A meeting in May of the group that organised the 'England's Heritage in Stone' conference in York with the aim of establishing an English Stone Forum agreed to hold a further meeting next month (July) with other interested parties in order to set the agenda for the Forum.
"I'm keen we should evolve from the working party that put the conference together to a working party that will put the forum together," says Professor Peter Doyle, chairman of the Geoconservation Commission of the Geological Society that organised the conference in York in March.
The model for the English Stone Forum is the Scottish Stone Liaison Group (SSLG). Alan McKinney, the SSLG director, speaking at the York conference, said the success in Scotland was a result of the wide range of interests involved. Organisations representing landowners, architects and other building professionals, conservation interests, academics and the stone industry, all sit on the board of the SSLG.
This message has been taken on board in England and Peter Doyle said after the meeting in March that because a wider representation is required a further meeting will be held in July at which a wider range of interests, including Stone Federation Great Britain and the Stone Institute, will be represented.
"At that point we will discuss aims and objectives," said Peter. "To succeed we need funding. But what was clear at the May meeting was the support for the idea from people like English Heritage, English Nature, the British Geological Survey and others."
Peter accepts the English organisation, which will not necessarily end up being called the English Stone Forum, faces difficulties that are not faced by the smaller, closer knit communities of Scotland and Wales (Wales having established its Stone Forum in 2003). However, he says: "Even if we make a small amount of difference we make some difference.
"The bottom line is we want to sponsor the correct use of stone. That might range from indigenous stones to imported stones - and the UK has been importing stones for centuries."
An issue yet to be decided is the leadership of the Forum. The work of organising the conference in York and the subsequent meeting has been undertaken by the Geoconservation Commission but as the Forum develops as a separate body it will need its own leadership to take it forward.
The most important aspect of the May meeting, says Peter, was to hear feedback from the 'England's Heritage in Stone' conference. That feedback was that there was a benefit to creating the Forum. "I'm very happy with the way it's going at the moment," he says.
If anyone has a contribution to make to the debate about the English Stone Forum they can email Peter Doyle at the email address below.