TrustNews Sep 22

Andrew Rutter

Keith Leaman profiles Winchester's first Conservation Officer and his legacy.

 

 

The Trust has for some time now wanted to write an article on Andrew Rutter. Why? Because he has been a major contributor towards both the conservation of the City and an understanding of how it ticks.

 

Andrew joined the Winchester City Council planning department as Conservation Officer in 1974 when the City became Winchester and District. Andrew was qualified both as an architect and as a town planner, his specialisation being conservation, for which expertise he was recruited.

 

Andrew had a great ability to communicate his thoughts with free hand drawings on 10 inch wide rolls of tracing paper using a thick black felt pen, on how a scheme would fit or not fit into an urban or rural setting.

 

With over 3000 listed buildings and 30 plus conservation areas, Andrew would be seen making his site visits across the District from Micheldever to Denmead in his green Citroen 2CV. He had a considerable workload assessing listed building applications and administering a budget for listed building grants. Sadly no such budget exists today. Andrew's desire was to get the very best out of every application. He certainly did not go in for box ticking!

 

 

One of Andrew's trademark pieces of creative advice was to encourage shop owners to produce hanging signs indicating their trade. To help them do this he made full-sized cardboard profiles. This was greeted with enthusiasm and several hanging signs were produced. Andrew's encyclopaedic knowledge of Winchester's history and architecture was encapsulated in words, photographs and drawings. This knowledge was turned into a successful book: Winchester: Heart of a City.*

 

Even after retirement Andrew has continued to take a great interest in the City, for he has undertaken the extraordinary task of producing over 200 panoramic sketch views around central Winchester. These drawings plus commentaries are to be used to illustrate a publication Andrew is in the process of putting together.

 

I am not sure that Andrew could have worked within the current planning department. There seems to be no room now for a slightly maverick, highly motivated, creative character, willing to go that extra mile to squeeze the best out of a situation. Although I am aware his style of working was on occasions exasperating, everybody inside the planning department, as well as councillors, architects and other professionals, all recognised and respected his contribution to resolving difficult problems, many of which could have detrimentally affected Winchester's conservation areas. His persuasive sketches illustrated to all concerned the points that he wished to convey.

 

 

It would appear today that as far as planning and conservation issues are concerned, the departments do not interface with applicants in the same way as in Andrew's day, and the result can be a lack of confidence in the system as well as frustration by those attempting to obtain constructive information.

 

 

Leadership is always key to running any department successfully. It creates a confident, happy environment in which to operate. This attracts and motivates the best staff towards making positive decisions in which all can have confidence.

 

* Winchester: Heart of a City is out of print, but is available as a digital version from our website, cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk/shop

 

A selection of Andrew's quirky drawings is also available as prints and cards from our website