The role of the local authority conservation officer is much misunderstood and maligned. My father, Peter Richards, who has died aged 94, did much to place the discipline on a proper professional footing and demonstrate what it could achieve. He headed a multidisciplinary team at Essex county council from 1974 to 1994 and led the restoration of important historic buildings and their gardens for public use, such as the Grade-I medieval barns at Cressing Temple near Witham – one of which is