The story
From 1990 it had become increasingly apparent that difficulties in obtaining authentic stone were seriously hampering the repair and conservation of historic and listed buildings in the UK. This situation had come about because of a number of factors including:
the decline of the UK dimension stone industry and the closing of many quarries;
the development of elaborate environmental protection legislation and the lack of building conservation legislation of equal strength;
a planning system which penalised small scale quarrying;
lack of understanding of the technical importance of specifying the original stone for repairs;
the loss of old quarries to brown field development for landfill, factories and houses or as country parks and nature reserves
public misunderstanding of the small scale of dimension stone quarrying compared with aggregate production
lack of knowledge about the historical sources of building stone
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The consequence was that dimension stone quarrying became increasingly uneconomical and unpalatable especially for small scale operators.
In response to this situation and with the support of English Heritage, the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (now the Department of Communities and Local Government Department for Communities and Local Government) commissioned a report Planning for the Supply of Natural Building and Roofing Stone in England and Wales (known as The Symonds Report). Published in 2004 it reviewed the state of supply and demand for building stone and the planning environment in which it operated. It recommended:
revisions to minerals planning policy
designations of heritage quarries
creation of a national database of building and roofing stones including their
Description
Suitability
Existing sources
Extent of unworked resources
Constraints on production and
Importance
A summary of the report is available from Communities and Local Government Publications.
Similar problems had been identified by building conservation organisations in Scotland and Wales and had resulted in the formation of the Scottish Stone Liaison Group (now closed) and the Welsh Stone Forum. In 2005 the Geoconservation Commission of the Geological Society of London organised a conference which supported the creation of a similar organisation for England. The ESF held its first meeting in 2006. It meets three times a year and publishes notes of the meeting and an annual summary of activities on its website.
From Wikipedia’s article on English Stone Forum, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3