.

It might well not be such an issue but for the location of the replica cross within the city’s Hill Top Heraldic figures on Conservation Area.

Demolition within The Cross such an area requires any developer to demonstrate that their

plan will add to and not reduce the environmental quality of the conservation area. The process for doing this is to prepare a Heritage Statement to support the application. Yet there is no such statement. Not even a proper planning application that members of the public can see. So there is no written justification for the demolition of the Cross. If this all sounds unlikely you can check out the plans on the Council’s Planning Portal.

On top of that Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Cllr Jim O’Boyle, has found public money to remove the Cross.

Riding roughshod comes to mind.

Upper Precinct Objections to proposals that would seriously affect the historically important Upper Precinct were submitted by the Twentieth Century Society recently.

Here are some pointers from its letter: ‘The covered areas of the public realm are a key feature of the Upper Precinct as a public amenity, and the Society is opposed to their removal. The infill of the colonnade areas is an infringement on the public space that was at the centre of Gibson’s design.

‘The Society is also opposed to the removal of the canopies to M&S and BHS, as these are important period features that create a strong visual link across the axis of the Upper Precinct, Lower Precinct, Market Way and Smithford Way. ‘Proposed alterations to the Upper Precinct and Market Way facades of the former BHS store are in no way

October 2018 sympathetic to the original features of the listed building.

‘The removal of the ramp has the potential to open up views through the Upper Precinct to the Cathedral, however we are concerned that this access has not been provided elsewhere April 1954: Advertis- and will have an ing the opening of adverse effect on the Marks and Spencer circulation around the upper tier. The removal of the bridges between the North and South link blocks will also remove a key feature of the original layout of the Upper Precinct.

‘The proposed entrance archway to the West Orchards Shopping Centre is unsympathetic to the minimal decorative detailing of the original buildings.’

On a positive note we all agree that the removal of the intrusive escalator and proposal to reinstate period railings and lighting to the balcony areas will help restore the Precinct’s heritage status.

We also endorse the Twentieth Century Society’s disappointment when we see that the scheme has undergone minimal revision in light of the newly listed status of the buildings occupying the site.

Of some significance is the Council’s refusal to make the 20th Century letter available to the public.

Continued overpage

St. Mark's Church and the Feibusch Mural Monday 8th October 2018 Architect Graeme Beamish will speak about this Grade II Listed Building and John Payne will talk about the ‘re-discovery’ of the Feibusch mural

7.00 pm at St. Mark's Church, Bird Street [Note Earlier Start Time]

More news and views on our website: www.coventrysociety.org.uk

It was a moment to say “job well done” when Morris Homes invited several of us to share in the ceremony to top-out the historic Copsewood Grange at Stoke.

Chairman Paul Maddocks was joined by Les Fawcett to climb the scaffold and share the completion by inserting the last tile in the roof of the building.

Coventry Society believe the Grange and its Lodge form an important heritage asset to the city and we know they are highly valued by local people.

City Centre South My article in July said how it’s understandable our City Fathers should want to see our retail offer move up the rankings, but shouldn’t we really be taking a fresh look at the grandiose City Centre South scheme granted outline planning consent all those years ago in 2012. Six years ago! Hasn’t the retail trade moved on since those days? Covolution, the city’s one-stop guide to independent food and drink couldn’t agree more. It said: “ I'd be surprised if the council can even find an 'anchor' department store group that is expanding at the moment. The changing retail economy means that most of them are closing stores, rather than opening new ones and because of that, the whole City Centre scheme needs re-thinking. What is expanding is the so-called 'experience economy' - and that is all about uniqueness and offering what cannot be had elsewhere. This is where Coventry city centre should be heading - preserving and exploiting its heritage mid-century architecture and promoting independent businesses within it. With a revamp, City Arcade would be the perfect setting.”

So where are we now? Thirty small retailers in the proposed redevelopment area have no security of tenure. According to several traders in the area the Council is offering little or nothing for their future.

However let’s be optimistic. Surely it’s not hard to imagine a thriving enclave of small retailers in a revamped Bull Yard, Shelton Square, City Arcade ‘village’. Is it?

We are still waiting for a meeting with the Council over the City Centre South comprehensive redevelopment plan.

Once again, riding roughshod comes to mind.

Culture is all about heritage and the A ‘shopping village’ for Birmingham. wonderful stories behind it. Think speciality An intimate and designer shop shops.

Think City of Culture 2021. project driven by McArthurGlen Keith Draper

Historic England A new Historic England officer, Cristina Gardiner, is now in post and planning a visit to Coventry.

Listing assessments are beginning on three city centre locations - Lloyds Bank in Broadgate, the Flying Standard public house and the Lower Precinct.

Recommendations would be on all three.

Culture Coventry The History Centre at the Herbert formally became Coventry Archives on September 15 and on the same date the Herbert will be launching an Adopt An Archive project for organisations to get involved with one of more than a dozen different archives held by the museum.

Their eighteen-month Revealing George Eliot project has started and more than 50 items of memorabilia have been made available from the Herbert collections.

Coventry Cathedral A symposium held on the cathedral's medieval glass, recently stored in Wells, had caused considerable excitement among experts. No firm plans yet on how to display the glass in Coventry.

Showcasing art & performance The project featured use of the Coventry Telegraph building to showcase art and performance is now complete with funding spent. It was estimated that 20,000 people had visited the CET building and there is now discussion about other redundant buildings in the city centre that might be similarly used.

Contacts

Postal address: 77 Craven Street, Coventry CV5 8DT Chairman’s tel: 07814327614 Email: info @coventrysociety.org.uk If Twitter is your thing, you can follow us at https://twitter.com/#!/CovSoc We also have our own page on Facebook.

You can also follow us there at http://www.facebook.com/CoventrySociety

Ralph Butcher was given life membership of the Society last month in recognition of his longstanding contribution to our work over the years.

Ralph moved to Coventry in 1960 after a spell in the RAF, an architecture course in Hull and a couple of years at Hull City Council Housing Department. He worked in several sections of Coventry’s Department of Architecture and Planning. Ralph’s initial work in Coventry was advising the planning officers on the design aspects of planning applications (something that doesn’t happen these days). He also worked in the Policy and Landscape sections before taking over the role that he became famous for, leading the Council’s General Improvement Area Team. The achievements of this team were very important for Coventry with 14,000 houses improved and 14,000 families given better lives in their own homes and communities instead of being re-housed in modern concrete blocks.

Ralph joined the Coventry Civic Amenity Society, as we were called in those days, in the 1970s. He took on many roles in the Society, including being a member of the Executive Committee, Treasurer and Membership Secretary.