LUNATIC LISTING
SINCE the traumatic defeat of his Mies tower one of Mr Peter Palumbo's oddest ideas has been 'that a body should be created to act as a guardian of architecture and to give it special exemptions from Planning control'. The idea is frightening as we can well imagine what sort of architecture would be encouraged. In fact We already have a body set up to be a guardian of architecture' but one, perhaps fortunately, without statutory powers. This is the Royal Fine Art Commission and it is good news that its next chairman is to be the former Minister for the Arts, Mr Norman St John-Stevas, MP. The Com- mission can, and does, perform a valuable role in criticising or praising the designs of new buildings and projects; it should be an independent and independently-minded body so we must hope that Mr St John- Stevas will not feel that this reward for his recent conspicuous loyalty to the Govern- ment requires him to be at all partisan, as is a fellow Conservative MP, Sir George Young. Sir George is a junior minister at the Department of the Environment which has recently 'spot-listed' the former Han- Well Lunatic Asylum, to the annoyance of
the Ealing Health Authority. Sir George also happens to be MP for Ealing and Acton and has written to the chairman of the Health Authority, a fellow Conserva- tive, pointing out that this listing can be evaded if the borough council agrees, as the hospital building is Crown property. To undermine his own Department's decisions by suggesting loopholes in the law is surely disgraceful conduct by a Government minister.
'That's the only way out of here, in a box.'
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