Showdown looms over ‘eyesore’ nightclub building
A town centre businessman is heading for a showdown with Kirklees Council over an ‘eyesore’ building opposite the University of Huddersfield.
Ian Snowball has been locked in a battle with the council since he was ordered to clean up the frontage of his Colosseum nightclub building last spring.
The fall-out has been ongoing for months with several appearances for both sides in Kirklees Magistrates’ Court in a bid to resolve the situation.
The university has also expressed its concerns about the building in a letter to Mr Snowball in November, seen by the Examiner.
Colin Blair, director of estates, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the university would welcome a speedy transformation of the external facade of the building by any party.
“The university has invested over £200m in its campus making it one of the highest quality in the higher education sector. You will therefore understand why it is most frustrating when a property adjacent to our main reception building appears semi-derelict.”
A full day of legal arguments will be held in court on April 22.
In his original statement to the Examiner, the council’s strategic director for economy and infrastructure, Karl Battersby, said: “We have great ambition for Huddersfield town centre, and for the whole of Kirklees.
“We don’t want any buildings to deteriorate and become unsightly, and that is why we have committed £1.2m towards improving town centre heritage buildings.
“This is a prominent building in the heart of the town centre and it is not the image we want people to associate with Huddersfield.”
Mr Snowball said: “When Kirklees Council served Hellfire Entertainment Ltd a Section 215 Notice, they had no idea what the repercussions were going to be.
“But they should have done. They know my area of law is land and they know we won’t allow Kirklees Council to bully or intimidate us without putting up a fight.
“A Section 215 Notice is an option local councils have to enforce errant land owners to get their act together and improve the state of a building, the premise being that it is bringing an area down.
“It is a Notice not ordinarily served on buildings that are undergoing refurbishment works such as The Colosseum for the simple fact that it is considered work in progress and before you can make good, you very often have to knock a few things down or make a bit of a mess in general before you can rebuild.
“However, on this occasion, Kirklees Council served Notice on The Colosseum demanding they put bits back they had taken down.
“I advised that while it was not our initial plan to start work on the front of building immediately, a structural survey of the building had shown it was in such a poor state it was a risk to life and limb and as such they were duty bound to remove these dangers, which they did with immediate effect.”
He says they were never given a first or a second warning which makes him think this is the first time Kirklees has ever issued a s215 Notice.
And he says he has hired the finest legal talent available – Jeremy Phillips QC and Horatio Waller, both of FTB Chambers in London.
Kirklees Council has been approached for comment.