Major shake-up for heritage rules
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Your support makes all the difference.Listed status was once seen as the preserve of stately homes, elegant Georgian townhouses and medieval churches.
But now the entire remains of Cornwall's long-defunct tin-mining industry and a huge chunk of Birmingham are among the unusual sites expected to be listed in an overhaul of Britain's heritage protection laws.
The RAF airbase and runways at Bicester in Oxfordshire also stand to benefit from the changes, which will aim to conserve whole districts and building complexes in recognition of their combined historical value.
The shake-up is being planned by English Heritage, the government watchdog responsible for managing the historic environment, in response to growing concern that existing planning rules are allowing huge tracts of ''built landscape'' to be destroyed or irreparably altered.
While the reasons for changing the system may not be in dispute, the locations chosen to spearhead the new era of heritage protection are likely to raise eyebrows.
Perhaps the most bizarre site to be singled-out is what survives of the tin-mining industry that generated Cornwall's wealth in the 18th and 19th centuries. The scattered complex of derelict engine houses, harbours, tramways and nonconformist chapels covers some 86 mine sites across 1,300 square miles.
Another site is Birmingham's historic jewellery quarter, a still-thriving area north of the city centre which less than a century ago was a hub of an international trade in fine metalwork.
Though several forms of statutory protection for historic sites already exist, they are often inadequate.
The lack of a strict and unified conservation system has enabled local authorities to routinely bend the rules to allow development.
Conservationists argue that the rules focus too rigidly on individual buildings and monuments at the expense of wider "built landscapes''.
Peter Beacham, head of designation at English Heritage, which has been asked to review the system, said: "What we've got from the last 50 years is a system designed to deal with 'bits' – bits of the historic landscape, bits of streets and town centres.
"The idea is to devise a system that deals better with the whole.'' However, the proposals were not intended to preserve buildings as museum pieces, he said. Their aim was to conserve basic structures while allowing buildings to be adapted for future use.
The proposals have received a guarded welcome from conservationists.
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