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Demolition 'gap' to be filled with flats and shops

Aimee Dexterand
Tom Jackson
News imageGoogle A narrow street has buildings either side. On the right, there is scaffolding and a white fence around the site. On the left, a white van is parked on the one-way road.Google
The Grade II listed buildings were situated in High Street, Wisbech

The gap left by the demolition of two former Grade II-listed buildings will be filled with one-bedroom flats and a commercial premises, a council has said.

Fenland District Council approved plans for the council-owned site in High Street, Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire, on the spaces left when the buildings were demolished in 2020.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, councillors asked for answers at a meeting on 23 September after discovering an earlier application had been rejected over a bat survey issue, which had not been shared with all cabinet members.

Leader of the council, Conservative Chris Boden, said: "We must have an explanation about how this has ended up happening."

Boden added: "It's embarrassing to the council, to be quite honest, that we should be put in this position."

News imageTom Jackson/BBC Jess Webb has shoulder length dark brown hair and a fringe. She is lightly smiling and is wearing a brown and white striped T-shirt and a black coat. She is standing in front of scaffolding.Tom Jackson/BBC
Jess Webb has lived in St Ives for nearly four years

Similarly, in St Ives, residents have spoken out about a gap in its high street, with one calling it an "eyesore".

The building demolished was a former Barclays Bank and was situated on The Pavement in the town centre.

Jess Webb, 27, from the Cambridgeshire town, said: "It's something that we definitely want sorting out because the town is so pretty and you come into the centre and it's right bang in the middle and it's just so ugly.

"It's just such an eyesore."

She said she had lived in the town for nearly four years, and during that time the piece of land has remained empty.

News imageTom Jackson/BBC A row of buildings in a town centre. In the middle is a gap between two buildings where scaffolding is standing. There is a white wall around it. On the left, is a monument which sits in between two roads which run either side.Tom Jackson/BBC
Scaffolding still shrouds the site where the Barclays Bank once stood in St Ives
News imageTom Jackson/BBC Christine Phillpotts has short blonde hair and a fringe. She is wearing bright red lipstick, a black T-shirt and a brown handbag. She is standing in front of scaffolding.Tom Jackson/BBC
Christine Phillpotts is the chair of the St Ives Civic Society

Christine Phillpotts, chair of the St Ives Civic Society, said: "The issue here is that the initial contractors went bust and our town council was trying to keep tracks on what was actually happening.

"Unfortunately, this has been dragging on for four years now and we've got to the stage where several developers down the line don't seem to have done anything with it.

"It's a complete eyesore in the high street, it's actually a health and safety hazard as well."

A spokesperson from Huntingdonshire District Council said it understood the "concerns and frustrations that residents and businesses have".

"The site is privately owned and responsibility for its development and construction activity rests with the site owner," they added.

"Concerns relating to construction site safety can be raised with the health and safety executive, which is the relevant regulator."

Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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