St Austell Drinking Fountain and Holy Trinity Churchyard walls - repairs to listed structures

St Austell Townscape Heritage scheme is already a Capital Project in Cornwall Council's Capital Programme. The scheme started in June 2018 and will finish June 2022. Conservation of the St Austell Drinking Fountain has been identified as the only public realm project for the TH Scheme and is part of an approved offer from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to Cornwall Council.

The Drinking Fountain is a Grade II Listed structure incorporated into the masonry perimeter wall of the Holy Trinity Church (Grade I Listed) which is also a Grade II Listed structure within a key part of the St Austell Conservation Area. A Listed Building Consent and Faculty will both be obtained by Cornwall Council prior to the commencement of works on site.

The Fountain is currently in an extremely poor state of repair, with dislodged granite backing masonry, missing marble sections, and lost architectural features including the decorative lamp standard above its granite crown. The proposed project provides an opportunity to investigate the feasibility and cost of reinstating the water and electricity supplies to the Fountain to make it a working feature at a future date. If feasible and subject to sufficient funding being available reinstatement of the water supply would contribute to the sustainability aims of the TH scheme and also to those of the 'Plastics Free St Austell' initiative.

The Drinking Fountain is much valued by the St Austell community and this project will enable it to be restored as an attractive feature within the historic core of the town centre, and potentially also as a useful source of water for the benefit of both people and pets.

The churchyard perimeter wall (solid masonry with granite copings) and wrought iron railings are also in poor condition. Tree root growth has displaced many of the copings and there are visible structural cracks which require prompt attention to avoid a structural collapse which has potential to cause injury to pedestrians using the adjacent pavement and vehicles in Church Road. The historic and decorative wrought iron railings are badly corroded and there is a need to carry out repairs to avoid the loss of a valuable heritage item which would adversely affect the setting of the Church and also pose a health and safety risk to people using the churchyard. Cornwall Council has commissioned a structural engineering survey that will be available prior to the final scope of the works being agreed.

The churchyard walls to which the Drinking Fountain is attached are within the ownership of the Diocese of Cornwall. Cornwall Council would customarily carry out maintenance to 'closed' church yards under an Agreement between CC and the Diocese. Such work would normally be commissioned through the Environment Service. In this case the Heritage Fund, due to the specialist nature of the works required, has insisted that an open tendering process should be followed in line with their procurement requirements.