Following an urgent works notice served on the owners of Denbigh Hospital in which the local council carried out £940,000 of necessary works, Denbighshire County Council has welcomed the decision to dismiss an appeal.
Denbighshire County Council writes:
Denbighshire County Council has welcomed a decision by Welsh Government Minister Carl Sargeant to dismiss a claim by the owners of the former North Wales Hospital site against paying costs incurred by the Council for carrying out urgent repair works on the historic property.
The Council has been working hard to save the Denbigh Hospital site from deterioration due to neglect. An Urgent Works Notice was served on the owner of the site in June 2011, requiring them to carry out urgent repairs to the main range listed buildings.
The owners did not comply with the notice so Denbighshire County Council carried out the work in default which involved £940k of urgent works to the most import part of the main building to save it from collapse.
The site is owned by Freemont (Denbigh) Ltd, an off-shore company based in the British Virgin Islands, who have been represented in the UK by Mr Ayub Bhailok, a solicitor based in Preston. Further notices, under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, were served on the owners by Denbighshire County Council to reclaim the £940k spent on carrying out these urgent works. The owners appealed the Notices to the Welsh Government, resulting in public inquiry, which was concluded last year.
The Welsh Government Minister responsible for all aspects of planning policy and the determination of planning appeals is Carl Sargeant, the Minister for Natural Resources. He has now dismissed the appeals and so the debt against the owners has been confirmed.
Councillor David Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Public Realm, said: ‘We are delighted with the outcome of the planning inquiry and the Minister’s decision fully vindicates the serving of the Urgent Works Notice, the requirements contained in the Notice and the costs incurred by the Council in carrying out those works in default, despite the owners representations that none of it was necessary. The Council will now continue with its efforts to recover the money’.
Last year the Council served a Compulsory Purchase Order(CPO) for the site on the owners, who objected the CPO and this too went to a public inquiry which was concluded in March this year. A decision on this is expected within the next two months. In the meantime an application for planning permission submitted by the Prince’s Regeneration Trust is being processed by Denbighshire’s Planning department.
