Henry Owen-John, English Heretic

HE HAS DONE MORE DAMAGE THAN THE LUFTWAFFE. pic Lancashire Economic Partnership In the realms of the destruction of Liverpool’s Architectural History one name stands out above all others,that of Herman Goering. He and the Luftwafe saw to it that during the blitz we lost so many architectural masterpieces that they could never be replaced. We were once The Athens of the North . The Customs house by John Foster Jr seems to spring to mind when thinking in a solemn mood. Bombed and then knocked down to give work to people after the war. They didnt think to rebuild it to dole out work!!!  

Second on the list is Henry Owen John of English Heritage.  Henry is an archeologist by profession. 

What the recent English Heretics series has shown the nation is that the ministry is run by buffoons who act out their whims and fancies and are misguided, while the people with common sense get ignored. Why is the most important person in the regions heritage entitled North West Planning and Development Director for English Heritage. 

The whole set up leads one to believe that EH are more interested in assisting property developers such as Grosvenor and the arch vandals at Liverpool Museums and Neptune Developments than the people who pay their wages, the public. 

They, EH, are now sitting at the top table with Peel Holdings assisting them, in my opinion, on how to crawl all over what is left of the WHS that does not already look like Milton Keynes-on-Sea.

I did a walkabout with Peter Elson for the centre pages of the Liverpool Daily Post http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-special-features/2008/01/29/living-on-the-eve-of-destruction-64375-20405391/ 

He went on the defensive with a public relations exercise and along with his mate The Riechmarshal Lee Liverpools Chief planning officer.

 Theybegged to be interviewed to put thier side of the story over. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-special-features/2008/03/22/the-changing-face-of-liverpool-64375-20658839/ Just as recently with M.Ps expenses when you look at the set up you find there is a culture of distrust. But we stand off respectfully and say nothing. NOT ANY MORE. 

We decided several years ago that the very people who were supposed to be protecting it English Heretics were making the biggest mistakes to Liverpool’s heritage. 

They are corrupted with a culture that does not befit its remit and its principles and when you watch Chief Heretic Simon Thurley, it beggar’s belief that the whim of one man can wield so much power. 

And what of Sir Neil Cossons making a fortune out of talking about heritage while promoting its destruction. Read more here.

https://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/sir-neil-cossons.html 

Especially if the very people who are making the decisions do not have the requisite skills to protect us. The World Heritage Site, before the ink was dry, on the Unesco Inscription was carved up by the NWDA and its “cosy” developers. 

Ruined While Henry Owen John never said a word, in fact the opposite he activly encouraged it. He gave a talk at the recent Merseyside Civic Society AGM and was SHAKEN by the aggression from elderly gentlemen towards EHs government sponsored destruction in Liverpool. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/business/business-local/2006/12/04/heritage-lessons-learned-64375-18204231/ 

The term A Educated Idiot springs to mind but we consider him to be more than that. 

We cannot understand how and it is our opinion this man has rubber stamped more damage to Liverpools history by helping to shape its future with poor architecture that we will have to live with for the rest of our  lives. And he lives elsewhere.

Imagine the world outrage if they were to build three monstrous blocks of flats and a Museum that looks like a giant egg box in front of the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids. 

46 Listed Buildings Destroyed while he stands by. 

A plague on your house Mr Owen-John it is our opinion you are a disgrace to your profession and the whole Culture of Capital that is English Heritage. http://www.ihbc.org.uk/context_archive/82/owenjohn/pathfinders.html

Update  30.9.2021

Liverpool has lost its world heritage site ststus while this man is now  head of World Heritage UK.

We told you what would happen Mr Owen John how you are still employed is beyond us.

Sir Neil Cossons.How did he get away with this.

Sir Neil Cossons-English Heretic. 

When the Liverpool Council planners under the Chief planning officer Nigel Lee secretly slipped in the plans for the then proposed museum in Liverpool’s world heritage site on 20th December 05, I could not believe it, I should have been shopping for socks for my Uncle Billy, I did not even know of the proposals despite being very involved in planning matters for some time and specifically World Heritage. Armed with a report from Icomos UK and my own speech. I SHOT OVER TO THE TOWN HALL TO BE THE LONE OBJECTOR. No one knew about this even though the Ombudsman later cleared them because a one-inch advert appeared in the Merseymart or somewhere that conveniently nobody knew of. http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=307&MId=4716&Ver=4

IT WAS STITCHED UP WELL AND TRULY BEFORE-HAND. David Irving as Chair standing in for Lady Doyenne Jones nodded it through.

