I READ with increasing incredulity the news that a demolition order has been granted on the splendid Dutch house on Holcombe Road, Greenmount.
This unique dwelling has long been regarded with admiration and affection by Greenmount residents. Indeed, its stylish outline forms part of the area's charm. Its demise will be detrimental to the visual character of the village, no doubt to be replaced by a uniform timber-framed edifice, with a life-span of a mere 50 years.
For an individual to pay almost £300,000 for a house, and then months later to declare it uninhabitable, insults one's intelligence.
The manner and speed with which Bury MBC has acquiesced in this matter is quite remarkable. Surely, this building's unique quality as one of only three in this country was deserving of a more determined and measured approach towards obtaining a preservation order. Presumably, if it had been capable of transforming itself into a mature oak tree, a preservation order would have been put on a plate!
The old truism: "where there's a will, there's a way" comes to mind. There hasn't been any amount of will exerted to allow sanity to prevail.
The conduct of Bury MBC in this debacle falls little short of vandalism.
PETE HAWORTH,
Holcombe Road, Greenmount.
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