Northwich Foot Clinic ‘desperate’ over nine-year building battle

Darrell Jones, who runs Northwich Foot Clinic, has a raft of issues with the building, including dodgy guttering, water ingress, and shoddy pigeon netting which doesn’t keep the birds off, but once they’re in, does stops them from escaping.  

The guttering, which is both the wrong size and material, has been an issue since he moved into the building in 2013, causes water to cascade down the external walls when it rains, often causing a slip hazard.

There’s also a leak into the upstairs, which isn't part of his lease so can't access, meaning he has to replaster one of his clinic rooms twice a year, at a cost of £1,500 a time.    

There’s also pigeon netting on the upper story of the building, which he says traps and kills birds, which are then left there to rot.

The damaged pigeon netting lets pigeons in, but sometimes doesn't let them out (Image: Darrell Jones)

He has even been threatened with legal action by an animal right group over the netting, which he did not put up, and doesn’t want.  

He’s reported these issues many times, and the council have sent out various tradesmen, but no one has ever managed to fix the issues once and for all.

“It feels like I’m banging my head against a brick wall,” he said.

“We just want to get on with running a first-class medical establishment for the people of Northwich.

The shoddy guttering causes overspill, which leads to algae growth on the walls and a potential slip hazard (Image: Darrell Jones) “They’ll send someone to clean the moss and algae off the walls where the water spills over, but not to fix the gutter.

“Or they’ll send someone to examine the gutter, but he’ll tell me he's not allowed to look into the leaks. 

“It's crazy. I don’t understand why they can’t just instruct someone to get the whole job done once and for all.

“Every time I have to replaster because of the leak, I have to close one of our main revenue earning rooms. It was last done in July, but it already needs doing again.

Water ingress into a room upstairs, which he can't access, means he has to replaster twice a year on average (Image: Darrell Jones) “As a business, we take our legal responsibilities extremely seriously. It is a shame the council doesn’t reciprocate.

“Had we been as poor a tenant as they are a landlord, we would have been in court years ago.”

Darrell has never considered withholding his rent until the issue is resolved, he said, and has always paid up on time.

But on October 9, the day his rent is due, he got for a call from the council’s debt collection team, he says, demanding payment, despite the fact his direct debit had already gone out as usual.

Darrell says he's trying to run a 'first-class medical establishment', so the appearance of the building is important (Image: Darrell Jones)

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he added.

CWAC says it’s aware of the issues with the building, adding ‘progress will be made as soon as is reasonably possible’.

It added the unnecessary phone call from its corporate debt team which upset Darrell was just ‘a polite reminder’.

A council spokesperson said: “As has been pointed out by Mr Jackson, the council is aware of the issue regarding the guttering and water ingress.

“These have and are being looked into, and the council is endeavouring to solve these issues.

“We have been working with Northwich Town Council to address the pigeon roosting and netting, and the council has responded to the contact from the animal rights charity.

“There has been the challenge of the pigeon nesting season impacting upon a resolution.

“Northwich foot clinic was contacted by the corporate debt team as a polite reminder that the invoice was due and to request payment within seven days.”