EXPERTS
HAVE THEIR SAY
Conservation and heritage experts are to
have their say on plans by the owner of
the Hippodrome to demolish the building.
Derby City Council's conservation area
advisory committee is to review
Christopher Anthony's application to
knock down the Grade II-listed building
in Green Lane as part of the first stage
of a legal procedure which will determine
the building's future.
The views of the committee, one of
several bodies being consulted over the
former theatre's fate, will be considered
by the council's planning committee,
which will ultimately rule on whether Mr
Anthony wins his bid.
The application to demolish has been made
by agent Savills on behalf of Mr Anthony
and paperwork supporting the application
questions the "completeness and
originality" of the building.
The report states, "It should be
noted that, due to lack of maintenance
over many years, many features have been
irretrievably lost, caused by leaking
roofs.
The requirements to deal with asbestos
contamination will inevitably require the
removal of much more detail."
(Source: Derby
Evening Telegraph,
Apr/08) |
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DERBY HIPPODROME
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Christopher Anthony has put in a formal
application for Listed Building Consent to demolish the
Hippodrome. A judge offered Mr Anthony the chance to hold
further talks outside the court with officials from Derby
City Council over the future of the Grade II listed
Hippodrome. Both declined, with the court in London being
told each side has "very different views" on
what to do. Mr Anthony says the Hippodrome is in a
dangerous condition, and needs to be demolished. His
legal team told the hearing the council had never carried
out proper inspections to determine the state of the
building, and now no-one could get access because it was
in a dangerous state.
The court was told he had now submitted a formal
application to be given Listed Building Consent to
demolish the theatre but in its submission, the council
said that work to repair the Hippodrome, which it had
ordered, had begun without its permission. A council
spokesman confirmed the application to demolish the
building had been received. Earlier, it was revealed Mr
Anthony offered to sell the building to the council. He
said he made the suggestion to officials after surveys by
his experts found it was in a poor state of repair but
the council says the offer was never put in writing, so
it was taken no further. Mr Anthony criticised the
council, saying if it had been so concerned about the
building, it would have accepted his offer to buy it.
A spokeswoman for the council said, "It was stated
then that there was no-one from the council who could
enter into those sorts of discussions and asked for the
offer to be made in writing. To date, no offer has been
received." Members of Derby New Theatre Company said
they had shown interest in buying the building but Mr
Anthony had not responded to their requests. Keith Briars
of the amateur theatre group, who got planning permission
to turn the old bingo hall back into a theatre, said he
twice wrote to Mr Anthony last year. Mr Anthony denied
receiving an offer to buy the building. The group said it
had wanted the council to buy the building and use its
powers to place a compulsory purchase order on the
property.
Mr Briars said the council had told him that would have
been too costly and time-consuming and had also raised
concerns about missing original plasterwork. He said,
"It was very clear that at least some of the damage
had been deliberate. The first two rows of chairs in the
balcony had been removed. It seemed to us that this had
been done to make the job of removing the front of the
circle easier." Mr Anthony said the plasterwork had
been damaged due to the poor state of the building,
adding, "Last summer, part of the roof caved in and,
when it did, it took out plasterwork and a big beam fell
right through the middle and hit the balcony." He
also claimed he had spent £100,000 removing asbestos.
As well as the theatre group, a mystery Derby benefactor
also wrote to Mr Anthony with an offer to buy the
building in February. The man's solicitor, Ian Griffiths,
of Moody and Woolley, said the sum offered was
substantially more than the £375,000 Mr Anthony paid in
May 2007. Mr Griffiths said that the offer was rejected.
