Wisbech Castle is no place to call 'home' says town clerk
If you like your home stripped of all comforts including a proper bath or shower or even a bed then Wisbech Castle would be an ideal choice.
The building is hardly luxurious living and after personally inspecting the Grade II* listed building I find it hard to believe anyone would deem it a “grace and favour” or perk of any kind to call it home.
That is my personal view after accompanying Wisbech Town Council clerk Terry Jordan when he carried out his promised inspection of the premises, yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, as part of his examination into claims a councillor had been residing at the Castle without proper authority.
We looked in every room, behind every door and found nothing to suggest anyone was living there.
Whilst there are two sets of toilets and two kitchens with microwaves and fridges in the building,there are no bathing facilities, no washing machines and only one single bed, currently unmade up and buried under a host of items being stored from other rooms that are being refurbished.
There were no clothes hanging up anywhere, no bedding, no food other than some for the Castle cat and no other evidence that someone might have made the building their home, such as comfy furniture, a television, radio or even a book.
After the inspection Mr Jordan said: “There is nothing to suggest anyone has been living here. To be honest the building doesn’t have much to offer anyone staying in terms of comfort.
"It really is not a place anyone would want to be living and it would need a lot of work, such as the installation of a proper bathroom to make it habitable in that way.”
The visit, led by Castle working party chairman Councillor Steve Tierney, was the result of ongoing claims by Councillor Dave Patrick that Councillor Dave Topgood had moved into the three storey building and was enjoying a free roof over his head at the taxpayers expense.
A claim vehemently denied by Coun Topgood, who is the Castle’s voluntary caretaker and leading volunteer in its renovation, as well as Coun Tierney.
It has been acknowledged Coun Topgood does on occasions stay overnight at the building in The Crescent as part of an agreement that he can do so if he feels its necessary.
Reasons for such action could include a late night booking, if he had been working late on the building or for other reasons such as the current teething problems with the new security system.
However, Coun Patrick was convinced that Coun Topgood was calling the Castle home for some time.
The allegations escalated at the end of last week in what has been described as a “personal onslaught” against Coun Topgood, which saw his personal circumstances laid bare across social media.
As a consequence Coun Tierney made a strongly worded statement at last Monday’s Castle working party meeting rejecting Coun Patrick’s claims and accusing him of “harassing and bullying” Coun Topgood.
Previously Mr Jordan had promised to look into Coun Patrick’s claims while at the same time emphasising Coun Topgood’s right to stay overnight if he needed to.
Tuesday afternoon’s visit will now be reported back to Coun Patrick and other members of the council, meanwhile Coun Tierney is angry that the allegations have resulted in the temporary loss of two volunteers.
Coun Tierney said: “All this has done is upset someone who has dedicated 100s of hours to refurbishing the Castle and forced them to step back along with another volunteer who was also upset by everything that’s happened.
“We had hoped to open for a few days in August so the public could see what has been achieved since lockdown began. But as we are already short of volunteers because of the virus, we are not going to be able to do that now.
“Hopefully we will be able to regroup and start work again and possibly have things ready to open in September, but that depends on how our volunteers feel.”
