‘At risk’ cemetery buildings to be made safe in £673k restoration
LAST RISK-LISTED PROPERTIES
TWO North East Lincolnshire buildings on the ‘At Risk’ register are to be restored at a cost of £673,000.
The buildings at the entrance of Scartho Cemetery are the last risklisted properties owned by North Eat Lincolnshire Council.
They will be restored as part of the council’s five-year target to restore dangerous properties they own from a £5m budget.
Scartho Cemetery Lodge and the public toilets opposite will be restored at a £673,000 cost, if the council’s cabinet agree at a meeting tonight.
The proposals would see remedial work on the Grade II listed lodge that was damaged by a private group who tried to turn it into a yoga retreat. The toilets will be restored following spates in vandalism.
A report to cabinet states: “This report marks the final stages of a five-year plan to bring the council’s heritage assets up to a reasonable state of repair and preservation.
“The council, as a responsible public authority, has duties to preserve the heritage of North East Lincolnshire and by ensuring their own heritage assets are in a suitable condition and not listed on the Heritage ‘At Risk’ Register.
“It is important to have effective and robust arrangements in place to tackle privately owned heritage areas and buildings ‘At Risk’ and it would be unreasonable for the Council to insist on the improvement of and to pursue enforcement on privately owned buildings listed on the Register without also having a coherent and achievable plan for its own assets.”
Scartho Cemetery Lodge is a striking building located just inside the cemetery boundary, next to the recently restored iron gates just off Scartho Road.
The ‘ Gothic Revival’ Grade II Listed building was constructed in 1888 using red brick in English
LODGE AND TOILETS ARE
OWNED BY COUNCIL
bond with ashlar dressings, imitation half-timbering, a green slate roof and some later additions and alterations
The Lodge was leased in 2010 to an organisation who planned to use it as a yoga retreat and consents for building works were granted but no conditions discharged. The tenants, believed to have been inexperienced with the level and type of works being proposed, caused widespread damage to the Lodge and the tenancy was suspended. Since then the property has been vacant and boarded up. According to the report the lodge is currently effectively a bare shell, with no floors, plastered walls or utilities remaining as well as having no staircase. The evidence of inappropriate works did not fall within conservation guidelines.
The cost of the proposed works to reinstate the Lodge to an acceptable condition have been estimated at £467,000 after which it will be to support the enhancement of Bereavement Services offered to the public and visitors to the cemetery.
In August 2019 the council undertook the restoration to the nearby Scartho Cemetery Chapel in similar circumstances at a cost of more than £430,000.
Alongside the restoration of the lodge, the council are also proposing to work on the Scartho Cemetery waiting room and toilets which is not nationally listed, but forms a group of premises and structures with the adjacent cemetery gates, lodge and cemetery chapels.
The building is in the same style as the lodge and is in a poor state of repair with slipped slates and damaged areas to the roof and obvious damage to masonry while also having clearly been the target of vandals.
The cost of the proposed works to reinstate the toilets is estimated at £206,000 and it will perform a similar function to the lodge once up and running.
The proposals will be brought before the cabinet meeting this Wednesday at 5pm.
The council, as a responsible public authority, has duties to preserve the heritage of North East Lincolnshire