Sir, Although it was a relief to hear that no-one was injured during the serious fire at Stone Cross Mansion in Ulverston on Friday evening, as the previous owners, it was sad for our staff, (both current and past), to learn of the fire.

Marl International Ltd owned Stone Cross from 1986 to 2002, during which time we invested considerable resources towards maintaining and enhancing this most impressive Gothic mansion.

This building is one of the most important in the Furness area and was designed by local architects Paley and Austin and was constructed in the mid-1870s.

Of particular importance are a series of rural paintings consisting of a set of three large murals approximately each 3.3 metres high and 1.9 metres wide, which depict the original members of the Kennedy family in scenes from a Shakespearean tragedy. They were painted by Lucien Victor Besche in about 1880. Although very valuable in their own right, these artworks have a more important intrinsic value to the heritage of Ulverston and are supposed to be "protected" within the scope of the Grade II listing.

When we left Stone Cross in order to create Marl Business Park as part of our continued expansion, we tried to create a win-win' situation for Ulverston by encouraging the continued use of Stone Cross on a commercial basis.

We were disappointed at the time that there was so much hostility and resentment towards this plan, which would not only have secured the holistic use of the house but would have created much-needed additional employment in Ulverston.

Although Marl has always tried to maintain a positive working relationship with the local Government and the Furness community, sometimes things need to be said, and to me there is no doubt that some of the responsibility for what happened on Friday evening must be shouldered by the people in Ulverston and Kendal, who obstructed and objected to the continuing use of Stone Cross for commercial purposes.

It is shocking that so little effort has been made to protect the building or, as a minimum, the valuable artworks. I would, therefore, call for the appropriate sections of SLDC to come out from behind the rule book and co-ordinate decisive action by negotiating with the current owners for the artworks to be removed immediately from the building so that they can be stored in a safe place, and hopefully restored and displayed in an appropriate location in Ulverston, (perhaps the Coronation Hall or Town Hall).

I would hope that the current owners would be amenable to this proposal and trust that, in due course, any future plans for the building are given a fair hearing and re-evaluated with consideration to the overall benefit of Ulverston.

Adrian Rawlinson Managing Director Marl International Ltd, Ulverston