Police patrols after people keep breaking into care home
Joe Quinn
Police are patrolling a derelict care home every day after people started breaking into the building again.
Durham Police said it had repeatedly tried to secure Feryemount House in Ferryhill, County Durham, but new ways into the building were often discovered, sometimes as soon as the following day.
Durham County Council was in the process of buying the former care home back after councillors agreed to the move in September, with plans to knock it down.
The Reform UK-led council’s acting safer places manager Derek Robson said it had become a “blight on the town and a magnet for anti-social behaviour”, adding it was working on securing the building until its demolition.
The former care home closed in 2014 and was later sold by the council to developer Care Co Plus Ltd in 2021.
Since then, the building has continued to deteriorate and has been hit by vandalism and anti-social behaviour, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
The local authority previously said it had spent nearly £30,000 on keeping the property safe.
Warning to parents
Robson said: “We will be reacquiring the property and demolishing it to allow us to facilitate further development on the site, to regenerate the area.
“In the meantime, we have been working proactively with the police to make sure the building is secure until its demolition.”
Ferryhill police sergeant Alisha Meldrum said: “My officers actively patrol this building daily to make sure it is secure, however unfortunately often when we repair an entry point the next day another appears.
She said the force was working with the council’s anti-social behaviour team to “come up with a more permanent solution”.
Reform councillor for Ferryhill Joe Quinn also warned parents to make sure their children know about the dangers of going inside.
“Parents should be having a word with their kids because the building has already had a big fire in there,” he said. “It is not a safe building.
“It’s also clearly been secured with fencing, with signs saying don’t enter.”
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Durham County Council
Ferryhill
Durham County Council
Care homes
