Work began last week and continued over the weekend to try and convert the garage on East Scotland Street Lane – which always looked like a dwelling and briefly had aspirations to be an office – back into a garage.
There was a lot of furious activity on the roof, and the glass elevation facing the tennis club has now gone, replaced by a roller shutter.
We don’t know what if anything has happened to the kitchen and shower arrangements which used to be inside. It was, in any case, never clear to us how or where the building connected into the electricity supply and mains water and sewerage.
Some locals think some attempt may have been made in the recent work to lower the height of the structure in a last-minute attempt to avoid a demolition order. Others insist that the ‘building’s dimensions have not changed’.
Readers may remember the Reporter’s damning comment back in March, responding to the owner Mr Ferrigan’s contention that removing the structure as per the Council’s Enforcement order would be grossly excessive: 'It would be impracticable to specify all the steps necessary to render the building compliant with the terms of that permission. In these circumstances I consider that it would be wrong to try to vary the terms of the enforcement notice in this way’ (Breaking news, 13.3.14).
Most locals assume that, following last month's Local Review Body meeting which upheld earlier planning decisions, the building's days are probably numbered (Issue 233). However, has the ever resourceful Mr Ferrigan now found a way to appease the Council’s displeasure or at least exhaust its willingness to continue?