Suffragette's former home 'deserves better'

A council has demanded "urgent" work takes place to protect Edith Rigby House

The owner of a 200-year-old former home of a city's most famous suffragette has been told by a council to carry out urgent repairs in the next two weeks.

Preston City Council has served a notice demanding remedial action is taken to protect Edith Rigby House in Winckley Square, which has been graffitied over with the words 'Edith deserves better'.

The Grade II-listed Georgian home has been empty for more than a decade and the local authority said those responsible for it have "failed to make good on a final warning" issued in response to concerns about its poor condition.

Its property management company Highdorn Co. Limited has been approached for comment.

The roof, guttering, windows and internal structure are all in need of attention

Mrs Rigby devoted her life to creating a fairer world for women and was friends with the Pankhurst sisters, who began the suffragette movement which fought for women's right to vote.

She was jailed on seven occasions over the actions she took in pursuit of the cause of women's suffrage, which included arson – and the Preston branch of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) that she formed.

Friends organisation chair Emily Castle told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she welcomed the city council stepping in to ensure the building is protected.

The latest move to protect the building comes after a condition survey ordered by the city council.

It found that the roof, guttering, windows and internal structure are all in need of attention.

A planning application for most of those works, which include propping up part of a collapsing internal wall, was submitted by the property management company in May and approved by town hall planners in July.

The city council said in February that "certain steps" had already been taken by the owner of the building to address concerns, but that further intervention was necessary.

The authority's cabinet member for planning and regulation, councillor Amber Afzal, said Edith Rigby House "remains on our priority list of vulnerable properties".

She said the works would take the property "out of immediate danger", and further talks would be held to secure the building's future.

Edith Rigby House, previously part of Preston Catholic College until the 1980s, is currently configured as offices and is on the market with that use in mind.

However, the Friends of Edith Rigby group would like to see at least part of it become a museum charting the life of its famous former occupier.