According to Mr Bryan, who runs the college's architectural stone conservation course, the structure is sound but work is needed to slow its rate of decay.

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The River Hart flows through the rural area which has 1, 000 buildings listed as being of special architectural or historical interest and more than 30 conservation areas.

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"Due to the prominent siting of the advertisement within the Kensington Place conservation area, its elevated position on the buildings and its use of modern and incongruous materials the proposal fails to preserve or enhance the architectural of historic character and appearance of the conservation area and the appearance of the building and represents an unduly dominant and obtrusive advertisement, " the council said.

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As a specialist in architecture and urban planning, Mr Bandarin previously worked in both public and private institutions in the fields of built heritage, cultural heritage conservation, environmental heritage and cultural events, as well as architectural and urban design in developing countries.

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But conservation groups, with the backing of some county legislators, successfully argued that the architectural landmark could be upgraded much more cheaply.

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