Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Liberal Democrats
Working hard for Aldwick, Bersted, Bognor Regis, Clymping, Felpham, Ford, Littlehampton, Middleton-on-sea, Pagham and Yapton.
Now is the time to restore Littlehampton's historic west bank fort.
September 2, 2007 9:48 PM
Liberal Democrats in Littlehampton have called on the Government to act now to save historic buildings before they are lost forever.
Mark Foster, Littlehampton campaigner made the call following the publication of the 2007 "Buildings at Risk Register" by government heritage organisation English Heritage which listed the old west bank fort as an historic building in Littlehampton as being at serious risk of further decay and damage.
"This building is important to our local heritage," said Mark Foster. "It's loss would be a big blow and my fear is that with funding so limited to prevent further decay, restoring it in the future will be even more expensive. The Littlehampton Fort could be made to be a great visitor attraction"
"English Heritage have suffered a big drop in the amount of money the government provides to support our heritage," said Mark Foster. "In 1999, the cash available for these building's was £6.6 million. Last year that dropped to £4.4 million.
"Building and repair costs are rising and without government action to stop the rot now, it may become too expensive to save some of our great historic buildings that at the moment are crumbling away.
"One measure the government can take is to lower the VAT charged on renovating or extending homes and buildings. It is unfair that when a building is converted into housing or is renovated or extended, VAT has to be paid at the full rate on the building materials.
"Yet at the same time, a house that is built from scratch on a greenfield site is charged no VAT at all. The effect is to encourage more new houses to be build in greenfield areas and to make it more expensive to improve and renovate existing buildings.
"Our proposal will make it cheaper for many people who own older, historic buildings to carry out repairs and renovation. And we would pay for this by charging the same lower rate of VAT on materials used in building new houses built on greenfield sites.
"This will also mean owners of historic buildings rely less on grants from the government to improve and protect their property. We believe buildings here in Littlehampton would benefit greatly from this."
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