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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT
MAJES age 292 of 587
Page
* Printed for the Cabinet. April 1951 a speck O
CONFIDENTIAL
C.P. (51) 110
17th April, 1951
CABINET
Copy No.
31
THE GOWERS REPORT ON HOUSES OF OUTSTANDING HISTORIC OR ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST
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MEMORANDUM BY THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
In December 1948 my predecessor appointed a Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Ernest Gowers with the following terms of reference:th
To consider and report what general arrangements might be made by the Government for the preservation, maintenance and use of houses of out- standing historic or architectural interest which might otherwise not be pre- served, including, where desirable, the preservation of a house and its contents as a unity."
2.
The Committee reported in March 1950, and its Report has been published. We must decide whether to accept the Committee's recommendations. Some of these are concerned with taxation and I expect to be pressed about our attitude during the debates on the Finance Bill. I ought to announce our intentions on the Report as a whole before the Bill is introduced.
3. The Report is not at all easy to deal with. Many of the recommendations are open to strong objections of principle. Further, a scheme of preservation on the scale which the Committee envisage would be far too expensive in present circum- stances. Therefore, there is very little of what they recommend which can be accepted unaltered. Nevertheless there is a real problem here, which they have analysed thoroughly, and I am sure that we must take some action. If we put it off, we shall lose national assets which can never be replaced.
4. The proposals in this note have the agreement of the Minister of Works, the Minister of Local Government and Planning and the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The Problem
5. The country houses of Great Britain are an important part of our national heritage. Their æsthetic, historic and educational value is recognised by everyone and-now that so many of them are available for public visits or public use give very widespread pleasure. In the past houses and their grounds were maintained by their owners mainly from the rents of their estates. The estate and the mansion formed a single economic whole: the estate produced income, produce, servants and craftsmen for the maintenance of the house. This economic balance has now disappeared. Present rates of taxation make it impossible for the private owner to maintain the largest of the houses out of income. Staffing difficulties and rising cost of repairs and maintenance, not to speak of the physical restrictions of the last decade, have all made the task more difficult. The effect is that the country houses, regarded as a capital asset, are running to waste. They are not being adequately maintained: their fabric is decaying; the contents are being dispersed and the grounds sold; and often it happens that the house itself has to be sold and, failing anyone who will buy fit for occupation, it is broken up for the sake of the 2lead587 timber and fittings.
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