Victorian Baths in Elland bulldozed without permission
Very sad to see the Victoria Baths in Elland being demolished this week due to structural instability.
There are not many towns that have been ruined to the extent that Elland has. The loss of industry and the town’s train station, followed by the cursory modernist regeneration of the 60s have left this small town without purpose and wholly deprived. Sadly this last remnant of the once striking town centre has been condemned, with the levelling process beginning before any permission has been granted. I suppose expedience like this is at the councils discretion, particularly as it falls falls within a conservation area.
Apparently it would have cost a million pounds to maintain the structure. A (dubiously) large amount indeed, but how much will be spent on whatever new Community Centre/Elland Action Team facility will be built there instead. Maybe if it had gone to tender on a wider platform or a private owner could have been found, slightly more of Elland town centre wouldn’t be condemned to rubble.
The Demolition Register 
The contractors Haven who erected scaffold and started the demolition work, have packed up and left the gable end of the baths open to the elements, with not even a dust sheet for protection. Ironically the stone balls have disappeared along with Haven.
Very strange. Perhaps the council have realised we all know they are doing this without planning permission.