It seems that nothing upsets local constituents more than dog mess. Just ask your local Councillor what their most common complaint is. I hate it as much as anyone, but there’s plenty more that upsets me than dog muck, unless someone inadvertently tramples it through my house.
Not all localities are blessed with as many historic buildings as the Royal Burgh of Dunbar. There are something like 140 listed buildings, though mostly on the B list. Common as muck. What upsets me is the poor state of repair of many of these buildings – and that is just the externals visible from the streetside. God only knows what devastation has taken place to the back and to the internal fabric since these were first designated in the 70s, when DIY was still in its infancy. A wide-eyed wholesale attack on “old buildings” was then in full swing [1. e.g. Architecture at the Crossroads – (7) Stop the Bulldozer], but the protection afforded by the legislation half-hearted and eventually to become overly bureaucratic. The B list is central to the designation of the Dunbar Conservation Area designation and gives it coherence. In that regard if you are on the B list you’re not in second class, despite the sneering looks I get when I declare that “I live on the High Street”.
It is unclear just how many of these buildings are in decline. Without regular management all older buildings are prone to inexorable decline, which is sometimes invisible and usually pretty fast. It is just a matter of time before some of these buildings will join those on the “at risk” register, by which time it usually means that an economic restoration is out of the question and it is going to be exceedingly costly and you won’t get your money back, at least over the short term.
There isn’t much agitation about the state of old tenements and private houses in Dunbar, but I think we should all be more concerned. Restoration action since the regeneration scheme set up in the mid eighties expired has been piecemeal, focused mainly on premiere buildings and arguably things improved, at least for a while. I understand that uptake by others wasn’t that great even when resources were available. Distracted by single issues insufficient attention has been paid to the problem of the building stock as a whole. We don’t really know what the state of the resource is, but I suspect this is a situation that is replicated right across Scotland and Britain as a whole. I have recently heard that at least 3 High Street tenements cannot be occupied. The standing joke in ELC’s building control department is that half of Dunbar should be knocked down. Begs the question to be replaced with what? Multistory car parks no doubt?
A good starting point might be to set up a local heritage society to help put things in context and prioritise activity. But fundamentally nothing will change without significant funding. For buildings that are unlikely to find public uses, this must come from private investment. But owner occupiers won’t bother until the council signals unequivocally a rebalancing of its priorities and stops pandering to small minded business, which plays a significant part in the sorry tale of dereliction. The council needs to acknowledge the more important role residents can play in shaping the public realm and that negative perceptions to the public realm are reinforced by an array of their policies. Currently the laissez faire regime encourages buy to let landlords who seem to have little interest in common repairs, are insensitive or blind to the needs of old buildings and really don’t care much for the public realm.
Just like vast tracts of our nature and landscape resources, many, indeed most old buildings are in private ownership. But there are too few mechanisms open for funding, unlike the array of management agreements available for SSSIs and Special Areas of Conservation and the myriad of subsidies available for farmers and landowners under the banner of agri-environment. Given the economic importance of a well-managed town Conservation Area for tourism, trade and asset values, new resources should be be directed towards improving the fabric of our old building stock.
There is hope. The Dunbar Conservation Area Management Plan sets out a possible framework for guiding action, but it needs to be adhered to and followed, first and foremost by ELC itself and second by local traders, many of whom chose to ignore it and community organisations who seem to be oblivious to it. Furthermore there is a desire among some owner occupiers (who have invested heavily in improving their properties, without ruining them) to get together to lower the costs of maintenance working, including gutter clearing and regular inspections. Plus there’s a new breed of owner occupiers are increasingly sensitive to the needs of old buildings and avoid builders who are unwilling to undertake a “traditional” repair or use appropriate techniques.