We have been offered a huge number (several bays) of building control files
from one of the five District Councils in Oxfordshire. Our approach so far
to these records has been to keep records of "significant"/"interesting"
developments e.g. new shopping centres, and new houses (for house
historians) whilst rejecting the rest. I am not convinced that this is a
satisfactory method of appraisal and I worry that it might lead to the
retention of too many records. The draft retention guidelines for local
authority records produced by the Records Management Society (see section
64) doesn't seem very clear on this: it suggests that building control
registers and planning/building control files of significant listed
buildings should be retained permanently (see 64.1.1 & 64.1.3). Apparently
other planning/building control records should be destroyed after a certain
period of time.
I would be interested to hear about the methods used in other offices for
appraising these types of records; also a comprehensive (but succinct)
reference work explaining planning/building control processes, their
evolution and records.
Chris Gilliam
Oxfordshire Record Office is open Tuesdays to Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. A CARN ticket is required for looking at original documents. This can
be obtained by bringing an official document with name, address and
signature (e.g. driving licence, bank statement and credit card) and two
passport-sized photos. Booking is recommended.
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