Hello All!
I have finally received a reply to my request to CADW to review the listing status of Old Pennar school.
The first part of the email is my response to their decision, which is printed in full below.
Start.
Dear Rhodri
Many thanks for the reply to my request for a review of the listing of Old Pennar School. I am disappointed by this reply. This will clearly make Pennar a "free fire" zone for developers and dramatically erode the sense of place and community within this ward of Pembroke Dock and add to the disenchantment and sense of abandonment amongst the residents.
The scheme whereby Pembrokeshire County Council is able to determine local listing is, quite frankly, nonsense. They are already the property owners and the arbiters of planning decisions. Such an arrangement is both lacking in transparency and open to abuse. The Welsh Government is short sighted and abdicating its responsibilities if it allows this policy to continue.
I will now try and find out what is to happen to the good quality limestone from the demolition or the roofing material. Will PCC have the sense to claim it for work in renovating properties in the local conservation area? I doubt it.
Still no listed buildings in Pennar.
Best wishes
Adrian
Www.saveoldpennarschool.blogspot.com
PS. I have identified another property in PD that may be worthy of Grade II listing, having compared its interior to the original building drawings, of which I have copies, it is virtually untouched. C.1900. I shall be in touch.
Sent from my Windows Phone so apologies for typos.
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From: Rhodri.Kelly@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK
Sent: 28/08/2015 14:13
To: adriantajames@hotmail.com
Subject: Old Pennar School, pembroke Dock
Dear Mr James,
Thank you for your emails asking Cadw to consider Old Pennar School, Pembroke Dock for listing, and for the information provided in support of this request. I am sorry that I have not been able to reply to you sooner.
As explained in the email dated 30 April which was issued by my colleague, Tina Moverley, the school would have been looked at for listing in 1994 when Cadw resurveyed the entire Pembroke Dock community for historic buildings. Pembroke Dock is a relatively intensive area for listing and we are confident that the fieldwork included the locality of Pennar, and that the school was seen, given its building type and location, but rejected as it did not meet the published strict criteria for listing. Cadw’s Historic Buildings Inspector has carefully reconsidered the case for listing in light of your request and the information you have kindly provided, but has advised that there is nothing to suggest that the building’s significance was overlooked previously.
We acknowledge that the building has some historic interest as an early board school and there are some points of architectural interest (the stone detailing to the exterior, the roof structure where visible and the one surviving fireplace). However, it has been altered through historic extensions and later changes such as the plastic windows, internal boarding and removal of features and as a result of these alterations, is no longer considered to be a good example of its type. There are better examples of early schools and those that are listed set the benchmark against which new candidate buildings are assessed. In this instance, there are comparable buildings that are more architecturally distinguished at the national level and listed as being better examples of this building type with exceptional architectural character. For example:
Former Church School, St Davids. 1873 former National or Church School.
Former Capel Dewi School, Llanarthney. Listed as a well-preserved and good example of an 1870-Education-Act village school.
Barham Memorial School, Trecwn. Included as a well-designed and executed later Victorian school, with advanced architectural detail unusual for the period.
Cwmbach County Primary School, Whitland. Included as a little-altered C19 primary school building, of group value with the chapel adjoining.
You should also be aware that listing is not intended to be a preservation order or a block on development, but rather a planning marker designed to sympathetically manage change in historically and architecturally important properties.
I appreciate that the absence of a statutory listing will be disappointing to you, but as the strict criteria for listing are not met, there is no basis on which to list. The option of local listing is available to a local planning authority and while local listing in itself does not protect such buildings from demolition, it can be a material consideration in the planning process. You may wish to take this up with Pembrokeshire County Council.
Kind Regards,
Rhodri Kelly
Rhodri Kelly
Gwasanaeth Amgylchedd Hanesyddol (Cadw) / Historic Environment Service (Cadw)
Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government
Ffôn / Tel: (01443) 336003
Ffacs / Fax: (01443) 336001
E-bost: kellyr@cymru.gsi.gov.uk / E-mail: kellyr@wales.gsi.gov.uk
Helpwch yr amgylchedd - peidiwch ag argraffu hon os nad oes gwir raid.
Help our environment - only print this if really necessary.
Dilynwch Cadw / Follow Cadw:
www.cadw.cymru.gov.uk | www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
www.facebook.com/pages/Cadw/254566024556911 <span style="font-size:10
End
Saturday, 29 August 2015
Thursday, 27 August 2015
Demolish Old Pennar School - Demolition Approved.
I am downhearted today. The application to demolish Old Pennar School was determined yesterday and conditional planning approval was given.
