Tag: vandalism

August 16th – When I made my predictions last month for the next historically significant Walsall building to die tragically in a fire, I forgot about the former Jabez Cliff works. A beautiful victorian building, left to decay with lax security. It had become a magnet for vagrants and junkies, so I guess it was only a matter of time. Yesterday, it was pretty much gutted in a very large fire, the extent of which was clear as I passed this morning. By my return this evening, the beautiful frontage had been demolished. Still, it’ll be much easier to build new stuff on the site now that the troublesome old pile is gone… and with it, yet more of our precious heritage.

Why does nobody in power at Walsall care enough to stop this happening?

July 22nd – How to get rid of a listed building. These masons are carefully removing examples of significant stonework from the Mellish Road Methodist Church, which was sadly damaged during the operation to fill limestone caverns under the Butts area of North Walsall 22 years ago. Never well built, it suffered from cheap, ambitious building techniques, common to many such churches. Having taken the substantial compensation, the original owners sold the church on to developers, whose attempts to do anything with the site were roundly rebuffed by he planning committees for 20 years. Finally, after vandalism, decay and a visit from the municipal arsonists, the church is being demolished, clearing the way for the owners to build whatever they want.

Oddly, Walsall Council paints this as some kind of triumph, when in reality it’s a sickening, depressing example of how commercial interests outflank attempts at development control. But it’s more than that – a decade ago, an application was made to turn the church into a community centre, which was declined, too. Had that been approved, these men wouldn’t be taking apart this sad, decaying building now.

July 17th – more flytipping. Last week, whilst passing through High Heath, I recorded the beauty of this field from exactly the same spot – on this grey Sunday morning some scumbag has just reversed into the field and flytipped a pile of rubbish – which again, would mostly have fitted in a household dustbin. My mind boggles at the kind of tossers who would see fit to visit such vandalism on such a wonderful view.

June 25th – I’m quite fond of public art, but some just baffles me. I have nothing against this steel cube – standing as it does near Ryecroft Cemetery on National Cycle Route 5 through the Goscote Valley – it’s just a bit dull. Possibly one of the few artworks improved by graffiti. The most startling thing about it, considering it’s location, is that it hasn’t been nicked for scrap. They’re an enterprising bunch round here when it comes to such things…

June 25th – Nipping into Walsall early afternoon, I returned on the cycle track down the Goscote Valley. Leaving the Butts at Mill Lane, I spotted this flytipping. Clearly thrown or tipped from the back of a truck, it would have fitted in a domestic dustbin. There is nothing anyone can do about this opportunistic, heartless vandalism: such a crime is over before it starts, and blights us all.

Some people are scum, and that’s all there is to it. I just pity the poor folks charged with cleaning it up.