Former Wolverhampton treasure 'dragging area down'
A grade II Listed building which has become a target for yobs and vandals is dragging the area down, according to community leaders.
Heath Town Leisure Centre and Library on Tudor Road in Wolverhampton was built in 1932 and was once a jewel in the crown of the area.
Despite being granted listed status the leisure centre was closed in 2003 when the council deemed it unsafe.
Since then the building has fallen into disrepair, with graffiti scrawled all over the outside and doors boarded up.
The landmark building has cost the council more than £200,000 since its closure, with the authority paying for work on the site, as well as various security reports and studies.
Frustrated community leaders are now renewing calls to Wolverhampton City Council to bring the building back into use.
Neighbourhood watch co-ordinator for the area, David Hawtin, said he is 'frustrated' about the state of the building.
He said: "I don't know how a building can be left to just get in a worse and worse state over such a long period.
"We have been told various times that something is going to be done and it never seems to come off.
"I know that the council are supposed to be working on their master plan for Heath Town and say that this will cover the building but I really don't know if I can believe that we will see that come to fruition.
"It is dragging down the value of properties in the area by just being left to deteriorate, which is so frustrating. A building that used to be used by all sorts of people from the community has become an eyesore and a place where anti social behaviour is rife."
The council's cabinet resources panel approved plans in January to spend £120,000 on improving the security of Heath Town Leisure Centre and Library, and commission feasibility work to find a sustainable use for the building and adjoining land.
Members of the public have recently been asked to have their say on the £5 million Heath Town regeneration project, which would see shops, offices and a GP surgery bulldozed to make way for hundreds of homes.
However Councillor Milkinder Jaspal, who represents the Heath Town area, said residents need to be 'realistic' in relation to what they want to happen to the site. He also said that the site is not covered by new regeneration plans for the area.
"There are no plans for the site at the moment and the council hasn't got the resources at all to change that. Any change would have to come from an investment of an outside developer."
