The High Court yesterday refused to continue an order restraining Sligo Corporation from demolishing the Harper Campbell Stores warehouse complex at Union Place in Sligo.
The injunction had been sought by Mr Nicholas Prins, Strandhill, Co Sligo, who got a temporary injunction in late March preventing the corporation from demolishing or significantly altering the character of the buildings.
In a reserved judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Finnegan said the action concerned a mid-19th-century industrial warehouse, comprising two interconnecting buildings of three storeys, being part of a courtyard warehouse complex and known as Harper Campbell Stores.
For many years the corporation had wanted to improve facilities for traffic through Sligo. In the late 1960s it started a process which led to the commissioning of a bridge over the Garavogue river and a compulsory purchase order for the completion of the Sligo Inner Relief Road, which envisaged demolishing the buildings.
These buildings were bought by agreement in January 1997. The corporation's borough engineer, Mr Seamus Corcoran, inspected the buildings last August. In his opinion they were dangerous and he recommended demolition.
Mr Justice Finnegan said Mr Prins had commissioned a structural appraisal of the buildings from Christopher Southgate and Associates, dated March 26th, 2000. From this it appeared that the buildings were in reasonable structural condition with most structural details in good condition.
Having considered in detail the provisions of the Heritage Act, 1995, Mr Justice Finnegan said Mr Prins was not entitled to the order he had sought. He made no order on costs.