The Crooked House pub. Yet another building destroyed while under consideration for listing.

Please reshare this petition while the issue is in the news!

With the apparently deliberate destruction of the much loved Crooked House pub, near Dudley, another historic building joins the sad ranks of those many, many heritage assets that have been destroyed while under consideration for listing.

It's been nearly six years since the destruction of the beautiful Jacobean ceiling at Small Street - six years in which the UK government has done nothing to plug this obvious gap in our planning system. Meanwhile the Welsh government has introduced its own legislation, which appears to be working well.

Had this legislation been introduced, perhaps the Crooked House could have been saved. At the very least, its destruction would have been a clear criminal offence.

Unfortunately, each time an incident like this occurs, there is a brief outcry, but the issue then quickly fades from the news. And, as we can see from the news coverage of the Crooked House, much of the discussion is also narrowly focused on this individual incident, rather than the bigger picture.

I am pleased to say though that the MP for Dudley North, Marco Longhi, is taking this issue very seriously. I will be speaking with him tomorrow about the campaign for interim protection, and I very much hope that he will be prepared to support this. Given that Marco is Conservative, while my local Bristol MP (who is also strongly supportive of the campaign) is Labour, this would potentially be a significant step forward, giving hope of cross party support for finally introducing the legislation.

I'll post another update following our discussion.

In the meantime, please reshare the petition, to help build momentum while the issue is in the headlines. MPs have many calls on their time. They'll only devote their energies to this if they know that there is strong public support.