Stockton resident fears grade II listed farm house will collapse

BBC News

01-04-2025

A man has called for action to fix a crumbling grade II listed building, which he fears will collapse into his garden.Tim Collins, 52, lives next door to Bradley House Farm and Stables in Wolviston, Stockton, and said sections of the roof were "ready to fall in".He described the building as an "absolute wreck" and said he feared an adjoining wall would damage his home.Owner, Billingham-based engineer Paul Messham, said he wanted to turn it "back to a beautiful living accommodation" but said the project had suffered delays due to difficulties working with the listed building.
Mr Collins said the house, which has been fenced off, had been plagued with vandalism."Kids are breaking in and smashing it up. Bit by bit they're slowly destroying it. It's getting to the point where there's not going to be much salvageable," he said."Everything's full of holes and smashed up. The whole place is literally falling into the ground."
Mr Collins said he had been in touch with Stockton Borough Council about the property and wanted it to serve notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which would require work to be carried out.Historic England described Bradley House as a "rare survival of a farm complex in a modern urbanised area" and an "eloquent witness to Wolviston's pre-urban past".Mr Messham said the property was not something he and his business partner were going to forget about, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."It's just the fact that this is such an awkward building to work with, you've got to go through all the hoops to get anything done," he said."We've been in talks with Stockton council about how to move forward with this, which is looking positive."But the idea is not to pull it all down. Too many people pull it all down and build houses to make money, it isn't about that."
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