…once you get over the unwieldy size, Frankenstein mish-mash of loose single pages and unfortunate section breaks, and the duplication with other papers the West Sussex County Times is not all bad.
I try to be a bit balanced, but did let my almost total disgust with the format and sheer size of the WSCT overshadow somewhat any comment about the actual content which, apart from Francis Maude’s self-serving winge about the demands on an MP’s time (hint: try giving up some of the extra jobs and become a full-time MP) there is some good stuff in there.
Obviously there are the standard staples which pad out all local papers and without which they would be so much blank space or just a lot thinner (proposed planning decisions and car crashes) but even there you can find some real stories.
It does help that the edition I am looking at is the first one since the publication of the NY honours list so a couple of pages just fill themselves with profiles of locals deemed worthy to receive such anachronistic and divisive baubles – though obviously they are not to blame for the sheer pointlessness of the system itself – and that there is a local story of such intrinsic interest that it has gone global. I am referring to the crucifix on the Broadbridge Heath church, a story I had been following on the BBC website for the previous week.
One thing the paper does well is to generate some interest in a campaign, especially when it involves some aspect of heritage. They did it before with the swans in Swan Walk and are now doing it with the old town hall story. I should not be surprised, because it is something the companion paper in Crawley also does well.
This story has a bit of everything and is covered comprehensively. There is a news story on page seven and under that are two columns given over to members of the opposing factions where they can give their point of view. The paper appears to take a definite postion but is giving ample access to the opposing opinion. There are also letters about the issue on the letters page and something from the Horsham Society also on the letters page. It is not clear whether this is actually a letter or sort of guest editorial, but its a very well-written little article talking about the difference between price and value.
The old town hall story is a good one though, encapsulating the modern dilemma about profit v. heritage. It is not, perhaps, the prettiest building in the world but it is imposing and interesting. The first time I visited Horsham I was struck by it because you just don’t see such things very often. Like all old buildings it is not in top condition (though some would say it has been allowed to get that way in much the same manner that rural bus services are deliberately run down and ceased because they are ‘unprofitable’ or underused) and needs a lot of money to make it sound.
The council has decided that rather than spend that moeny it should sell the building so it can become a restaurant.  Alternative (rejected) suggestions include the idea of keeping it as a sort of community centre: a village hall for the town centre.
Living, as I do, in a town without a lot of history and with only a handful of buildings that could be called old I have always looked enviously at Horsham’s number and variety of old buildings as well as the sympathetic nature of many of the newer developments near them, compared to Crawley. So part of me really dislikes the possibility of screwing up a building that plenty of other towns would kill for. It is a one-way decision. If the building gets gutted and ruined it is not going to be restored in the future.  I think that one-way decisions should always be given the most thought.
I am against preserving old buildings just because they are old. There have been campaigns to save buildings with no historical significance, no aesthetic qualities and no purpose just because they are more than a hundred years old. I can’t see the point in that, but this building has a bit of history and looks good straddling the divide between the bustle of the shops and the idyllic quiet of the Causeway.
I’m not sure about the practicalities of a restaurant anyway. It would either go to an optimistic entrepreneur so carry a high risk of going out of business – and then what happens? – or it goes to a chain of some sort and they do like to stamp their own branding all over each branch. It can be done sympathetically – Ask in Crawley and Pizza Express in Horsham are pretty well done – but can also be disastrous. Apart from anything there are no windows to look in.
Unless you are a Michelin-starred chef with a reputation and waiting list, restaurants do rely on people being able to see what the place looks like inside as they pass. Anyone taking it on will have a real temptation to compensate with masses of signage.
And another thing: do we really believe these figures for how much a building would take to restore? They are always suspiciously round numbers and unfeasibly high. Economically, this is a good time to get some competitive quotes. Alternatively you can do a lot with volunteer labour for a good cause, possibly combined with public subscription. Just look at some of the wonderful Victorian statuary, civic amenities and open spaces that were provided that way. Let the Horsham Society try to drum up the enthusiasm for it and put their money where their mouth is: I bet they would love the opportunity. All options to examine before doing anything irreversible.
So its quite a hot topic just on the grounds of planning, heritage and street scene alone, but it is made all the more interesting because of a political issue about local determination. For some time now there has been talk in some quarters about having a town council. The reasoning is that the more rural areas have parish councils that take a certain number of decisions, but in Horsham town centre there is no lower tier of government.
This means you can end up with all the councillors of the district council who represent areas within the town wanting one thing for the urban area but getting over-ridden by the majority of councillors who represent areas in other towns or the countryside. It is even more likely here because most of the councillors in the town are from one party while most of the councillors from elsewhere are from another.
I’m not sure that introducing a town council is the best idea, although places like Lewes seem quite happy with it. I can see the appeal of having some sort of consistancy, but would rather achieve it by doing away with parish councils, having just one tier of local government and tackling the local determination problem with local committees of that council that have some real delegated authority. But that’s just me.
Wherever the answer lies there is a real sense of injustice amongst the urban councillors.
Which is all a very long-winded ((congratulations to anybody who made it this far BTW – you deserve a medal!)) way of saying that there is some real meat in the WSCT sandwich, its just that it is between huge slices of processed white bread. Put it in some decent wholemeal bread and cut it into dainty halves or quarters and it would be easier to digest.
I can’t even complain too much about political bias. There is one of course, but to a certain extent a paper has to reflect the views and attitudes of its readership and potential readership – and Horsham is a very Conservative area so you would expect that to be reflected. A local paper that came out and told the mostly affluent middle classes that the means of production should be in the hands of the workers every week would soon be out of business. I still think it could do a better job of giving the local MP a hard time, subjecting him to more scrutiny and challenging him more instead of appearing to have a very cosy symbiotic relationship, but apart from that its actually quite fair within its natural limitations.