 I got the list of letters sent out by the council one was addressed "the Statue Pier Head" another "The Car Park" Mann Island another to a shop next to mine that did not exist and my shop did not receive one. How strange. 

I thought that Peter de Figueiredo http://www.defigueiredo.co.uk/index.html who was English Heretics historic building advisor at the time has something to answer about so I wrote to the Heretics under the Freedom of Information act requesting all the documents to show how a reasonable decision could have been made with our world heritage site without public consultation. Something the toothless UNESCO would later confirm was undemocratic. 

Then by chance I stumbled across a strange bit of information that the then Chairman of English Heritage Sir Neil Cossons was working for Liverpool Museums…along with ex top knob at the Heretics bureau, Loyd Grossman who was then the chairman of NML…along with the then leader of the city council the now disgraced Mike Storey (who conveniently didn’t tell anyone, in fact it appeared to be a secret)…and the Chairman of the North West Development Agency, Bryan Gray who was to fund the museum by the sale of the land to build 3 huge blocks on the Mann Island site that they owned. They were in the plans but with transparent pen. http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=controversy-as-building-plans-set-to-go-ahead%26method=full%26objectid=17867193%26page=2%26siteid=50061-name_page.html Copy thereof 149. Declaration of Interest The Chairman invited Trustees present to indicate whether they had any conflicting or prejudicial interests within the items of business set out below. Not specific to any agenda items Mr Grossman advised that he may have conflicts of interest arising from his Deputy Chairmanship of the Liverpool Culture Company. Mr Gray advised that he may have conflicts arising from his Chairmanship of the North West Development Agency. Sir Neil Cossons advised the he may have conflicts of interest arising from his Chairmanship of English Heritage. Councillor Storey advised that he may have conflicts of interest arising from his role as Leader of Liverpool City Council. RESOLVED that the Board accepts that none of these possible interests give rise to undue conflict or could prejudice the proper transaction of the business of this meeting and the Trustees concerned should not therefore be expected to withdraw from the discussions. 150. Decisions of Trustees Permission to accept offer of £32,700,000 from the North West Development Agency RESOLVED that the Trustees accept offer of £32,700,000 from the North West Development Agency The list of conflicts of interest was immense one of NMLs trustees had even had a job done by 3XN the architects the strange occurrence that not a soul in Liverpool had heard of until the plans for the WHS had been approved. Despite the Conflicts of Interest, lets move on, and ignore them, they then decided. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/trusteesDotNet/meetings.aspx?tid=47 http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17112292%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html How can you have a then Chairman of English Heritage working for the very perpetrators of WHS disaster. It should not have been allowed? What the English Heritage series show is that if its convenient, it’s a stitch up right from the top down. Thurley denied there was any conflict of interests after I wrote to him. Well he would, wouldn't he. Current trustees http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/about/trustees/index.aspx 

  I hope this man who makes a fortune writing and talking about heritage can sleep at night.

Update 30.9.2021

Liverpool has now been stripped of its World Heritage Site Status.

Simon Thurley-Chief English Heretic

HOW MANY ENGLISH HERITICS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHTBULB……….
Its Friday night again and compulsive viewing is the BBC Series about English Heretics. picture courtosy http://www.simonthurley.com/

The Thurley gig starts again.
You can imagine the build up to this week’s saga.

Basil Thurley to his wife.
“Oh Darling what do you want for your birthday”
“How about landscaping the garden”
“How about landscaping someone else’s garden we could get away with a couple of million no-one would notice and as a special birthday treat you can do it yourself, be a bit of extra money for you”
“Oh Simon I love you”
“I know its easy isn’t it, I can definitely see the attraction”

And off they go. They find this letter from some Elizabethan drunkard who wrote about a garden that was erected for Queen Elizabeth. Despite the fact that it may have only been up for 16 days does not matter to them and they decide to restore it, without a scrap of evidence to support its existence, bullying anyone who stands in their way. Thurdling into it, Good Craftsmen, with skilled trades, are led by Incompetent fools at the ministry, bungling from one disaster to another. They set up a panel of committees, to decide what committee to install. Its so painful. Its like entering the twilight zone.
It’s only the tradesmen, who get completely ignored, who have any common sense in the show.

