Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
|Home
Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
This website has been partly paid for from the funds made available to every MP to assist them in communicating with and representing their constituents.
Printed and hosted by Pipex Communications UK Ltd, Humber Buildings, Humber Rd, Beeston, Notts, NG9 2ET. Published and promoted by Norman Baker MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 1AA. The views expressed are those of Norman Baker, not of the service provider.
Council must act over High Street eyesore
Lewes MP is calling on Lewes District Council to consider using its planning powers to secure the repair of the prominent building on School Hill in Lewes that has been boarded up and surrounded by scaffolding since it was gutted by fire over a year ago, in September 2006.
Norman Baker says: "The premises in question, which used to house McKays, has barely been touched since the fire, unlike its immediate neighbour, the former restaurant Si, where good progress has been made. Yet this is a listed building in a hugely prominent part of the town’s Conservation Area. That means that even if work started now, it is likely to be at least another year before the street scene is returned to normal.
"The situation is also intolerable for the occupiers of the neighbouring property, including the restaurant Seasons, which has been badly affected by the mess.
"I am aware that a planning permission has been issued for the building but I see no evidence of any intention to implement it. It seems that the applicants may want to extend further, the council is rightly resisting, and a kind of stand-off has been reached.
"Yet the situation cannot simply be allowed to drift. The District Council has powers to undertake the repairs to a listed building itself and recharge the owners for the work, and I think it is now time that the council considers this in the interests of the town in general and the neighbouring properties in particular."