The compulsory purchase of a listed building in the centre of Margate is set to continue, after funds to support the purchase were agreed.
Cabinet Members last night (Thursday 11 November) agreed to set aside £20,000 to compulsorily purchase the property at 49-50 Hawley Square. It was damaged by fire in spring 2008, which destroyed the entire interior of the building, along with the roof of the neighbouring property at 47-48 Hawley Square.
Since then, negotiations have been taking place with the owners of both properties, which have led to the owner of 47-48 repairing his property. No action has been taken to date by the owner of 49-50.
In April 2010, the council’s Planning Committee agreed to serve a Repairs Notice, requiring the owner to make the property good. They also agreed that, if no action was taken by the owner within two months, then a Compulsory Purchase Notice would be served.
To date, the council’s building control team has incurred costs of around £10,000 to secure the structure. Further structural work may be needed in the near future. It’s hoped that if the building is restored, these costs could then be recovered.
Cllr. Simon Moores, Cabinet Member for Customer Services, said: “This is a key building in the centre of Margate that’s listed and we want to ensure that it’s preserved. It’s in a really poor state of repair now and we don’t want to see it deteriorate any further. As it is, there’s not much left of it and we want to ensure that the historic features that still remain, aren’t lost.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note comments that may be libellous, comments that may be construed as offensive and anonymous derogatory comments about real people will be deleted. Also note the facility to leave anonymous comment will be turned of during periods when I am unable to monitor comment, this will not affect people commenting who are signed on to their blogger accounts.
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.