UPDATE on the current situation: Firstly, I was informed last night that Cllr. Foster has arranged the Public Meeting for 12th November, 6pm-7.45pm at Spennymoor Town Hall and so we need to make as many of the electorate aware of this as possible - Im not sure if we will miss the deadline for the next Spennynews, so I may have to put up printed posters around the town if necessary (any help would be gratefully received)! HOWEVER - John Humphreys, Trevor Storey, Mark Roberts and myself attended a small, more personal meeting with Mr Stuart Timmiss (Planning Dept) and Mrs. Christine Warren (Spennymoor Community Learning Trust) as they were keen for us to outline to them our main issues. Mrs Warren gave us a potted history of the closure of the school and the financial ineffectiveness of the building continuing to be used for educational purposes -all of which seemed perfectly acceptable. She WAS at a loss as to why no-one had expressed any concerns when letters were originally sent out in 2012 asking for any comments/suggestions regarding the DISPOSAL of the site? After we pointed out that peoples interpretation of that letter was that it referred to the land only (as demolition was never mentioned, and furthermore, 99% of people were under the assumption that the building was listed and was therefore safe anyway) she did admit that the wording may have been misleading but the letter is a standard DCC format (template) which has to be used, - it also answered their bewilderment at why the sudden outcry, and again she and Mr Timmiss agreed that a lesson had been learned from this which needed to be addressed by DCC for future, similar letters to be more accurate. Secondly - our concern that the building should be put on the open market: DCC consulted with their in-house property marketing service and it was decided that, in view of current market trends, the building would be unviable for a private investor as the cost of repairs/modernisation would far outweigh the asking price (but when we asked for a ball park asking price figure - they couldnt give one as its never been valued with regard to sale) as their experts say NO-ONE will want to buy it!!! Our response was - maybe not in this area, but why not advertise it Nationally, then surely an investor from the South might be more inclined to pick up a bargain - thus saving them the expense of the demolition? STILL the response no one will buy it and it would be more lucrative to sell the whole area as a blank canvass. Sorry if Ive sent you all off to sleep after such a lengthy post, but I really dont know what you all make of this! Personally, I cant get my head round why they wont at least advertise it first - what do they have to lose?!!!! Thoughts please because my head is battered!!!!! xxx
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:05:39 +0000
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