I feel a massive sense of injustice in the whole affair - but it is not over yet. There could be a Judicial Review! More about this in a later post........
Progress is progress, but at what price? Should one of the few buildings left in Pennar, that holds a communal connection with the past be eradicated to provide yet more housing?
That people need places to live cannot be denied - it is a human right to be able to live, with your family, where you wish. Does this mean that everything else is subsidiary to this? I think not! The basis of society is family. As Mrs Doubtfire said, "There are all sorts of different families, Katie.", and family is a generational thing. A community of families needs a sense of place, an identity - this is the cement of a civilised society and places the community in both time and space. Do people want to live in a landscape devoid of any concrete statement of their communal heritage?
My experience as a teacher for many years has taught me that a school is focus for a community. "School days are the happiest days of your life" - not true for all, but so true for the majority. School days are NOT, in our memories, about the 3Rs - they are about the teachers who made a connection with us, the social life of the playground, the subversive passing of notes, the moaning about school dinners, the adoration of spotted dick and custard, the friends we made, the "falling outs" we had (a girl thing mainly;)) and the tumult of learning about how to deal with the vast complexity of life.
All these things happen in a school. A school is a place where - in the case of Old Pennar School - there were:
....outside loos, frozen milk, coal burner fires in the classroom, football or "Kingy" at break, marbles in the pits along the lane into school. The teachers and their foibles, the screaming swifts, Pioneers, Discoverers, Adventurers and Pilgrims. I was a Pilgrim!
and more.....
Stephen Butland and myself in the wheel-barrow race!!! Football practice in the park - "Sir, I think I've pulled a muscle!"; "James, I didn't know you had any muscles!" Pride in your own stories read out in class or your art work posted on the walls of the classroom. Lizards and shrews in your desk after lunch. Allowed home early for good work. Watching the launch of the QE2 with Mrs Harris......
How many of us have deliberately driven past our old schools to show our young passengers where we went to school and revisit tales of classroom derring-do?
None of the above plays any role in the planning process. The decision to demolish old buildings is reduced to the type of thing that is written below:
Planning Application - Details
Having regard to the details of the application proposals, and the relevant provisions of the Local Development Plan for Pembrokeshire (adopted 28 February 2013) as summarised below Policies SP 1, SP 14, GN.1, GN.2, GN.26 and GN.37 It is considered that subject to compliance with the conditions attached in this permission, the proposed development would be in accordance with the Development Plan. This informative is intended only to be a summary of the reasons for the granting of planning permission. For further details on the decision, please see the application report under the above reference.
I remain unclear about the details in the "application report under the above reference" . I can't find it or indeed the reference??
The documents relating to the application can be found on the PCC Planning website at reference: 14/1098/PA
I will be writing more about this very soon. Meanwhile, there are threads running on the following Facebook Groups.
I Live in Pembrokeshire and I Love it!"
Pembroke and Pembroke Dock in Old Photographs
Pennar, Pembroke Dock in Old Photographs
Also see Facebook Page: Save Old Pennar School
Sunday, 23 August 2015
Friday, 21 August 2015
Old Pennar School - Getting the Building Listed (Part 5)
Apologies for the rather long gap between postings, but there has been little news to report on Old Pennar School.
However, I can post some more information from the document I submitted to CADW re: the listing of the Old School.
However, I can post some more information from the document I submitted to CADW re: the listing of the Old School.
More to follow very soon!
Friday, 7 August 2015
Save Old Pennar School - getting the building listed (Part 4)
Apologies for the lull in posts, but other things have cropped up.
As part of the the request for listing a building you are also asked to give the historical background to the building.
For Old Pennar School, there is information in files in The National Archives and at Pembrokeshire Archives, as well as some old newspaper reports and documents in private hands.
Files in The National Archives include ED 21/67383, an extract of which is reproduced, courtesy of TNA. This is a school inspector's report from 1938, and is interesting as it mentions how some of the classrooms were arranged.
As part of the the request for listing a building you are also asked to give the historical background to the building.
For Old Pennar School, there is information in files in The National Archives and at Pembrokeshire Archives, as well as some old newspaper reports and documents in private hands.
Files in The National Archives include ED 21/67383, an extract of which is reproduced, courtesy of TNA. This is a school inspector's report from 1938, and is interesting as it mentions how some of the classrooms were arranged.
In the Pembrokeshire Archives are files that tell us what the school was like initially.
Details of
specification and cost. This shows that the school initially comprised three
classrooms.
Mixed Girls School Room:
50 ft x 20 ft x 26 ft high
20ft x 15 ft x 20 ft
high
Infants classroom
50ft x 20ft x 26ft high
The school
was remodelled in 1894 to provide an extra infants classroom. Cost was £270.
