Express & Star comment: Trust must act on old Wolverhampton eye infirmary

Firstly, how can Wolverhampton’s former eye infirmary, an iconic Grade-II listed building in a key location in the city, be left to wrack and ruin?

And then why can’t its owner, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, do what’s required and keep the place in a state of repair?

Even an enforcement notice with a six-month deadline from the city’s council has failed to get the job done.

Now we face a farcical situation where the health trust and the city council are in a courtroom battle over the notice.

If a district judge rules, as he or she should, that the notice stands, the health trust could face prosecution.

The loser in all this is the public, whose hard-earned money will be paying for expensive court costs.

It is the public who are then left also watching a once-beautiful building fall into disrepair.

How has this all happened?

Council leader Roger Lawrence is absolutely right.

He says the situation is bonkers, and says the health trust should lower its asking price for the site and offload it.

Anyone else could do a better job than the health trust, which has overseen the empty site since it closed 11 years ago.

As large parts of the city undergo big investment, we cannot leave this key location behind.

The eye infirmary sits in Chapel Ash, at the gateway to the city, in a busy area with independent shops, plus restaurants and pubs.

As the region faces a housing crisis, there is a clear opportunity to convert part of the site into homes.

This would not only see an age-old building brought back into use, but would provide a boost for the local economy.

How long will it take for the hospital trust to realise this?

The former eye infirmary serves no purpose as an empty shell. It only attracts vandalism and creates an eyesore in the community.

Hundreds of nurses will have fond memories of working there and thousands of people received care.

It is such a shame we’re in this completely avoidable situation.

We all hope the matter is resolved as quickly, and as cheaply for the the tax-payers’ purse, as possible.