St Leonards property owners taken to court over dangerous structure

On May 18, 2020, the council obtained a court order, under Section 77 of the Building Act 1984, requiring the owners of 2-12 Battle Road to remove the danger posed by the structure either by repairing or demolishing it, within 16 weeks, the council said.

The council became aware of structural problems at 2-12 Battle Road when a councillor highlighted their concerns to the planning enforcement and building control teams. As a result, the council investigated and put in place monitoring, a council spokesman said.

The council continued to monitor the situation, a spokesman said, to ensure the structure did not present an imminent risk to the public and made the owners aware of their concerns.

As soon as the monitoring started to show signs that the condition of the structure was worsening, the council said it began formal enforcement action against the owners because of their ‘failure to take action’.

On May 15, East Sussex County Council’s Highways team shut the public footbath running under the structure, in the interest of public safety.

The same day, Hastings Borough Council tweeted: “Following complaints we have been monitoring the condition of 2-12 Battle Road, known as Battle Road Arches. Whilst we take further steps to deal with this, colleagues from ESCC Highways have closed the pavement in the interest of public safety.”

Councillor Kim Forward, leader of the council and lead councillor for planning and enforcement said: “It is disappointing that the owners of this structure have let it fall into this state. It is even more disappointing that despite us having contacted them about this they have failed to do anything to address the condition of the structure. We were therefore left with no alternative but to take court action after discussing the results of the monitoring with our structural engineer because of our fears about the danger posed to the public.

“We are delighted that the court has recognised our concerns and issued the order requiring the property owners to make the arches safe.”

The council said it will continue to monitor the situation and the owners’ response to the court order to ‘ensure the necessary actions are taken to protect local residents’.