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Listing Buildings

Is it better to have half a cake or no cake at all? That question is at the heart of the argument presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey). We have all seen the television programme in which one wonderful building is chosen from each region and then the whole nation votes—that shows how popular this subject is—on which should be preserved. As a result, the other 10 or 11 buildings, or however many of them there are, are left at risk of falling down. The programme shows the state of all the buildings, and how urgent it is to find the money to restore them. However, despite all the publicity and national effort, only one of the wonderful buildings shown in each series can be preserved. How many buildings are simply falling down for lack of money? Might not some other approach—perhaps a lessening of the restrictions—be appropriate? That might allow us to succeed in preserving something of a building, even if not the whole thing.