Actually Kit, English Heritage have a very good understanding of their full title, and do a lot of hard work with very limited resources. Their grant from central government has been frozen for many years, so they have to work within the budget provided by that and from their 'commercial' enterprises.
It is all very well to say, as HC did, "So what exactly were they wanting to sell them for, flats? What a ridiculous statement. Value for what exactly? Their value is historic, and essentially being unique in the UK, priceless.", but if EH were to pour their resources into these sorts of projects they would not have the funding for equally valuable and deserving buildings. In an ideal world that would not be the case, and they
would be restored because of their historic significance, but hey!
Incidentally, my understanding is that the Cardington sheds are pretty much unique in Europe, let alone the UK.
This press release was to publicise their latest "Buildings at Risk" survey, and is intended to raise public awareness - something it appears to have done here, at the very least!
This is the 8th such survey, and has achieved some notable successes over the years; nearly half of the buildings in the first survey in 1999 have now been saved!
English Heritage are not 'giving up', they are simply taking the fight to another arena. I repeat the comments I have made before about the trustworthiness of the british media and press, and their ability to distort a story. The full story can be found on the English Heritage website (
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/serv ... bDoc.11491) and is well worth reading.
And yes, I am a member of English Heritage. If my £40 a year can help with the restoration of some of these important sites (and give me some enjoyable days out into the bargain) I consider that money well spent!