Madam,

A notice was served by Ceredigion County Council on Morgans Properties, requiring certain works to be carried out on the Deva Building, on Marine Terrace, Aberystwyth. The notice was served under Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 regarding land or property adversely affecting the amenity of the neighbourhood, and came into force on 4 March, 2016. It required the following actions to be carried out within six months of the notice coming into effect: Repair, clean, prime and repaint all external metal railings, guttering and downpipes; Install new gate to steps leading to basement; Clear out all rubbish from the basement; Clean, repair and repaint render and all timbers at the front of the building; Replace any cracked, broken or missing windows on the front of the property; Replace any tiles slipped or missing from the roof.

There was no sign of any of these works being carried out by 4 September, 2016. Had the county council taken Morgans Properties to court they could have been fined up to £1,000 and £40 per day for every further day of non-compliance. Instead of taking this case to court, the council has apparently offered Morgans Properties an interest-free loan of £500,000 to renovate this dilapidated property that is in a prominent position on the seafront. Apart from erecting scaffolding and some minor work to the roof I can see no evidence of any repairs to this building being put into effect to this day.

In my opinion this council, and in particular its legal department, is incredibly weak. Developers in this area must be well aware that the council is toothless and won’t enforce its own legal notices. I don’t know how many solicitors the council currently employs but I know that they had 10 in post five years ago (not counting the chief executive).

Local councillors seem to be complicit in this impotence. They seem to stand up for a department that has issued no fines for fly-tipping in the last decade. Is there any point in the higher echelons of government passing laws if local government won’t enforce them?

Yours etc

David Kirby

Cae Melyn

Aberystwyth.