They start off with a 2 million budget and guess what the budget ends at 3.5 million.
Isn’t there an accountant down at the ministry of silly antics, cant anyone count? It’s every bloody time.
They spend 300 grand on a embankment that a Heretic says err it’s a bit of a health and safety issue "what if wheelchairs fall over the edge we really,do need it". This is three quarters into the job which runs 2 years behind schedule.
LED UP THE GARDEN PATH BY A FLAWED DESIRE.

If I ran my business in this manner I wouldn’t have one. Its surreal watching them.
Basil Thurley comes on site and that’s where the entertainments really begins, how an earth did someone so lacking in even the basic communications skills get away with it, in my opinion he is a complete twasser.
He walks on set looking like a Saville Row, Bazooka Joe and when told he needs an 'elf and safety induction he throws a Wally and turns on the bloke shouting "20 minutes, 20 minutes, I was in full swing there". Well once he gets going it’s a grin, he must be the biggest embarrassment to all the time wasting, head scratching, bureaucrats that are, part of the ministry of out of touch walks.
Thurley Gig then part gets it right, frying his staff and his organisation in the process “What’s this"..." well the grass wont grow so we err" the minion says.

"Did they have plastic planting trellis’s for embankments in Elizabethan times" and then "who built this wall” as he surveys his kingdom come hobby horse.
Well it did look like something Barney Rubble had a go at I have to say.
Then he says “You can see the cars, (as if like, make them disappear) there is a road there” Then the budget goes ballistic.
They then try everything they can to claw the cash back off the hardworking craftsman joiners, who did a fantastic job, who had erected a wooden aviary replacing the stone idea, saving 300 grand while Mrs Thurley goes off on maternity leave ready to have Little Lord Fauntleroy II.
By this time your shouting at the telly, anyone could see that was gonna happen its so funny. I am biting my thumb laughing out loud. Basil Thurley, it should be made into a film.

Until you realise that the whole load of waste of money has just cost us the taxpayers a fortune while there are 10 buildings on the Heretics “at risk register” in Liverpool and a couple of hundred more on the verge of falling down and this Little Lord Numskull has just spent a third of a million on a marble fountain that wasn’t there in the first place because he wanted a folly.

And Liverpool's World Heritage Site was advised upon by these people.

He has must be the biggest confidence trickster to infiltrate a public funded organisation since……. A FISH

JUST HOW DO THE DCMS LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THIS.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.14736
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.20601

Dr Simon Thurley and the Restoration of Faulty Towers

I have just watched last Fridays BBC 2 programme about English Heretics and the god-damn awful block of flats that no-one in Sheffield wanted to keep, there were major campaigns to have it demolished, only the out of touch ministry of funny walks at English Heretics listed it against all the wishes of the people who live there.

It was hilarious, well good entertainment but in the realms of a load of "out of touch twassers" at the ministry of funny walks, wasting millions of pounds of public money. It was like watching a disaster movie. image coutosy of BBC see link below for a gallery of images

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/content/image_galleries/park_hill_gallery.shtml?10

PARK HILL is a Le Corbusier inspired monolithic block of misery that never functioned and never will because people hate it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill,_Sheffield

The Heretics said it should be preserved as the largest listed building in Europe ( I think the honour used to lay with the Albert Dock, in England, at least as Grade I). It looks like a huge decaying beached Whale.The nutters from the ministry go Thurdling into one disaster after another.

Now I can see the theories behind the motives but what people doing up Faulty Towers don't seem to understand is that concrete is the biggest disaster to hit England, it just rots and never really looks good and once the structural metal reinforceing bars cast inside the concrete rust, it goes balloon and its bladdered.

In Marsailles they don't have the rain and driving winds like we do so its a mistake to compare.

They knocked Bell Vale flats in Liverpool down and they had a party to celebrate the event.

Tom Floxham from Urban Splash was rolled in, as the darling boy, who lives off the public purse saving buildings for the nation, what a good egg...and making a fortune out of the Heretics grant system.

50,000 signatures against its renovation were collected now there's democracy for you.

