Cornwall council reports five year rise in dangerous structure call outs

Cornwall has seen a more than 50% rise in cases of dangerous structures reported to the council in just five years.

Dangerous structures are one of the lesser known functions of local council building control teams and cover everything from loose roofing slates or tiles, to damage from weather or badly driven vehicles, right up to structures in imminent danger of collapse.

In 2015 Cornwall saw a total of 168 call outs for dangerous structures. Last year (2020) a total of 254 were reported to the council’s building control team – a rise of 51.2%.

The proper maintenance of buildings is the owners’ responsibility so they need to make sure their buildings do not become dangerous. When this doesn’t happen however, it’s down to local authority building control. 

Councils have the powers to make sure buildings and certain other structures do not present an imminent or likely danger to the public because of their structural condition. As a result they operate a 24/7 service alongside the emergency services. And where the council takes action under these powers they will seek to recover the full costs from the owner. 

And the figures from Cornwall suggest making dangerous structures safe is becoming a more frequent activity and a potentially costly one for owners.

The reasons for the rise is not known but could be down to a number of factors – reduction in maintenance during a period of austerity, changes to weather patterns with a warmer and wetter climate and intense weather extremes – storms, frost or violent rainstorms damaging structures. 

More news about how local authority building control teams are dealing with dangerous structures:

Town centre street closed due to dangerous building - Wigan Now

What next for Ventnor property following the landslide? - Isle of Wight County Press

Further information

For more about dangerous structures see: https://www.labc.co.uk/professionals/dangerous-structures