Neglected listed buildings

9:01am Thursday 12th September 2013 in Letters

I WRITE on behalf of The Barry First Group/Barry Voice with regard to a letter from a Steve Overton (Barry District News, August 29) titled ‘Shame on you council’.

I can quite fully understand Mr Overton’s disgust at the obvious council neglect of the local landmark known as The Watchtower on Watchtower bay in the Barry Old Harbour.

There is a similar situation on Barry Island with another graded listed structure in the form of the public convenience block at the entrance to the new temporary car park, this car park has so far cost the taxpayer over three quarter of a million pounds just for a temporary car park. The public convenience block has been unused and totally neglected by the local council for almost or more than forty five years. As a stop gap in order to appease their misdemeanour they have sited 12 or more portable toilets which are on hire at a cost of around £700 per week. They are a complete and utter eyesore and give the visitor a feeling of being as welcome as a wasp in a space suit. I and many of the residents and traders of Barry Island just cannot believe what we are seeing here. When visitors use these toilets they are usually full to capacity within just an hour or two and the facility is taped off until the contractor arrives to empty the units.

The money that this local council wastes on ridiculous schemes is visible in abundance. They have grandeur proposals to redevelop the Eastern Promenade to include the commissioning of an artist to design a climbing wall with added murals depicting the history of Barry Island. The cost of which is over £80,000, just for the artist to design it. How this gets through scrutiny committees never ceases to amaze me. The next pearl of wisdom they have come up with is that they will be building a new toilet block on the promenade, which will also be paid for by money indirectly received from the taxpayer. The existing toilet block could very easily be brought back to life but the lame excuse is that it will cost to much.

The current Vale Council and its predecessors should be totally ashamed of the way they have neglected some of the most wonderful jewels in our crown and should be taken to task for their obvious neglect of local landmark structures.

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