30ft x 18ft
x 16ft high (Wall Plate 12 ft)
In 1897 the school accommodated 123 Girls and 193
Infants.
The school
was again enlarged in 1901, bringing it up to its present form.
Mixed Girls School Room:
51 ft x 20 ft x 20 ft high
46ft x 20 ft x 20 ft
high
20ft x 20 ft x 20 ft
high
Infants classroom
33 ft x 24 ft x 20 ft
22 ft x 24 ft x 20 ft
30 ft x 19 ft x 18 ft
The extract below from my submission to CADW for listing, explains (in part) the relationship between the bombing of the Oil Tanks (In August 1940) and Old Pennar School:
I shall give you a few more extracts in my next post.
Saturday, 25 July 2015
Old Pennar School - A few bits on planning policy.
The link above will take you to the page relating to this on the Pembrokeshire County Council's (PCC) website.
It is quite a technical document, but the amount of building land available for the next five years is calculated. The amount of land available is summarised by one number - the Land Supply Available in Years. For the PCC area in 2014, this is 5.3.
In other words, PCC Land Supply Availability exceeds what they need for the next 5 years.
See the extract from the report below.
This implies that PCC do not NEED to demolish Old Pennar School to fulfil their land availability target.
The next thing to consider is whether the site of Old Pennar School has been identified in the JHLAS as a potential site for building new houses.
The report is very thorough, and as an appendix, lists all the sites identified as being able to fulfil the 5 year Land Supply Availability target. I have included an extract that shows the sites identified in Pembroke Dock below. (To make it readable, it overspills the page.)
Nowhere in the above list of sites, is Old Pennar School mentioned as contributing to the Land Supply Availability.
There is a document, much more substantial than the JHLAS 2014, that provides the background to the report. This is the Statement of Common Ground, the final version of which was published on the 19 February 2015. This gives far more detail about the sites mentioned in the JHLAS (published, incidentally, on 3 March 2015). It also gives an explanation of some of the terms and categories mentioned in the extract above. The parties to this were:
PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL LPA
THE HOME BUILDERS FEDERATION
PEMBROKESHIRE COAST NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY
PERSIMMON HOMES WEST WALES
PEMBROKESHIRE HOUSING ASSOCIATION
TAI CANTREF AND
DWR CYMRU WELSH WATER
Once again, no mention of Old Pennar School as a site for the provision of housing. It cannot have been counted as a "small site" as these are defined as being of 5 dwellings or less. The proposal at Old Pennar School is for 15 dwellings.
Bids for the purchase of Old Pennar School had to be submitted by 1 August 2014. Consultation on the sites proposed for inclusion in the JHLAS proceeded as described in the extract from the report below.
The draft schedules were available for consultation on 18 September 2014, a full 6 weeks after the bid closing date. Email correspondence with PCC Property has revealed that the two bids made, one by PHA, were submitted on 28 and 29 July 2014.
Even though 6+ weeks were available for a decision on which bid was to be accepted prior to the opening of consultations on the JHLAS, there is still no mention of Old Pennar School in the report. Given that, in Pembroke Dock, land for housing, that would become available within 3 years, is not much in evidence in the report, it is surprising that PCC did not include the Old Pennar School site. If the planning application is approved, then building work (and demolition) could start almost immediately.
Speculating about this might lead one to suppose that they (PCC) did not wish to highlight the future fate of Old Pennar School, worried about the considerable concern that they knew this might bring to the fore from the local community. PHA has already suggested that the proposed scheme would not have been pursued if they had known in advance about the level of local opposition to the plan to demolish what is an iconic landmark in the community of Pennar.
I am still minded to think that PHA have become embroiled in this matter somewhat unwittingly. Clearly they do not wish to be seen as the "bad guys" in this issue, but may well have been outmanoeuvred by the political machinations of PCC.
If you have stuck with this you deserve a medal!
More on this later. My next post will be a continuation of the bid to get the school listed.
Thursday, 23 July 2015
Old Pennar School - Getting the building listed (Part 3)
Having given information as to the location of the building, and some photographs of the outside, we can now look at the internal features of this Victorian Board School. Below is only a sample of the photographs I submitted, but you will get the general gist of the place! You also need to have quite a bit of vision too! Modern suspended ceilings and plasterboard cover much of interest - but the interesting bits are still there!
In the next post we will look at the historical background of the building - the next section of information that CADW requires to enable it to review the listing of a building.
In the next post we will look at the historical background of the building - the next section of information that CADW requires to enable it to review the listing of a building.
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