Deadline issued to owners of listed building

Parts of the Grade II listed former Raven Hotel on St Andrew's Street date back to the 16th Century

The owner of a historic former hotel has been ordered to make the building safe by next month.

Wychavon District Council secured a court order on Tuesday which gave the owner of the Raven Hotel in Droitwich Spa until 8 December to complete work on the listed building.

Owner Live Urban Two Limited must reinstall props on the ground floor of the building to prevent further collapse of the first floor.

Councillor Richard Morris said: “We aren’t prepared to take any chances when it comes to protecting the public and we aren’t prepared to lose an important town asset."

This latest court action follows an incident on 24 September when parts of the guttering on the section of the building that is set to be demolished fell into the road.

The owners are being ordered to install temporary netting to stop tiles and debris from falling into the street and to complete any other work the council deems necessary.

The Grade II listed building closed as a hotel more than a decade ago and has planning permission for new homes, a brine bath and a gin bar.

'Our patience has run out'

The district council issued a seven day notice period to the owner to confirm when work would be carried out in July.

The owner was issued with an informal notice by the council to carry out work to make the building safe by 25 October at the latest.

Despite workers being seen on site, the authority has not received evidence of the work being carried out, resulting in the decision to seek the court order.

Councillor Richard Morris said: “We’ve given the owner several opportunities to put the right measures in place to ensure the building is properly protected.

"Despite being given repeated assurances, they haven’t taken sufficient action and our patience has now run out."