IMPROVEMENT work can now be carried out on the Prudhoe Drill Hall site.

The derelict building on the town's Swalwell Close has been subject to a long-running dispute after concerns were first raised in 2019 over the safety of the building.

Magistrates have now granted permission for Northumberland County Council to carry out works, after a period of six weeks, necessary to obviate the danger under the Building Act 1984 Section 77 in respect of a dangerous building or structure.

Hexham Courant:

Work on the former Territorial Army drill hall, most recently used as the Buzz Factory gym, began in December 2018 but efforts to knock down the site and replace it with six four-bedroom, three-story houses stopped unexpectedly after the owner was jailed.

Fraudster Stanley Miller, of Ryton, swindled almost £ 6 million of public money and was stripped of his assets and ordered to pay back his illicit profits in 2021. 

Miller was jailed for eight years and three months after he was caught out in a series of frauds which saw him pocket £5,952,339.57 of taxpayers’ money.

A complex investigation pieced together by HMRC found he had been deliberately evading paying VAT, Income Tax and National Insurance between May 1, 2008 and February 28, 2016, as well as laundering money and benefitting from criminal cash.

A Northumberland County Council spokesman said: "We will now plan for work to be undertaken and in the interim, there will be, at least, a weekly site inspection by building control and if necessary, we will take action under Section 78 of the act, which is an emergency power should the building deteriorate."

Hexham MP, Guy Opperman, and Prudhoe Town Councillor, Tracey Gilmore, have welcomed the ruling after local residents raised their concerns with them over the building’s current risk to public safety. 

Conservative MP Guy Opperman said: “I welcome this update which shows action is being taken.

"I will continue to work closely with Northumberland County Council to ensure the voices of local residents are heard. Local residents are fed up of this dangerous eyesore.”

Hexham Courant:

Editor’s note: In December 2022, the Court of Appeal quashed the proceeds of crime order and referred the case back to the Crown Court for reconsideration of the benefit obtained by Stanley Miller from his fraud, such amount not to exceed £6,673,082.