ELDERLY residents in Douglas have been ‘petrified’ by ‘insensitive’ letters sent out by the town hall in a crackdown on delapidated homes, councillors have claimed.
Councillor Stephen Pitts told a meeting of full council: ‘These people think they are being picked on. Some of these people are totally petrified.
‘We don’t want to harass people who are not well. We need to see if we can make these letters more sensitive. They are most insensitive on elderly people.’
Victoria ward councillor Raina Chatel said: ‘We are not there to frighten people.’
Ritchie McNicholl, lead member of the environmental services advisory committee, agreed that there should be a more sensitive approach. He said: ‘Letters that have gone out. I got a copy of a letter sent to somebody. It did appear to be quite, I don’t want to use the word intimidating, but wasn’t couched in a way I would expect it would be to take into consideration of their ages.
‘What we need is a letter which is not threatening but goes on the point that there is a problem. All councillors in here have complained about dilapidated properties, we have heard it today.
‘If we try to be a bit heavy-handed we get complaints about that as well from the same councillors. What I would like to see is a sensitive approach, officers knocking on doors to see if there is anything we can do to help. Maybe we won’t get into a situation where people feel aggrieved and angry at the way the council has gone about it.’
Meanwhile, the authority has suffered a second set-back in its legal bid to tackle a dilapidated building on Quarterbridge Road – prompting councillors to call for strong powers to tackle such buildings.
Councillor McNicholl revealed that Douglas Corporation’s appeal over the property, Braddan Lodge, had been rejected due to a ‘technicality’.
He explained: ‘The case was dismissed previously because of an error so an appeal was sought. The appeal was heard on July 11.
‘The appeal was also dismissed which is a great shame because after nearly eight years of work by this council it has been turned down on a technicality not of our makings.’
He added: ‘Where we go from here I don’t know. We need stronger powers to deal with cases not only like this.’
He cited the example of two properties on South Quay where a dispute over getting improvements carried out had been going on for 10 years.
Councillor John Faragher called for an update on progress on the list of dilapidated buildings in the borough.
He pointed out that 33 Palatine Road was listed as ‘work nearing completion’ but the situation had been going on since July 2009.
He said: ‘Three years they’ve had to do it. Have we an update of that work?’
Councillor Carol Malarkey asked if he thought the authority was getting the backing of the courts and Tynwald to tackle such buildings. ‘Do I think the courts help us? No I don’t,’ he replied.
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