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Viability of the business
Few of us believe that, with Park Road being so congested, that the Building
can ever be a successful business. The prospective bidders, Ellison and
Marsden have already recognised this and have reduced their bid by £150,000
to take account of an amended business plan. What happens if they go bust,
or lose interest? Even if the building is restored, what happens when it
is sold on? Who will move in then? Are we to go through this every couple
of years?
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Principle of Business use
Locals have already fought to stop houses on Park Road being sold off
as potential business premises by owners wishing to generate greater revenue
from the sales. Once Watling Gate is approved as a business, opposition to
such sales is going to get much harder.
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Security of the Building
The only reason a listed building can be demolished is if it's beyond economic
repair. The prospective bidder has had a structural survey done and discovered
that it is in a much worse state of repair than previously supposed, another
reason for his reduced offer.
If Watling Gate disappears, for whatever reason, and is in private hands,
we have no protection whatsoever. The house and garden will be a brown
site, open to further development or, as with the plot on the corner of
Frieston Road left to rot as various planning applications go through.
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Redundant Land Once
the building has been sold, it will leave a spur of land in front of the
nursery redundant as far as the park is concerned. The Council says that
it has no plans to do anything with this site, but this may change in the
future.
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Breaking of Covenants
The Council says that we will be protected by covenants, but this is little
comfort given that they are in the process of trying to break those already
in place. As was made clear at the scrutiny meeting on 25/10/06 Councillors
had given no thought to what covenants would need to be in place to protect
we residents from further development, merely assuming that they would be
put in place as part of the normal sale process!