CLEARANCE STARTS AT EYESORE SITE:
CLEARANCE work appears under way inside a controversial dilapidated Runcorn eyesore as the time left to comply with an untidy land notice starts to dwindle.
Builders were inside East Lane House and knocking and banging noises could be heard when the Weekly News visited the building on Monday.
East Lane House’s owner Shah Capital was slapped with an untidy land notice on June by Halton Borough Council following pressure from Labour MP Mike Amesbury.
The order was to come into effect 28 days on from being issued with works to be completed within a further 28 days, placing the initial completion date in late August.
As this deadline loomed and passed, Halton Council extended the deadline to 12 weeks from Saturday, September 9, meaning it needs to be done by December 2.
Mike Amesbury, Labour MP for Weaver Vale, wrote on his Facebook page in September that Shah Capital had said it would complete the works by November 27.
The council said the initial notice had not been complied with but the company had been in touch providing assurances that the project, which includes boarding up the windows and doorways, would be done, adding that it would hold off on legal proceedings.
East Lane House has been empty since 2001 or 2002, according to Halton Lea ward councillor Alan Lowe who worked in the building and was ‘the last one out’ when it shut.
The building has been mired in controversy due to allegations relating to a development company that launched the initial conversion plans for it two years ago while the site was under prior and unconnected ownership to Mr Shah.