THE SPOILING OF THE COUNTRYSIDE [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The article by Mr. E. Guy Dawber published by you calls timely attention to the wastage taking place in the beauty of our contryside as the result of building operations. In spite of the warning of the Victorian Era ; in spite of a general improvement in architectural knowledge and taste, buildings, grotesque in their unsuitability, continue to spring up. The opportunities of the last few years for improvement have been missed, and during that period large numbers of really bad buildings have been erected. The latest type of atrocity is the petrol filling station which is so very bad that one hopes it will prove to be sufficiently nauseating really to arouse public opinion on this great problem.
It would seem to be of the greatest importance that know- ledgeable control should be exercised over every form of building. Though with reluctance, I think it must be admitted that the most intelligently planned housing development since the War has undoubtedly been that carried out under the Ministry of Health, and I believe it to be inevitable, if the improvement necessary is to be made in the future, that their powers and scope should be widened. Local opinion on a matter of taste is not always sufficiently strong ; local interests in cash are often far too strong to prevent the erection of bad houses.
There is a contributory cause to bad building which a conference might do something to eradicate, and that is the lack of sympathy and co-operation between architects and builders. The architect regards the builder as an ignorant vandal, and the builder regards the architect as a crank. Without co-operation, the architect becomes arbitrary and his designs are unnecessarily expensive ; the builder operating without the architect loses expert knowledge and taste which should be at his service. The preservation of the real assets of the country against the attacks of the ignorant and selfish would seem to me a matter for the Government, and it is for the Government to take action immediately, before the damage has become irreparable. The loss of the beauty of the English countryside will mean the gradual loss of our standing as a nation throughout the world.—I am, Sir, &c.,
H. E. MORGAN.
Moor Park, Ltd., Lever House, Blackfriars, London, E.C. 4.
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