I fear somebody advising the Treasury may have got their sums wrong in your story about modernising works in the chancellor’s private toilet (“Down the pan: Reeves drops plan to scrap historic urinal”, Report, August 10).
Applying for listed building consent is free of charge, not £8,000 as Rachel Reeves was advised according to the article. As the guardian of 11,000 historic buildings and palaces, Westminster City Council is aware of its role as custodian of history, but equally we try to help landlords make sensible and appropriate upgrades, as free as possible from red tape and cost.
We would be happy to hear an application re covering up this urinal. And the moral of the story is you don’t have to spend a penny doing it.
Councillor Geoff Barraclough
Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Development, Westminster City Council, London SW1, UK
Letter in response to this letter:
Councillor’s boasts don’t square with my experience / From David Urmston, London W2, UK