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B.G. HAMILTON
Rockhall, Collin, Dumfries. DG1 4JW
Tel: 01387 750580
Fax: 01387 750522
Dear Sir,
I refer to the member's letter in Issue 2. I too have applied
for a restoration grant from Historic Scotland. Firstly let me
acquaint members with procedure. Before being allowed to apply
for a restoration grant one has to apply for permission to
apply. This involves a considerable amount of work and it is
necessary to divulge a large amount of personal information.
Historic Scotland then make a decision as to whether they will
entertain an application for grant aid. Having crossed this
hurdle one then makes an application, normally with a great
deal of assistance from architects and quantity surveyors. It
will not surprise members that this assistance has to be paid
for. What happened in my case was that sometime after they
received my detailed application for assistance they rejected
it on the grounds;
they did not have any money,
(b) that my house was not of sufficient importance to have
restoration funds allocated to it, and
(c) that since I had just purchased the property I must have
known of the state of the building and
would therefore have taken that factor into consideration when
making my offer.
It is an economic fact that if there are funds available to
subsidise repair work to a building this will underpin and
support an artificial price for the structure. If there are no
funds available or if the funds that are available are for a
limited number of categories of buildings then Historic
Scotland should make a policy statement to that effect instead
of allowing selling agents to suggest that funds might be
available. At the moment no one is in a position to make an
informed decision on the availability of restoration grants
without going through the expensive procedure outlined above.
A clear statement that funds are not available for B or C
Listed buildings would have the effect of reducing the market
price of those buildings and perhaps make them more
affordable. If a new purchaser is deemed to have excluded
himself from grant aid by the purchase of his property it begs
the question Who is this Grant Aid for? Does one have to own
the building for five years, ten years, a hundred years and
let it fall into disrepair before grant aid is given? Clearly
if this was the only reason given for my refusal I would have
had good grounds for a Judicial Review of Historic Scotland's
decision. The letter in Issue 2 suggests there are no funds
available unless one is well connected. I really could not
comment!
I am not frightened of having my name and address published.
We are dealing with public servants who have in their charge
public funds. They are accountable to all of us, castle owners
and non-owners alike. Their actions should be transparent and
the reasons for their actions should be explained in terms of
public policy. They should not pretend that they are in a
position to safeguard our national heritage when in fact their
budget allows them to do little more than pay their salaries.
Yours faithfully,
B.G. Hamilton, Rockhall,
Dumfries.
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