Legal dispute keeps Paignton's main road closed amid building concerns
Historic Station Square buildings pose safety risk and delay traffic
The main road through the centre of Paignton is likely to stay closed into July as a legal wrangle over the state of a collapsing building continues.
Torbay Council is still discussing the next step in the future of crumbling buildings in Station Square with the property’s owners.
A leading national heritage charity has just made it the ‘Building of the Month’.
In the meantime the road through the town centre remains closed, as it has been since the end of May. Traffic is being diverted via the seafront while bus services are facing long detours around the outskirts of the town.
Fences block the road, and containers belonging to a local demolition firm are arranged in front of the facade of 62 to 70 Victoria Street, a row of buildings which contains a pub, a takeaway and mobile phone accessory shop.
It is also the venue of a disused former nightclub.
The businesses in the row have been closed since November last year, when fences were first put up amid fears for the safety of the building’s facade. Engineers built a network of scaffolding to make it safe, and the road and pavement were allowed to re-open.
However in May, just before the town’s busy airshow weekend, emergency services alerted the council to fresh concerns, and a new set of fences was put up. Shortly afterwards, large pieces of masonry fell into the road below.
Since then, engineers have been inside the building and have used tall cranes to gain access to the worst-affected areas. Some parts of the upper floors have been pulled down and covered with battens and plastic sheeting.
A Torbay Council spokesperson said: “We are currently progressing through the necessary legal processes following the use of our emergency powers to remove the immediate risk posed by the building.
“At the same time, we are in active discussions with the building’s owners to agree a practical and sustainable way forward.
“We will provide a further update on next steps once the legal processes have been completed, which we anticipate will be within the next couple of weeks.”
The building is owned by locally-based Solanki Holdings, which originally wanted to demolish the dilapidated block to build a development called Victoria Heights with apartments on the upper floors and shops below.
The company has been contacted for comment but has yet to respond.
The council has turned down a proposal to flatten the site due to the building’s historical and architectural significance within the Old Paignton Conservation Area. It was built in the 1890s as Bailey’s Hotel to accommodate – and impress – the increasing number of visitors arriving by train.
On its website the organisation Save Britain’s Heritage says: “The future of this important piece of Paignton heritage is now very much at risk, due to years of consistent neglect.”