TOWN Hall bosses have demanded that the men who ordered in the bulldozers to raze Elms Precinct clear up the mess.

Council solicitors have served notice on environmental grounds, giving the Isle of Man-based company 28 days to remove the rubble from the Bury New Road site.

And if North West Properties do not comply, the council will send in its own team to clear the area - and bill them for the work.

The legal action was taken on August 9 under Tidy Land Laws. North West Properties has until Monday, September 13, to appeal against the order at the magistrates court. If no appeal is received, the 28-day-order will come into force.

Council leader and Whitefield councillor Derek Boden accused North West Properties of acting like the "absentee landlord", playing "Monopoly with people and property" and leaving "local people to pick up the pieces".

He added: "It is not acceptable for the rubble to remain there indefinitely.

"Because the company operates many miles away and has a pot of money it has to realise it does not mean they are outside the law." Demolition men, ordered in by North West, staged a dawn raid on the precinct in March.

Shocked traders arrived at their premises to find adjacent empty properties reduced to rubble.

Council chiefs carried out emergency safety work and ordered the company to prop up walls and make safe the site. Since then the company has repeatedly refused to comment on its plans for the precinct but has submitted a planning application for a parade of shops at an adjacent site in Bury New Road.

As previously reported, the piles of rubble have become an adventure playground for children but North West insist the bricks may be needed for hardcore at a later stage.

Coun Boden warned that a period of grace for the company to show its hand was now up.

He said: "The council needed to allow some time to elapse before we felt sure of serving an enforcement notice that wouldn't 'bounce'.

"As far as we are concerned this approach will work.

"As to whether or not it will work because the company comply or we have to remove the rubble at tax payers expense and bill them remains to be seen."

The company declined to comment.

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