Bid to bulldoze Telford mansion halted

Members of Telford & Wrekin Council's Cabinet are expected to this week impose measures which will prevent the demolition of Haybridge Hall in Hadley without planning permission being granted for a replacement.

And former Hadley resident Brenda Riley, who now lives in Trench, has launched an online petition to save it from the bulldozers.

The hall, built around 1870, was bequeathed to the people of Hadley in 1965 by Graham Murphy, of the family which owned Wrekin Brewery. However, Wrekin Housing Trust wants to demolish the building to redevelop the site.

The locally listed building has been empty for around two years, when the trust decided it was no longer suitable for use as sheltered housing for the elderly.

The trust's latest plan, to demolish the hall and replace it with four bungalows, was rejected by the council's planning committee in January on the grounds that it would result in the loss of an architecturally distinguished building.

However, Telford & Wrekin Council's head of planning Michael Barker said as things stood the council had no powers to prevent demolition of the hall.

He is recommending that the Cabinet removes permitted development rights from the building.

Mr Barker said the trust's agent had indicated it was about to submit a demolition. "This constitutes reliable evidence that the demolition of Haybridge Hall is intended and imminent," he said.

"It is considered that this would result in the loss of a building considered to be a heritage asset of local, if not national, significance."

Mrs Riley said: "Up to the time I was 11 I used to go past Haybridge Hall on the bus, I thought it was a magical place.

"It is part of our heritage. We have already lost Apley Hall. All the beautiful things in our area are being destroyed and demolished."

The trust had previously said it would cost around £1 million to bring the hall into an acceptable condition, adding that it did not meet the Disability Discrimination Act. In its last planning application, it said that converting the building back into flats would not be viable.

However, Mrs Riley said the building was in good condition when she visited it in the 1990s, adding that it was the trust's responsibility to keep it in good order.

Anybody wanting to sign Mrs Riley's petition can do so through visiting the website change.org and searching under Haybridge Hall.