News - Beeston's 'Treasured' Maltings buildings under threat once again

BEESTON will lose a "treasured part of its heritage" if plans to demolish the old Maltings buildings go ahead, it has been claimed.


Broxtowe Borough Council is being asked to approve plans to demolish the 133-year-old buildings in Dovecote Lane, next to Beeston Station.

The site has been earmarked for demolition in the past, but recent attempts to build homes at the site have been opposed by people in the town and subsequently withdrawn.

Barbara Selwood, of the Beeston and District Civic Society, said that any plans to demolish the building would be extremely unpopular.

She said: "I am really shocked about the plans – we have fought to save the Maltings before and I am sure the society will come together to fight the plans again.

"The buildings have a strong part to play in Beeston – they really are a treasured part of its heritage and I am keen to see them stay.

"I would like to see the building brought back into use."

The Maltings were closed in 2001, and at the time of its closure was one of the few traditional floor maltings left in the country, where grain was spread across large floors to germinate over days.

It produced malted barley used by breweries in Notts and further afield.

In 2009, plans submitted to Broxtowe Borough Council to demolish the site to make way for 55 new homes were withdrawn, and the Beeston and District Civic Society attempted to get the buildings listed by English Heritage.

This bid was unsuccessful, and a recent attempt to include the building within a conservation area – which would give the it greater protection against alteration and demolition – also failed. David Jones, a spokesman for current site owners Heineken – which has applied for permission to demolish the building – said: "The maltings at Dovecote Lane have been redundant for many years.

"Over the last decade, the four-storey building has become unsafe and unsightly and the building has been a target for many acts of theft and vandalism, which have used up valuable police time.

"We believe that demolition offers the most viable way to end the constant safety and security problems associated with the building."

The plans will be discussed at a future meeting of the development control committee at Broxtowe Borough Council.

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Beeston-s-Treasured-Maltings-buildings-threat/story-15644055-detail/story.html

News - Calls to protect brewing heritage (Southwell)

Calls are being made to have a building connected to Southwell’s brewing past listed for protection.

The town council’s planning committee has asked for The Maltings, Lower Kirklington Road, to be considered to be added to the list of protected buildings.

The Maltings, now a family home, is the last remaining example of a maltings building, complete with its kiln, that remains in the town.

Mr Roger Dobson, the town council chairman, said it was a historic building.

He said: “I am very surprised it isn’t listed. Southwell had five maltings in the Victorian period and this is the last one remaining with the original kiln behind it.

“The kiln is where, after the germination of the malt in the maltings, the firing would take place.

“This is a historic building. Why isn’t it listed? I think it should be.”

The council was considering a planning application to install three lights on the rear of the building.

Mr Dobson said he could not see a problem with the plans and the building’s owners were within their rights to submit the application, but he thought it was important the building was considered for further protection.

He said: “If the building is not listed, an owner who isn’t sensitive — and I think the present owners are — could get away with making big changes to it.”

Deputy clerk Mrs Carole Williams said the application had come before the planning committee because the building was in Southwell’s conservation area so any exterior changes had to have consent.

Committee chairman Mr Andy Gregory said there were no planning reasons to object to the application.

The committee did not object to the application, but will ask for Newark and Sherwood District Council to consider submitting it to be added to the list of protected buildings.

 

From: http://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/view.asp?id=f8cc93eb-a3b5-102f-b2bc-83945e1963a8&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter