§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will list in the OFFICIAL REPORT those architecturally listed buildings which have been destroyed in the latest convenient period recently; if he will list those, such as Burton Constable, which he has been notified are threatened at the moment due to shortage of funds; and whether he will seek to establish a public appeal fund to save such buildings.
§ Mr. MacDermotIn the year ended 31st March, 1968, notice was given of proposals to demolish 407 buildings on the statutory list. Not all of these will, in fact, be demolished, but it is not possible to say how many, since actual demolition once allowed does not have to be statutorily notified. It is not practicable to identify all those buildings where the proposal to demolish is due to shortage of funds.
Apart from grants made by my right hon. Friend and by some local authorities funds for preserving buildings are already raised by many bodies nationally, locally, and for specific buildings. The establishment of any new fund would appear more appropriate for nongovernmental initiative.