OK so I might be damning with faint praise and dodgy metaphors but that’s just my clumsy way with words.
“Living, as I do, in a town without a lot of history and with only a handful of buildings that could be called old…\”
You moved out of Crawley then?
Yeah, sorry Skuds but there are more than a few old bits to Crawley, and for some what you wrote will be a red rag to a bull. Sure, most of Crawley is post-railway, but it’s not completely recently built.
And, of course, Horsham may have an old centre, but it’s surrounded by just as much new (late C20) housing. It also destroyed much of the old part of the town between the station and the Carfax in order that Sun Alliance could have a nice new office and a lovely dual carriageway could be shoehorned in. They have form for junking their heritage.
The little-known, disturbing story of the magnificent St Mark’s Church is an example of Horsham “having form for junking their heritage”…what’s left of it now is hidden somewhere around those emptying Sun Alliance constructions.
What? Me being provocative? Perish the thought…. although saying that Crawley is not a historic town is hardly being iconoclastic is it?
True there are some old bits in Crawley, but huge chunks of Crawley were total greenfield build so there are entire neighbourhoods without a single building (or only a single building) more than 30 years old.
Granted its the same in Horsham – older buildings in the town center, plus some churches, pubs and the odd building in the sprawl beyond, but the difference is that Horsham was a bigger place than Crawley before the railways so its old centre is a bit larger and more of the sprawl is pre-war. Pre-WW1 even.
Neither place can afford to lose a building approaching 300 years old. Mind you, thinking about it, only the facade of the town hall is really that old, with the rest being ‘only’ 100 years old, but I still can’t imagine a restaurant wanting to operate with a plain stone facade.
It could work, but the sort of imaginative scheme that would be successful and acceptable would cost a fortune – loads more than the £750k quoted for just putting it right. Who has enough confidence to invest that in a scheme right now?
Gordon – being a recent inhabitant here perhaps I am more objective than those who grew up here or moved here 40 years ago. There are more old buildings than I can remember in other new towns, but almost by definition there are not going to be many in a place that was not a large settlement until relatively recently, and certainly nothing civic: just churches, pubs, shops and houses.
The examples here stand out because, well.. they stand out: being very much the exception. So we end up clinging onto a building like the one opposite the Railway which would be unremarkable in most (non-new town) towns of a similar size.
“there are entire neighbourhoods without a single building (or only a single building) more than 30 years old.”
Name one.
Maidenbower. The only building I can think of over 30 years old is The Frogshole.
A couple of other neighbourhoods are just between the 30-40 year mark, Bewbush, whose only old building is the Barn, and Furnace Green, which hasn’t got anything old at all that I can think of.
Bit of a boo-boo… I should probably said 40 (or 45?) instead of 30. I keep forgetting how much time has passed. I still get shocked when I realise that, say, its a whole 18 years since Smells Like Teen Spirit.
I was also thinking of Maidenbower and Bewbush, but also Broadfield. Is there anything here that is pre-war apart from BF House? Ian points out Furnace Green, but could he have added Tilgate? It might have some old buildings that are technically within its boundary but not what most people would think of – in the same way they would not consider those couple of houses in Pease Pottage to be really part of Broadfield even though they are technically within its boundaries. Not that they are old anyway.
And what about the ancient Parish of Ifield, which covered what is now most of the town West of the A23 (eg Ifield Green, West Green, Gossops Green, Langley Green, Southgate, & most of Broadfield & Bewbush) ?
This ancient Parish has a 1000-year history, littered with old buildings (eg St Margaret’s 13th century Church & Friends Meeting House in Langley Lane (1600’s), Moat & Medieval Deer Park etc)
Let history speak.
Well I wasn’t talking about the neighbourhoods that do have more than one older building, like Ifield, West Green, Northgate, Three Bridges.
But since you mention it, a couple of points.
Churches don’t count 🙂 They nearly always survive the building of an urban sprawl across countryside or small villages. (Obvious exception of the one in Horsham where only the spire remains)
Also that what older buildings Crawley does have are a concentration in a small ‘public’ area (the High Street) with the rest spread across the town and sort of hidden except to those who live in those areas or know ehere they are.
It does contribute to the contrasting images of Crawley and Horsham towns through the eyes of non-resident visitors because you can visit Horsham town centre shopping and see older buildings in several places. In Crawley you just see the High Street and for anything else you have to know it is there and go looking for it.
For example, Bewbush Barn is a fine church but you would not come across it by accident unless you happened to be visiting a friend living in one of the roads around it.
It means that the number of old buildings in Crawley, while not as great as a fanatical patriot will insist, is understated and greater than most casual visitors would imagine.
At some point even you and Gordon would have to admit that Crawley is no Hebden Bridge, Dorchester, Liskeard, Hythe or Saffron Walden, despite having a population greater than all of them put together. It does not make it a bad place: get over it and stop being so defensive 🙂
“At some point even you and Gordon would have to admit that Crawley is no Hebden Bridge, Dorchester, Liskeard, Hythe or Saffron Walden”
True
Hebden Bridge – Yorkshire Town based on Woollen Mills and very hilly.
Dorchester – County Town of Dorset but you’ve forgotten Poundbury which is essentially part of it and that was a greenfield (literelly) site.
Liskeard – ancient Cornish Stannery town that at one time had it’s own mint.
Hythe – ancient port.
Saffron Walden – market town so I’ll grant you that one……but not the others. :-))
Although the benefits of not being anything like Hebden Bridge is that you have a choice of more than charity shops and chakra rebalancing outlets. On the plus side they don’t have carrier bags – although you wouldn’t really need one for your chakra.