A View or a Good View?

People say they like walking on hills because they like to see a view. But is that enough? If you've walked for more than an hour mostly uphill surely you deserve not just a view or even an extensive view but a good view, not one that's blighted by the result of poor planning decisions. Conspicuous mass-produced artefacts hardly help and not architecturally gross and ugly structures placed where you can't ignore them.

Green fields can be attractive from a distance if there are enough trees around whatever they look like close to (these days farmland usually lacks variety). This is the point of the green belt. Once you allow development you have to accept that most of it will be low grade and designed with profit in mind.

The problem is that we simply cannot trust the decision makers. It was officers of Sheffield City Council's Planning Department who reported to the Planning Committee on this ugly building as a replacement for another building that made hardly any impression on the view. Their failure to flag up any concerns indicates that they have no sense of guardianship of landscape values. The politicians on the committee were similarly insensitive. The judgement of council officers and elected members simply cannot be trusted. There's no alternative to getting involved ourselves. But it's always a battle because the decision makers have a fair inkling that their judgement will eventually be shown up as poor. They even defend themselves by claiming authority based on their position or by virtue of having been elected. What does some pressure group know, they say, nobody's elected them.

This architectural monstrosity would have been inappropriate anywhere but it is placed in a setting  which would have been relished by the architects who built Chatsworth House and Keddleston Hall. Instead we've got something that combines the tasteless with the conspicuous. Walk along Shorts Lane and you will see the white UPVC window frames. The developers changed their mind half way through construction and stuck on an extra floor at the top to squeeze in more residents (and more profit). When the sun strikes the roof people walking on Blacka can't ignore the reflection. Why DVS didn't object strongly is a mystery.

This view is now at its best for a few minutes in the morning just before the sun gets round and the building itself is in shade while nearby spaces are highlighted.