Sadness as hidden 'rare' second world war structure in Coventry to be lost 'for homes'
A "rare" World War Two air raid shelter in Keresley will be lost for a housing development. The hidden structure off Tamworth Road dates back 80 years.
Developers got the go-ahead to demolish the wartime relic as part of a 550 home development two years ago. But dozens of residents called for it be protected ahead of final plans for 19 of the homes being agreed last week.
Their petition set up last month said the underground red brick shelter is a "very good example" of its kind. A councillor who visited the structure also stressed its value at a meeting to consider plans on September 12.
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Cllr Roger Bailey (Con, Cheylesmore), said the underground shelter still concerns him and it "seems sad" to lose it. He told councillors: "It's not a little shelter, it can take a whole group of people.
"And it's substantial, it's got no damage, it's complete, it doesn't seem to suffer from damp. I've never seen an example like it.
"And I guess it's a bit too late in the day to do anything about this but it seems sad that we're going to lose something so substantial, and really really rare - you just don't see these things around anymore. They just don't exist.
"I gather most people don't even know it's there, to be honest with you." But a council officer explained that the shelter has "liability issues" as it would be in the garden of one of the new houses.
This means developers "weren't keen" on keeping it despite efforts to look into retaining the structure. She also said the council can't insist on retaining the shelter due to the outline planning approval, and in theory the petition should have come before the decision two years ago.
A representative for developers Bellway told the meeting the shelter is not a statutorily listed building and was assessed at outline stage as having "relatively low historic sensitivity." He said: "The position agreed with the council again was that the public benefits of the new homes outweighed the relative significance of the asset and that it could be removed."
He added: "As mitigation, conditions were attached to the outline permission which were to secure a programme of historic building recording and analysis of the air raid shelter." Details of this have been reviewed by the council's conservation officer and approved, he said.
Council officers recommended the final part of planning permission for the site, known as 'reserved matters.' get the go-ahead. Six councillors on the planning committee voted to approved the plans, one voted against and another abstained.
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