Bradgate Stables

Essential maintenance to cost £300,000

Leicester Mercury March 2022    A crumbling historic building that could be lost forever after being ‘allowed to deteriorate’ for years has been given a £300,000 lifeline. The 19th Century Bradgate Stables in Groby is on Heritage England’s at-risk register and is said to be ‘in a considerable state of disrepair’. After failed attempts to agree to the necessary works to save the building with its owner, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council has issued an urgent works notice, with councillors voting to pay to secure the Grade II* listed stables’ future. 

At last week’s full council meeting, one angry councillor accused the unnamed owner of ‘wilful vandalism’, with another saying the building should not only be rescued to protect it, but that it should be opened to the public in the future. If the owner does not carry out the required works within seven days of the council serving the notice, the authority will hire contractors itself to do them.

A council report prepared for the meeting reveals £300,000 is the maximum cost of the works, and that a Historic England grant should repay the council for up to 80 per cent of the money it spends on the building. The report also says the council will claim back any amount spent on the works from the owner and reimburse the grant to Historic England. Councillor David Bill who introduced the report at the meeting said it was ‘a matter which could well have been settled long, long ago if the owners had implemented what they undertook to do'.

The building served as the stables and kennels of Bradgate House, which was built for George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, in 1854 before being demolished in 1926. The building was first listed in 1988, with Historic England describing its condition then as ‘largely ruinous’. It is rated A on the at-risk register, described by the organisation as the ‘highest priority for a site that is deteriorating rapidly’.

The building’s listing in the latest register reads: “The complex has not been maintained for many years and is actively deteriorating. There are multiple structural concerns and periodic collapses of masonry.” The council report says the site was bought by the current owners in 2004. “Since taking ownership there has been limited action by the owners to address the condition of the stables, with the condition of the building being allowed to deteriorate to the state where works are urgently required for its preservation.”

At the meeting, ward councillor Martin Cartwright said: “This is the very last resort. We didn’t want to find ourselves in this position. The land owner is fully aware of the listed status, fully aware of it being on the Historic England at-risk register.” He said the council had been involved in ‘meaningful dialogue’ with the owner, which led to a previous urgent works notice being cancelled, but progress had been ‘too little, too slow’. “It’s been through another winter, and the deterioration's got worse with no meaningful works taken place. It cannot go on any longer because it will be lost forever. The grant will be lost and the building will be lost.”

Councillor Richard Allen called the building ‘a remarkable structure’ and added: “What we’ve seen happen at Bradgate Stables is tantamount to wilful vandalism.”

Councillor Chris Ladkin said: “It’s an extraordinary situation, spending all this money on this and nobody can see it. Are we going to look to get it open to the public as well?” Coun Bill replied that he wouldn’t recommend anybody getting close to the building in its current state, and that it was important to ‘see this historic building preserved then we can think about its future in conjunction with the owners’.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/300k-lifeline-remarkable-leicestershire-building-8211669