Did Basil Thurley listen no he saw a TV camera beckoning and went for it. Only this has backfired big time. My opinion is that he is a posing little twit with no talent. Could he put a shelf up? So why is he in charge of a fortune of our money, with no practical experience.

I would not let this character loose on renovating my shed as it would have an estimate of £120,000 or some telephone number. The builders see him coming and throw a couple of noughts on. You have heard the saying Lions led by Donkeys well this looks like a case of Donkey's led by Donkey's.

The architects go off on a "jollie" to Marseilles and ponce about the bit of hockey stick used for a door handle on one of the rooms that they cant get into because the bloke renovating Park Hill cant work out how the lock works. God help us, its evident that an architect in a tangerine orange shirt matched with red trousers has no design skill. But he had the requisite trendy gigs on so he fitted the bill and got the job.

Why do most architects look like something from the Village of the Damned?

They were bemused how the Corbusier block cost 7 million to renovate when their budget was three.

Well can you guess what happened next the budget goes to 51 million they rip the innards out of it, and the credit crunch hits. Basil sweats a bit and says lots of stuff like "as it were". The builders down tools because they are almost bust and the beached Whale is now open to the elements in places that should not be, and there is now a estimate of £150,000,000 to put it right.

The Councillor who led the campaign to demolish it is now Sheffield City Council leader.

Basil Thurley what a disaster , he should be renovated. A petition to demolish him me thinks would easily get 50,000 signatures. This bungling idiot thinks he is on Grand Designs with my money this nonsense should stop now the DCMS should take action.

Wayne Colquhoun

LIVERPOOLS HERITAGE; THE COUNCIL DOES NOT LISTEN

LIVERPOOL HERITAGE FORUM CLOSES......BECAUSE THE CITY COUNCIL IGNORES IT.

IN LIVERPOOL WE HAVE A COUNCIL THAT DOES WHAT IT WANTS WITH WHO IT WANTS AND FAR TOO OFTEN THERE IS A "COSY" RELATIONSHIP WITH LIVERPOOL'S PROPERTY DEVELOPERS BEFORE THEY LISTEN TO ANYTHING ABOUT SAVING OUR HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT.

I DID TELL THEM SO. AN EXTRACT FROM THE FIRST FEW PAGES. See the website for more.

http://www.liverpoolheritageforum.org.uk/

Liverpool Heritage Forum Special Newsletter. 1
A network of voluntary community societies concerned with heritage and culture in
the Liverpool area. Send your news to us on: zoom2222@btinternet.com. Also forward
this Newsletter to anyone who may be interested or, better still, send us extra names
for our circulation list,. Our website is : www.liverpoolheritageforum.org.uk
Newsletter No 58: 3 May 2009
Special
We have referred previously to the possibility, indeed probability, that Liverpool
Heritage Forum would have to be closed down due to lack of co-operation by the City
Council, indeed its the failure even to respond to correspondence.
The Forum has undoubtedly assisted in “spreading the word” about heritage during
the Year of Heritage (2007) and the City’s year as European Capital of Culture
(2008). It is beyond question that the Forum’s influence, be it great or small, has
been positive. Yet through the “reigns” of Jason Harborough and Phil Redmond the
Liverpool Culture Company (part of the City Council) and now the City Council itself,
“Town Hall” officials have failed to answer our letters, even after reminders, or to
have taken months to do so. It is not as though we have bombarded them with
letters. We have written a small number of considered letters, which merited not only
acknowledgement (which they mostly did not receive without one or more reminders
being sent) but also considered responses. Other simple forms of co-operation have
not been forthcoming.
The Forum’s steering group has come to the view that there is no point in it
continuing to exist if the City Council continues to behave like this. We say “the City
Council” but given the number of supporting words which a number of elected
Councillors have give to us orally, we wonder if the reason for the failure is that the
authority’s structure does not take heritage seriously and does not give its officials a
clear mandate and instruction to support heritage and to engage in constructive
dialogue with us as part of that. Or is it just that the City Council has no system for
such a simple task as answering letters?
So, does the City Council take heritage seriously? It would be extraordinary if it
doesn’t because cultural tourism is the City’s main hope for increasing employment.
To prove our point, we reproduce below a letter which we sent to Claire McColgan,
Head of Culture on 4 February 2009. (repeat 4 February). Having received no
response, we sent a reminder on 29 March (repeat 29 March). We received a reply
on 1 May 2009 (repeat 1 May). The texts are below.
In order to test the opinion of the people who have shown interest in the Form’s
activities and the situation it finds itself in, we have prepared a questionnaire, which
we hope you will answer. This is at the back of his Newsletter.
Liverpool Heritage Forum Special Newsletter. 2
Letter dated 4 February 2009 from Andrew Pearce, Chairman of Liverpool Heritage
Forum, to Claire McColgan, Head of Culture at Liverpool City Council with a copy to Councillor Gary Millar, Cabinet Member for Enterprise & Tourism:

