Council spends £70k on legal case to demolish flats

A council has spent more than £70,000 pursuing the demolition of an illegally built block of flats in a town centre.

The building, in Job's Yard, Kettering, Northamptonshire, was the subject of a demolition order brought forward by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) in 2023, following a three-day trial at Birmingham High Court.

Developer Michigan Construction Limited (MCL) was told it would be responsible for pulling the building down by spring 2024, but no progress has been made since, with much of the surrounding area blocked off.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said MCL had not responded to a request for comment.

NNC successfully applied to the High Court to gain the right to access the site in order to carry out pre-demolition assessments after admitting they were at a "stalemate" with the developer.

The authority has stated that, although it cannot confirm a definitive timeline, it is in a position to "move promptly" with the demolition.

According to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, NNC has so far spent £72,536 on legal and court fees to bring forward its case to demolish the building.

The largest cost to the public purse was £45,000 spent on the High Court trial in Birmingham.

When asked for an update on the demolition, NNC reissued a previous statement in which it said it would "be working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and our appointed demolition contractor to provide a methodology to safely demolish the building".

A cordon has been in place around the building since June 2022 to protect the public, and NNC said this would stay in place until after the demolition was completed.

NNC had previously stated that the demolition could take up to 12 weeks, once preliminary assessments have been carried out.

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