A DILAPIDATED and damaged building which has attracted complaints in an Eden town has been tidied up after legal notices were served on the owner.

The building stands in Wearisome on the Parking Hill road (B6260) and is located approximately 800 metres south of Appleby. It is in a prominent location when travelling to Appleby from the villages of Maulds Meaburn, Great Asby or Crosby Ravensworth in the Yorkshire Dales.

The owner was encouraged by Eden District Council's planning department to carry out remedial works to improve the condition and appearance of the building; particularly after a car crashed into the side of the property in 2013.

However, when the works were not carried out voluntarily the council issued a section 215 (untidy land) notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in March 2015. It required the owner to remove all rubble from the front of the land, repair the damaged wall and board up all windows.

The owner failed to comply with the notice. Failure to comply with an untidy land notice constitutes a criminal offence, but it also provides a council power to enter the land to carry out the required works and charge the owner costs.

The council decided not to prosecute the owner as it would not have resolved the matter and the condition and appearance of the building would still be an eyesore.

The direct taken by the planning department is one of a number of historic sites that the council is taking a robust stance on. It has begun taking direct action on other sites where legal notices have not been complied with.

Cllr Michael Slee, Eden District Council’s Economic Development Portfolio Holder, said: “The building was an eyesore and has now been improved. I would have much preferred that the owner complied with the legal notice rather than our planning department having to take action on the property directly.

"However, hopefully other owners of land that have become eyesores take notice of the council’s robust stance and improve their land accordingly."