New owner says Fleetwood eyesore will be demolished next week

The new owners of the former Fleetwood Health Centre on London Street say they don't want to waste any time in knocking it down and tidying up the site.

Sunny Deol, 34, whose family owns a number of businesses an properties in Fleetwood, has bought the sprawling building with a business partner.

Council planners at Wyre gave the green light for the demolition just after New year, and permission was also granted for 18 new homes to be built on the site.

It is intended that the terraced homes will offer affordable housing, with the owners currently in early talks with a number of housing associations.

The condition of the old health centre has continued to deteriorate in the last few years and last year it was a regular magnet for anti social behaviour and there was even a blaze at the site.

Mr Deol said: "As someone who lives in Fleetwood and knows the community, I'm obviously aware how much of a problem this has site has become, particularly in the last year.

"We didn't want to delay with knocking it down and making the whole site tidy and safe.

"Work will start on Monday and should take most of the week.

"We're hoping that construction can get under way next year - it might sound ambitious but we're keen to get going.

"The plan is that it will be affordable housing so that it can provide homes for local people, possibly for first time buyers or those who are struggling."

He did not want to divulge how much the partners paid for the site but he said it was a "considerable sum".

He added: "We're just going through the technical designs at the moment but what we do want is to improve this part of the town centre."

The Deol family currently owns the One Stop shop on Poulton Road and Bargain Booze on the West View estate, as well a small number of other properties.

The first set of new houses, eight three-bed terraced houses, will front onto Preston Street.

A further ten three-bed homes will front onto London Street.

The latest developments should come as good news to near neighbours of the derelict health centre.

Last March, firefighters and police had to attend the building when there .was a sizeable blaze there.

There have been a number of similar incidents at the site previously and in the autumn this year the building was at the centre of a police exclusion zone.

Although the centre has been boarded up, the intruders managed to rip down the boards and forced their way in, giving rise to a string of complaints from residents and fears for the safety of the youths themselves.

The building first became vacant in 2013 when the GPs based there, including those from Fleetwood’s biggest practice, Mount View, moved out.

The Mount View practice relocated to the Health and Wellbeing Centre on Dock Street, Fleetwood.

Since then there have been several attempts to demolish it for new housing but a series of setbacks meant the building remained empty and gradually deteriorated.

However, progress has finally been made.

Coun Mary Stirzaker, chairman of Fleetwood Town Council, welcomed the developments and said: "We're very pleased that a problem site is now going to provide affordable homes for local people.

"I'm particularly pleased that the new owners are getting on with the demolition so quickly."

Town Council member and Wyre councillor, Coun Rachel George, highlighted the problems last year.