THE true extent of the damage that has been done to a cherished Warminster landmark listed building is set to be revealed to councillors on Monday.
Former civic leaders are calling for a positive 'can do' attitude to tackle the plight of Warminster Town Hall on the first anniversay of their public condemnation of the state the
building.
It was blighted after a private owner got permission to turn it into a night club venue but then failed to carry out the plan
It is now referred to by those in official circles as a 'luxury pigeon loft after two former councillors made it one of their highest priorities at the launch of the visionforwarminster.co.uk website.
The call by Steve Dancey and Paul Macdonald for action brought an immediate knee-jerk reaction from the town council.
They had sat on their hands for years and watched the building deteriorate.
"It is important to the town that something is done sooner rather than later," says Paul Macdonald.
Community Action
Paul, a former deputy mayor, chased up the authorities to get the former toilets behind the town hall cleaned up.
The town council stopped sitting on their hands and put them up to vote to offer cash to get the pigeon excrement removed and new netting to protect the clock face.
Steve Dancey, co-author of visionforwarminster.co.uk, pursued the issue of anti-pigeon spikes with a positive response (see hot topics) which confirmed they be used on the listed building.
Largely as a result of the publicity George Jolley, a former railway manager with experience, organised a team of public spirited locals.
They wash downed the lower half of the building and pavements joined by local firefighters.
(This led to the formation of WETS also covered on vfw).
Councillor March, who has publicly stated he has been working on this for years, has prepared papers for the town council about the amount of work needed on the building.
The building which was donated to the town by Lord Bath is now in the hands of receivers.
"The town council need to accept that this is a public building given to the town which should be in community ownership and with the demise of the district council then it falls on the town council," added Paul.
"I hope this latest report will lead to something very positive and a dedicated team will now be formed.
"When I was a councillor and faced a blighted project I got the Crusader Park working group set up to make the breakthrough."
Hot TOPICS