After years of inaction, an ill-fated Pimlico property that pushed residents into financial disparity and damaged two businesses is finally being fixed.
Following basement excavation works in 2011, Westminster Council instructed the erection of barriers outside 74 Lupus Street to ‘ensure the safety and resilience of the building and highway’.
Unable to complete the planned works in the basement the freeholder made themselves scarce, limiting progress for the past 14 years.
Amanda McLeod, 54, founder of the McLeod Centre for Learning said: “We’ve been held hostage by this for 14 years. The financial repercussions have been enormous, it’s made such a huge change to my life.
“We’ve started the work to make the building safe, and are looking forward to working with the council to finally restore the building.”
Council cooperation and the bravery of the occupants have breathed some new life into this deadlock and the residents pulled together to acquire the basement late last year after their properties were rendered almost unsellable.
Scaffolding outside the property has prevented a centre supporting students with learning disabilities on the ground floor to advertise, forcing significant sacrifices including five redundancies back in 2018.
In a letter posted on social media in February, councillor Robert Eagleton explained the huge financial impacts of the stalemate.
Festooned in protective hoarding, the impact this impasse has had on businesses is hard to quantify.
Jonathan Berry, owner of the learning centre, said “The parents who come here drive past and think what the hell is going on here, but inside the teaching is really good.
“We’ve lost loads of business because of the hoarding.”
Directly next to the property sits Pimlico Hardware, a staple of the high street long before the basement excavations of 2011.
Such is the extent of the barriers outside 74 Lupus Street that the shop is entirely unsighted from those approaching from Pimlico tube station, cutting out nearly all passing trade.
Kish Vara, 60, who owns Pimlico Hardware, said: “I haven’t been able to advertise properly for 14 years.
“They say things are moving, but they’ve been saying that for 14 years.”
Wheelchair access around the property is extremely limited and avoided by the public.
Councillor Eagleton has hopes for the future.
He said: “The situation is infuriating and I feel really sad for the residents. No one should have to suffer what they have been through.
“Recently, I met with residents to discuss ways to finally end this saga and I am pursuing the matter with the council.”
It seems the cogs are finally turning and 74 Lupus Street can be restored for the benefit of its residents, businesses and the wider community.
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