A slap in the face for council?

A SLAP IN FACE FOR COUNCIL?a ccouple of days’ work many years too late? A quick scrape and a slap of paint over the facade of Walton’s in the Valley looks very much a slap in the face for the City Council. We at The Independent applaud the fact that at long last something has been done with this eyesore. And we believe Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has every right to take credit for the action taken so far. There has been a lot of hot air from many people over many, many years about the state of Walton’s and other rundown buildings, but the initial work now undertaken at Walton’s has happened on Mr Quirk’s watch and he is entitled to take credit for it. Especially as he sticks with his argument that he has no real power legislatively at the moment to force recalcitrant owners to do the right thing. But our major concern is exactly what has been done, what is still left to be done, and whether Mr Quirk will still be forced to enact laws to carry out his threats of action if all the remedial work required at Walton’s is not undertaken in a reasonable timeframe. Sadly, we are entitled to suspect the owners of Walton’s are probably thinking right now: “That didn’t cost that much and it should keep City Council quiet again for a decade or two while we wait for the right price for the property”. But will council cop this quick fix, this papering over of a problem? Consider some of the demands covered by the City Council’s recent 65-part notice to the owners. Among those were a number of items that called for boarded- up windows to be restored to their original condition. Instead, over a couple of days, they’ve simply been painted over. Maybe, the owners will revisit this facade soon and the paint job to date was just a start. We don’t like the chances. And our suspicion is that the big-ticket items – the costly “rectifications” demanded by council such as restoring walls and windows to their original condition – will not take place. So, if months now go by and those boarded-up windows and broken tiles and dry rot and termite damage and the like stay unfixed, then the current self-congratulatory words from the Lord Mayor will amount to nought and the egg on his face will be of a similar hue to that quick paintjob on the Walton’s facade.