Hitches delay listed castle conversion

Jul 26 2005

Paul Rowland, Western Mail

IT'S been gutted by fire, fallen into a dreadful state of disrepair, and even been inhabited by bats.

Now moves to halt the deterioration of a historic landmark in South Wales are being obstructed by delays in a planning application.

Ruperra Castle, near Caerphilly, has been in a derelict state since the Second World War, when it was gutted in a fire while British soldiers were stationed there.

Its current owner, Ashraf Barakat, who bought the property in 1998, now plans to convert the castle - which has been designated both a Grade II Listed Building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument - into nine residential flats, and fully refurbish a number of other buildings on the site.

The planning application, which was originally submitted in 2002, has been delayed by the discovery of greater and lesser horseshoe bats roosting on the site, forcing an ecological report to be compiled.

The initial application also lacked an archaeological report into the suitability of the site for a residential development, leading to further delay.

With the 17th-century castle in a worsening state of decay, a local action group has called on Caerphilly County Borough Council to speed up the process in the hope of saving the building from further damage.

But Pat Mears, the council's chief planning officer, told the Western Mail the council had no plans to interfere with the castle as long as Mr Barakat's proposals remained active, and estimated the bill for restoring the landmark would run into millions of pounds.

He said, "While there's a realistic prospect of a substantial private sector investment in the site, it would be frivolous of the council to throw public money at it."

Mr Mears said the council was in support of converting the castle and a number of its surrounding buildings, which include two listed glasshouses, into flats and houses, provided they were sympathetic to the character of the site.

But those plans are being opposed by the Ruperra Conservation Trust, which feels the ambience of the castle would be ruined if it was converted for residential purposes.

Pat Moseley, of the trust, which owns 150 acres of woodland adjacent to the castle, said legal wrangling should not interfere with conservation.

"What's going on is not right in heritage terms. It is total neglect of our heritage.

"The ambience of the spot is really quite amazing but that would be ruined by any kind of housing development."

But Mr Mears assured the trust that any new building work would be forced to take the site's natural and historic significance into account, and added that the council was equally concerned about the decay of the building.

He said, "I would very much hope that we would get a resolution soon because the castle, which is a place of great historic importance, is deteriorating as we speak."

Mr Barakat denied the delay was due to deficiencies in his plans, insisting the process was being conducted at the council's pace.

"The ball is not in my court - my consultants have done all that the local authority have asked of them.

"I understand from Cadw and the local authority that because it is a very prestigious and important project, it takes a long time to follow it up, but hopefully that time is coming to an end."

Mr Barakat claimed he would retain the estate if the application proved unsuccessful.

He said, "I have no intention of selling it, but the building is going derelict on a daily basis and no one wants it to be an eyesore.

"We will do all we can to restore the castle to its former glories."

Once initial planning permission is granted, the application will have to be assessed by Cadw to ensure it will not compromise the site's historical significance.

But a National Assembly spokesperson admitted there could be no definite time scale for the completion of this process.

"Works to the castle itself would require planning permission from the council and scheduled monument consent from the Welsh Assembly Government.

"Cadw has had discussions with the owner to develop his plans in a way that is compatible with the special status of the site but no application for scheduled monument consent has so far been received."

The castle was built in 1626 by Sir Thomas Morgan, and was visited by Charles I, who stayed for four nights after the Battle of Naseby in 1645, but it has now been derelict for more than 50 years.