Listed runways

I have never had much confidence in heritage legislation since I discovered that I would need to seek permission to have a row of leylandii trees in my garden felled. This, not long after the Highways Agency’s bulldozers had torn their way through Twyford Down, and half of Smithfield Market was condemned for redevelopment. No matter how ghastly or inappropriate, every tree in my garden is officially protected because I live in a conservation area. I can’t prune, fell or lop without informing my local tree officer. Nor can I remove the 1970s garden wall or change my 1980s plastic window frames without permission. Just about the only thing I can do is demolish, save for one brick, the 18th-century cottage in which they are fitted: as the Shimizu Corporation found to its benefit a few years ago in Victoria Street in London, a loophole in the heritage laws allows you to partly demolish a building in a conservation area so long as you don’t quite go the whole hog.