Wiltshire Council takes decisive action as court orders urgent safety measures at Warminster property

Following enforcement action by Wiltshire Council, Swindon Magistrates Court has ordered the owners of 3 High Street, Warminster, to make the building and scaffolding outside of it safe.

On Monday 13 November, in response to long-standing concerns regarding the structural safety of the building and the dangerous state of its scaffolding, the court ordered the owners to remove all the herbaceous growth from the front and side elevation; reinstate the plywood hoarding to the scaffold to prevent access to the scaffold and the building; remove all loose masonry from the front and side elevations; and ensure a structural assessment is undertaken by a specialist.

The court mandated that this work must be completed within eight weeks of the court order, which was issued on 13 November.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Development Management and Strategic Planning, said: "This has been a long, ongoing case that has been a concern since October 2014. The building is listed and has seen a marked decline in its structural integrity.

"I'd like to praise the tenacity of our Building Control officers, who have visited this site 34 times over the years and written several reports documenting the escalating issues surrounding the building and its scaffold.

"Throughout this process, we have tried to engage with various owners, conservation officers and structural engineers, but the situation has continued to significantly deteriorate, and so we had no choice but to take this legal action."

The court's action under Section 77 of the Building Act 1984 aims to mitigate immediate dangers, emphasizing that this is not an effort to make the building safe or facilitate further development. A live planning application (PL/2022/06471) for the Demolition of the existing building and construction of new premises, including shops, flats, and houses, is pending determination.