Circles of enforcement

Mr Singh seems to be collecting enforcement notices rather more readily than he’s planning permission for work on the GWR Mechanics Institute building. Following an urgent works notice issued in January — requiring basic maintenance to be done on the building to make it watertight — Mr Singh is now the lucky winner of an enforcement order from the Health and Safety Executive, stopping that work because of unsafe practices. If he can’t even manage basic repairs safely, how does he expect anyone to believe he’s capable of fulfilling the grander plans he has for the building?

It’s difficult to understand why Mr Singh continues to cling on to ownership of the building. From a business perspective — even in the unlikely event that he did submit an acceptable planning application — from his actions so far it doesn’t look as though he’s got the wherewithal to make a profit from redevelopment of the Mechanics. The sooner ownership passes to someone more commercially capable the better.