HARTLEPOOL Councillors are demanding urgent action following a serious fire in a derelict pub in their ward.
The Hourglass on Eaglesfield Road has been derelict for some time and councillors Pamela Hargreaves and Ben Clayton had been working with the council and police to take enforcement action to make the building safe. This had resulted in an enforcement notice being issued, the deadline for which was Tuesday (September 7), the day of the fire.
Cllr Pamela Hargreaves said: “Fires like the one we have seen this week present danger to local residents and our first duty as councillors is to protect our community and the people who live there. The owner needs to step up and act and if they don’t then the council should secure the site and send them the bill. Nobody should have to live with this in their community.”
Having visited the area just last week with local PCSO, Paul Devonport, both councillors are urging there to be no further delay in making the area safe.
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Cllr Ben Clayton said: “It is so frustrating that we were there just a few days ago and working with council officers and police we had secured enforcement action against the owner to prevent incidents like this fire from happening. There can be no further delay; we need immediate action to make this building safe to protect residents.”
The fire, which took place on Tuesday, was attended by Cleveland Fire teams who extinguished the blaze by around 8pm.
Cllr Hargreaves added: “In the long run we must go further and actually see this site redeveloped because residents do not deserve to have this eyesore on their doorstep. We see plenty of money being spent in other parts of the town redeveloping derelict building and the residents of Manor House are just as deserving of that support.”
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