Groves Clearance Begins With New Protest At Weekend

Campaigners battling to halt the demolition of the Groves school building will be holding their second public protest this Saturday.

Last month’s members of Wrexham Council’s Executive Board backed the recommendation to demolish the former Groves School on money saving and health and safety grounds, with the implication it will make way for the future development of one or two new schools.

The decision to demolish the historic building has been met with outrage by some local people, including former pupils and politicians. All feel that the building, which has been empty for the past decade, is being demolished without consultation and without the public having a clear idea of the council’s intentions for the town centre site.

Last week a last ditch attempt for the decision to be reconsidered was rejected at a call-in meeting – with councillors voting in favour of not sending the decision back to the Executive Board.

Council not hanging about on clearing the Groves, men with chainsaws hacking back the greenery on site this morning !

— Wrexham.com (@wrexham) February 10, 2016

Earlier today there were reports of ‘surveying activity’ taking place on the Groves site, along with reports of trees being cut down. When Wrexham.com drove past earlier there was activity in the site, with the main door to the school open.

Wrexham.com queried the activity with Wrexham Council, with Cllr Neil Rogers, Lead Member for Economic Performance and Regeneration, stating: “Council environmental teams are currently on site at the Groves to clear away vegetation and plants in order to increase visibility of the site, which will increase security and discourage rough sleeping.

“No council personnel are conducting surveys at the Groves, though contractors are on site over the coming fortnight to carry out their own inspections, plus preparatory works, prior to demolition of the building.”

Saturday’s protest opposing the demolition of the Groves school will be the second to have taken place in recent weeks, with a ‘Ribbon Tying’ campaign taking place at the end of January. However the ribbons were removed within days, with the Council confirming they had cut them off the railings of the property.

Elaine Guntrip-Roberts, who chairs the Save our Heritage campaign group, said: “We’re not giving up. We’ll meet outside the school at 11am ​on Saturday ​on the corner of Powell Road and Chester Road.

“As it’s Valentine’s weekend, campaigners will be tying hearts, roses and ribbons on the railings. Materials will be available on the day but people are also welcome to bring their own.

“There will be 77 hearts representing the age of the building. We want to show that we love this iconic building and its internal features are worthy of keeping for generations to come.”

Campaigners have also asked for the council to return their banner, which was taken down from the railings within an hour of being put up two weeks ago. The council has admitted taking it down but is now saying that it can’t find the banner.

Mrs Guntrip-Roberts said: “Isn’t it odd that other banners on railings stay up for far longer, so it seems the council’s leadership team are rather sensitive to criticism. Perhaps they know they’re in the wrong on this one and want to suppress democratic debate.”

Carrie Harper, who is also involved in the campaign, added: “This is an important town centre site and any decision to bring it back into use deserves the full consideration of townspeople as well as the full council, not just the executive board.

“As things stand the building could be flattened in 10 weeks, even though the council itself admits it doesn’t plan to do anything with the site until 2019. What if circumstances change in that period? What if priorities change in that time and what if there’s a new council after May 2017’s elections that see the value of the building for educational or artistic purposes?”