He said, "He asked for more money because he said he
had done work on the building since then. I was then
approached by his representative, George Thomas, who
asked who my client was. When I said I couldn't reveal
that without his consent, he slammed down the phone. Mr
Anthony said he'd be in a position to discuss an offer
should the mystery man make himself available to
us." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/08)
A court has halted the demolition of a the
Hippodrome for the time being. The city council had asked
the High Court to protect the derelict building, while
its owner had said the structure was unsafe. The council
said it did not want Mr Anthony to carry out further work
and sought an injunction to stop him. A judge has ruled
that apart from vital maintenance and the removal of
asbestos no further work will be allowed. The judge
ordered that an asbestos stage curtain be removed and
ordered the council and Mr Anthony to agree the method
this should be done to prevent unnecessary damage to the
building. If that agreement can not be reached, both
parties will have to go back to court.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams said, "It is obvious that Mr
Anthony intends to demolish substantial parts of what
remains of the building at the very least. In the absence
of an injunction, therefore, the building will very soon
cease to exist in any meaningful sense and the prospects
of renovation, repair and refurbishment will in reality
be lost for all time. In my judgement, Mr Anthony has
failed to establish that there is currently a substantial
risk of collapse." Mr Williams also ordered Mr
Anthony to pay the council £20,000 in legal costs. A
spokesman for the city council said they would be closely
monitoring the situation, including the application to
clear the site.
Richard Williams, assistant director of regeneration at
the council said, "We will take the lead on the
removal of the curtain and agree the method with Mr
Anthony, which we will do as quickly as we can. We will
then serve an urgent works notice on Mr Anthony
describing the works we feel he should carry out. That
includes carefully removing loose brickwork using
appropriate machinery. Any work has to be agreed in
advance with the council with a written method statement
agreed by us and we have to be on site at all
times." The council also said it was investigating
the circumstances of the damage to the building in March.
The Theatres Trust was present at the granting of the
High Court injunction. Director Mhora Samuel said,
I am delighted that Derby City Council has won this
injunction. Its the best possible outcome for the
Hippodrome at this time and its what we hoped for.
There has been such public support for the injunction.
Our next step will be to make the case to the Council to
refuse the Listed Building Application from the owner to
demolish the theatre. (Source: BBC News, Apr/08)
The city council is considering putting
forward plans for an enforcement notice which would force
the owner of the Hippodrome to repair the building. If
granted, owner Christopher Anthony would have to repair
the building, probably to the standard it was when he
bought it. If the decision is taken to serve the
enforcement notice, it will still mean a few more months
will pass before action will be taken against the owner.
If Mr Anthony did not comply with the notice in a
reasonable time he could face an unlimited fine if
convicted in a Crown Court. But if the committee grants
the enforcement notice, Mr Anthony could appeal, which
would lead to a public inquiry, delaying any work on the
site. In the meantime, the council will weather-proof the
former theatre in Green Lane. The work will include
supporting beams inside the Grade II-listed building.
A mobile platform will be in place in Green Lane and
Macklin Street and will be used to get to the roof, so
that missing slates can be replaced and door and window
openings secured. Blocked gutters will also be cleared.
The council will carry out the work under an Urgent Works
Notice, which will mean it will get the cost of it back
from Mr Anthony. Legally, the council cannot carry out
work not deemed urgent and which it has not given Mr
Anthony a reasonable time to do himself. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/08)
Amateur theatre groups have released a
painting of how the Hippodrome theatre could look if
restored to its former glory. Derby New Theatre
Association wanted it to be used by amateur groups and
submitted a planning application, before the damage in
March, for the former bingo hall to be reopened as a theatre, but
did not have the money to do the work itself. Now the
group, representing amateur groups, has revealed how the
building could look if it was restored.
Treasurer Tony Jaggers said, "We are delighted that
the council is continuing to take a robust stance against
Mr Anthony's failure to protect this historic building.
Our association was the first to raise concerns about the
state of the Hippodrome when it was a bingo hall and
after it closed." The group commissioned the
painting by artist Carolyn Hardy in an attempt to stop
people writing off the building as an eyesore.
Mr Jaggers said, "It shows that, with proper care
and a sympathetic development of the area round the
building, the whole area could be a real asset to the
city." And he said repairing the building would have
a positive impact on the wider city. He added, "The
restoration would be an exciting project which could
kick-start the regeneration of the Becketwell and Lanes
areas." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Sep/08)
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