Liverpool Culture of Capital

Where has all our Culcha gone. Where are all the exhibitions and Concerts that a Culchar'd city has as standard.
This year post 2008 is the worst year I have known for events.
Now, I don't like to be critical, but did they use all they had last year and they have now ran out of steam.
Richard Brooks threw a slant on the way Museums are being run with a Bonus Culcha. It made me think and I wondered how much has Our own museum director earned and more to the point how much was their bonuses for last year with the influx of tourists all spiked up with Capital Of Culcha.


http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6067310.ece

As the recession bites, will the top staff at our museums and galleries waive their not-inconsiderable annual bonuses? I ask because Jonathan Stephens, permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, and his senior colleagues are to forgo theirs. And he has now written to the top galleries and museums pointing this out.
A veiled threat? After all, the bonuses can be as much as 20% extra on top of salary. Of course, a more sensible way forward would be to scrap the bonus culture in the arts, which often depends on meeting daft targets such as how many “yoofs” are passing through the doors. In fact, our museum and gallery bosses are hardly paid a fortune. Nick Serota, boss of the Tate, is top dog with £166,749 last year, including a £12,000 bonus, according to the latest issue of Museums Journal. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the low(ish) £130,000 for Neil MacGregor of the British Museum, Britain’s most-visited museum. He refuses to take any bonus. No wonder he is St Neil. Having already turned down a knighthood, surely the offer of an Order of Merit or Companion of Honour must soon be in the post.


So we have written to the Director of Liverpool Museums as follows.

Liverpool Preservation Trust
11-13 Holts arcade
India Buildings
Water St
Liverpool L2 0RR


Email: liverpoolpreservationtrust@gmail.com

Tel: 0151 236 1282

David Fleming
Director
NML
William Brown Street
Liverpool 3
4.5.09
Dear Sir.
We are concerned as to the lack of exhibitions this year of any note and would be critical of the lack of substance this current year after 2008.

We also note that there may be a bonus culture being used by Museum Directors, a sort of extra pay for extra visitors and I would request under the Freedom of Information Act details of any bonuses paid to any officials or Museum Directors at Liverpool for the last couple of years I look forward to hearing from you.
Wayne Colquhoun

MV Wincham and the Museum Director in Denial

CUT OUT THE ROT IN OUR INSTITUTIONS NOT OUR HISTORY.

After the appalling and galling decision to scrap the Wincham which was berthed at The Albert Dock. Top Knob at Liverpool museums David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming has hit the roof with all the negative publicity being created.
In my opinion this pathetic twasser has no idea what the public think about the mess that he has turned Liverpool Museums into and the spin off from his public spat with the "Fiends of NML" has more than helped to contribute to the scrapping of this historic vessel. And it appears he does not care. In my opinion the inward destruction he has caused to Liverpool's historic landscape by setting out to further his career at our expense with the plan to build a new museum bang slap in the middle of the world heritage site is immense. This whole push to build this museum is affecting huge chunks of our, the publics institution, whether directly or indirectly and the full weight will not be felt for years, and it annoys me. What also annoys me is that he will bugger off when he has destroyed the whole spirit of Liverpool Museums. He knows how to complain his wife/partner Alison Hastings is also a member of the press complaints commission.

Peter Elsons latest column which has got him all wound up.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/04/20/peter-elson-s-shipping-lines-lottery-wants-its-money-back-from-scrapped-historic-liverpool-ship-100252-23424431/

NML has destroyed the Historic Ferry Bell see previous blog
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/national-museums-liverpool-destroy.html
Manchester Dock which predated the Albert by 60 years
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/manchester-docks-obliterated.html
He has upset all his staff and now should share responsibility, in my opinion, for the loss of the Wincham whether he likes to admit it or not.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html

Wayne Colquhoun