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ROOF-TOP PAIR SPARK NEW FEARS AT DERELICT FACTORY

 

 

11:56 - 12 June 2007

 

Trespassers have been spotted again on top of a derelict building in Stokes Croft - just weeks after a man broke his back in a near-death fall.Our picture shows two men sitting on the roof of Westmoreland House, a large abandoned factory block on the edge of Bristol city centre.

 

The run-down building, earmarked for demolition, has been at the centre of controversy for a number of years.

 

Last month, police refused to enter the building to stop graffiti artists vandalising the crumbling structure, because of health and safety fears.

 

The artists were able to paint a 30ft mural on one of the rooftop walls.

 

The gang used ladders to reach a rooftop wall and spent two days painting a giant deformed child's head and lizard.

 

Several onlookers called police but were stunned when officers said they could not enter the building, and they did not have the resources to wait outside.

 

The next day, a 24-year-old man, who had allegedly been spraying graffiti on the building at the junction of Stokes Croft and Ashley Road, fell at least three storeys, breaking his back and suffering serious internal injuries.

 

Five people have died in falls from the building since it was abandoned in 1986.

 

Senior officers said the latest accident only served to prove that they had been right not to let their officers enter the building on safety grounds.

 

This morning, police told the Evening Post that they had not been called to the building in the past 24 hours.

 

Our pictures, taken yesterday, show two men sitting high up on the roof, close to the building's edge.

 

Westmoreland House has been empty for more than 20 years and is regularly targeted by vandals and graffiti artists.

 

The building's owner, Comer Homes, wants to transform the site into 200 flats and a community arts centre.

 

However, Bristol City Council warned in December last year that it would begin compulsory purchase proceedings if work on transforming the site was not started by the summer.

 

Kate Hartas, a Bristol City Council spokeswoman, said: "The use of compulsory purchase powers to secure the site is an option that remains open to us, and one we are considering.

 

"Following the accident last month, officers from the council's Building Control team liaised with police at the site and also spoke with Comer Homes to gain permission to reinstate large wooden panels which had been ripped down to gain access.

 

"In October 2006, Comer Homes made a planning application for this site. It includes the demolition of a grade II-listed building, which forms part of the site. We have consulted widely on the application and as a result have requested further information from Comer Homes in relation to design, parking and access issues.

 

"We still await a significant amount of this additional information."

 

No one from Comer Homes was available for comment.

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