Who Cares For the Jewellery Quarter?
Legge Lane Dereliction Sun 3rd March 2013
Well, we do for a start. But it appears that some of its owners don’t.
Empty buildings are the curse of the JQ and dilapidated ones are the boil on the witch’s nose. The Legge Lane area is probably the most blighted part of the JQ and some its landowners don’t seem to be bothered. Not only is this building photographed recently in Legge Lane slowly rotting, it is now unsecured. This means that residents (and businesses and visitors) will feel even more wary of walking around this area. How long before the building is vandalised more, is used as a drug den, cannabis farm or mysteriously burns to the ground? It happened at the George & Dragon, it happened on Sloane St and Legge Lane and will continue to happen until owners secure their property and actively bring it back into use, and Birmingham City Council enforces the obligations upon owners of listed and conservation area buildings.
Are there any dereliction hotspots near you? Do you know who the owners are? Let us know and we can raise it with the JQDT and City Council.
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As per your observations, this area seems to be off radar. There have been several burst water incidents in the old Ashton and Moore building that have lasted two or three days over the past year, and the doors a few doors up in the photo were breeched again around Xmas and yet to be secured. To be fair, despite the bad state of repair, it is actually safe in this area by my experience, even late at night, but it does feel like this state of ‘broken windows’ will continue until post-recession or the buildings physically give way. To my knowledge the buildings on the other side of the road are owned by one of the colleges, and the previously overgrown area behind them on Camden Drive have been cleared recently which is an improvement.
It’d be good to see some general housekeeping done along Legge Lane.
UCB own the Legge Lane buildings opposite but whether they bought them in that condition or let them get that way I don’t know. They also own buildings on Ludgate Hill in a slightly less-bad state.
Talking on Twitter earlier, it appears that there is a wider problem of buildings that look OK but can’t be inhabited until they have repairs – in this instance a BCC-owned building.
It makes one wonder whether the high vacancy rates which suggest not enough interest are actually caused by buildings in disrepair putting tenants off?
It is a real shame! I happen to live in Gwenda Works at the top of Legge Lane and the building pictured is regularaly un-secure and it has been on and off for years. I have been living on this road for four years and it seems to be an intermittent cycle of the place being broken into, the door being left wide open for months on end and then being secured again. The building has thankfully recently been re-secured. I wonder who is doing this? Council or vendor?
I have seen homeless people coming out of the property on my way to work in the morning and I made contact with maguire Jackson who had a for sale sign on display. MJ advised me they were no longer acting for the vendor and their sign was later taken down. I took the issue up with the police as I was concerned for the safety of my female flat mate using the road late at night. Sadly the gentleman I spoke to was not interested and no action was taken. In reality had my flat mate later been attacked or mugged (after I had reported that th property was insecure and being used as a squat to the police) the police/vendors or council’s complete lack of action could be deemed negligent given the real risk of injury or harm to local people being reasonably foreseeable.
The council have a duty to ensure the vendor properly maintains this property and it is failing to fulfil its remit or legal obligation. The fact is the vendor has left this place to rot. Time for a compulsorary purchase order rather than bury your head in the sand BCC! I was happy to learn of plans to re develop the old school at the top of Legge lane, but it is not clear when or if this will happen?. This unloved corner of the jewellery quarter has real potential and I urge the powers that be to kick start the regeneration before the opportunity to change has been lost forever. Most if not all my friends regard living in the jewellery quarter as a privilege. We need to nurture this unique village within the big city, not neglect it! I hope my views do not fall on deaf ears.