Now, Not Dreckly

What a wonderful sight it is to see major repairs being carried out to South Quay by ING the new harbour owners. This historic quay is a listed structure in a very prominent position in the town. Well done to them!

It’s a pity that ING now have to spend vast amounts of money repairing harbour walls just because local councils and local councillors chose to look the other way as they deteriorated, when it was their clear duty to ensure the previous owners maintained them. It is government policy that says owners of listed structures have a duty to maintain them. It also says councils have a duty to make sure they do! But they didn't. This lack of responsibility is evident around the whole of the Foundry area of Hayle.

Starting with the walls along the Plantation, which apparently cannot be repaired for lack of money; then the historic timber store owned by Jewsons that has had guttering hanging off its roof for years allowing vast quantities of water to cascade down over the outer wall soaking into the bedding stones of the unpainted walls (a severe frost could do major damage to this wall). This is not only an excellent and very prominent advert for Jewsons but again goes to show Penwith District and Hayle Town council’s total inaction in protecting the listed structures in their care. A little gaze across the road brings you to our wonderful railway viaduct, surely the most prominent structure in the town; again scruffy and tatty with twisted rusty handrails and old cable ties left flapping like chicken feathers, trees growing out of the top decking in places. Why has Network Rail not been asked to paint this, with the bridge builders name placed on it and the year it was built i.e. West Cornwall Railway Co. 1859. This would become a nice feature for anyone to see when leaving or entering the town.

It would seem that I am not the only one noticing trees growing in unusual places. On a visit to Hayle HRH Prince Charles was heard to say ‘Isn’t it amazing where buddleia will grow?' As we all know buddleia colonises derelict sites. But this is a conservation area we are talking about, why is it left so long in this state? Surely a lick of paint and a damn good tidy up is not too much to ask, or if it is why is it? If the Prince can see the state of it then the visitors who will be descending on the area from Easter onwards can see this too, let alone the locals who see it all the time.

Sadly, I have to agree with Councillor Owen Philp when he described the town, in a letter to a government minister, as an eyesore. He then went on to call the harbour a blot on the landscape. Quite why he then did NOTHING that I am aware of to get things sorted out is beyond me. Basic preventative maintenance i.e. the pointing of stone joints, if carried out by the previous owners with enforcement by Penwith District Council would have saved ING vast sums of money. The harbour walls have been entitled to Listed Building protection for almost 20 years.
This tragic dereliction of duty by Penwith District Council and Hayle Town Council could have cost millions from the public purse to put right. This is evident in a report commissioned by Penwith District Council and paid for by Joe Public where it states that the business plans of the previous owner anticipated large sums of public sector money. Then we go round and can see the state of the tatty unpainted building on Penpol Terrace which was flagged up almost 20 years ago in a promotional video made by another previous harbour owner, Peter de Savory, highlighting potential eye sores around the town.
The fact that this building is owned by a certain prominent Penwith councillor makes it even sadder. It is time to tidy up this mess, if the harbour development takes place it will have to be done. Hayles’ motto should be NOW NOT DRECKLY. We need to blow away the myth that he who does nothing, does nothing wrong. Those I have mentioned here have done nothing, and look at the bloody mess that is the result - our visitors will.

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