§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will consider reverting to the original colour for the hands of the clock in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungComplete working drawings for the work as actually executed in 1858 do not exist. The main cast-iron divisions of the dial and letters are described as blue, in a book bearing Sir Charles Barry's name, but published 5 years after his death. In that work, there is no information about the colour of the stonework surrounding the dial. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission advised, on the basis of a visual survey and four trial samples of paint, that the dials and carved spandrels should be painted in two different shades of blue. The paint samples, however, indicate that there have been a number of differing colour schemes. A sample from the lower part of the clock dial appeared to show five schemes of which the more recent were black. The existing black and gold scheme is at least 50 years old, more than a third of the life of the building. These are the colours with which the world has become familiar. For this reason and because of conflicting and inconclusive evidence of previous schemes, my right hon. Friend decided that the existing colours should be retained.
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§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received regarding his decision to repaint the numerals on the face of the Great Clock Tower in black; and whether he now has any proposals to alter his decision.
§ Sir George YoungI have received seven representations in all. These have not revealed any new facts relating to the original colour schemes, and I have no proposals to alter my decision to repaint the clock face in black.