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Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/23 15:24If the industrial units are as run down as Charles Style claims and need replacing, then I would imagine that the landlord has a responsibility to ensure that they are brought up to scratch. If they are really bad, as it seems some are, perhaps the Council should serve an enforcement notice on health and safety grounds, after all it does seem that it is incredibly easy for people to wander all over these properties, putting themselves and others at risk. There have been several fires on the site, and I think anybody could be forgiven for thinking that the landlord was intentionally allowing properties to fall into disrepair. I don't see why the site should look so bad.
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Harry
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/23 18:50Sashka is, of course, quite right. This may be helpful from the Lewes District Council website:
All local authorities have powers to deal with dangerous buildings and structures within their areas. These powers exist in the Building Act 1984 and can require owners to take any action necessary to remove the danger or to make the building safe as soon as possible.
Danger from buildings and structures come in many forms and can be due to lack of maintenance, severe weather, fire or impact by vehicles. In all cases the liability for removing the danger lies with the owner of the building who should arrange with a builder to deal with the problem. Most insurances cover these and they should be contacted as soon as a problem is identified. Where a structure is believed to be dangerous we will inspect and advise on the appropriate action needed to be taken. Where a danger exists to the general public powers exist for immediate action to be taken and failure by the owner to take action can result in the authority taking action and recovering all cost from the owner. Where no danger exists to the general public a court order is needed to require works to be undertaken by the owner but it would be hoped that the repair would be carried out without the need to resort to this course of action. (http://www.lewes.gov.uk/environment/939.asp)
Any concerns can be reported to Lewes District Council on line.
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sashka
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/24 09:58Thank you for the detail. Perhaps one of the groups concerned with the improvement of this land might like to raise it, so that an individual does not get threatened like Angel did before when they were correctly challenged. I don't see why the landlord should be allowed to let the site becme increasingly dangerous on the promise of redevelopment that might never happen.
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John Stockdale
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/26 09:18I went to the Council Meeting on 25 April. Cllr Kim Clark asked a series of questions about the Phoenix and I made a verbatim note as best I could without shorthand of the Leader, Cllr Ann De Vecchi's answers.
"There is no such thing as the Phoenix site. The developers are not entitled to give the impression thay they are capable of developing land they don't own."
"Most of the land we own is used to provide employment. It is the policy of the District Council to use land for the benefit of the Town. We won't sell to Angel Property or any other developer.... A letter written by the District Solicitor dated 13/2/07 has been sent to Charles Style telling him so."
"The Council is aware of a group of people investigating Community Land Trusts. The Council have written to them. We are not proposing to dispose of our land to a local group."
Another councillor summed this up as: "So, no one has got any rights to anything at the moment" to which Ann De Vecchi replied: "Yes."
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Harry
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/26 15:39John's note that Lewes DC's solicitor wrote to Angel in February to say the council weren't prepared to sell what they own in the Phoenix area is interesting.
On 16 April Mr Style said on this site, 'We have been told by Lewes Matters that Ann de Vecchi said that the Council were not going to sell us their land. I have not heard that that this is the case and I very much doubt whether any formal decision has been made on this.'
The only conclusions one can draw are that Angel did not receive the letter, or that Mr Style did not read it, or that he did not believe it. Another possibility is that he did receive it, did read it and did believe it, but hoped the people of Lewes would not hear about it.
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Sashka
Re:Council refuse to sell land - 2007/04/26 23:25I would like to say this is becoming increasingly bizarre, and disturbing. If the Council wrote to Mt Style to tell him that the land wasn't going to be sold way back in February, why have we all been traipsing round a deceptive exhibition that shows buildings that Angel knows it cannot build? Why did Lewes Town Council allow this to take place in the Town hall, and why hasn't this been mentioned before? Can anyone explain what on earth is going on?
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