SIR, — I am sure that a lot of your readers would sympathise with the managers of The Goat public house who have become enmeshed with bureaucratic machinations regarding the replacement of the rotten floor in their kitchen. I have found over the last 50 y

SIR, - I am sure that a lot of your readers would sympathise with the managers of The Goat public house who have become enmeshed with bureaucratic machinations regarding the replacement of the rotten floor in their kitchen.

I have found over the last 50 years of practice that most of the officers in the conservation and designs sections of the local authorities spend huge amounts of time dealing with items of monumental trivia. However, items of importance take days, weeks and often months to resolve. The cost of these delays is borne stoically by the nation which must run into millions of pounds per annum.

Many officers do not comprehend the difference between preservation and conservation and go to extreme lengths to try and preserve bits of rotten wood riddled with woodworm.

DAVID P.G. MORGAN, ARIBA,

Rose Walk, St Albans.