News - Coal body facing £100m claim for damage (Wentworth Woodhouse)

COAL Authority bosses will face a legal claim for more than £100m after the owners of one of Yorkshire’s most neglected stately homes won the first stage in a court battle for compensation.

The Newbold family, led by octogenarian architect Clifford Newbold, bought Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, a decade ago for £1.5m and have plans to bring the empty building back to life.

But in order to make the plan work, Mr Newbold and his sons Paul, Marcus and Giles, must prove mining work carried out both beneath and around the house have led to its current “dilapidated state”.

Yesterday in the High Court, the Coal Authority, which is responsible for investigating and paying out in subsidence claims, applied to have the case struck out over “invalid” paperwork.

But a judge found in favour of the Newbolds, paving the way for them to make their case and potentially win hundreds of millions of pounds to turn the house into a hotel, museum, tourist attraction and business centre.

The Grade-I listed stately home was built by the Earls Fitzwilliam in the 1700s.

It has the longest facade in Europe, is reputed to have 365 rooms and covers an enormous area of over 2.5 acres.

It is former seat of the Second Marquess of Rockingham, who was twice Prime Minister, and stands above one of Britain’s richest coal seams, which supplied the profits needed to keep the estate afloat.

The Newbold brothers now claim that the mineshafts which once provided the cash to run the house could be its undoing, with the building sinking in several places, and large cracks appearing in walls and ceilings.

Earlier this year, Giles Newbold gave the Yorkshire Post access to the stunning mansion and told how he and his family had already spent millions of pounds on restoring the areas where they currently live,

The High Court heard that the house was occupied by the military during the Second World War, and was used by Rotherham Council as a teacher training college.

It was later abandoned by the local authority and subsequently fell into disrepair until the Newbold family read about its plight in a newspaper and decided to launch their plans.

The court heard that the brothers are seeking compensation “likely to be in excess of £100m” from the Coal Authority, claiming mining works carried out in the area from the 19th Century until about 30 years ago have caused “extensive subsidence damage” over the past decade.

However, the authority is disputing the brothers’ claims and, at the Upper Tribunal, attempted to deliver a knock-out blow by arguing that “damage notices” issued against it in February 2007 and August 2009 were invalid.

Nicholas Baatz QC, for the Coal Authority, claimed the notices were not worth the paper they were written on because they were issued in the name of Paul Newbold alone, rather than by all three brothers who have been freehold owners of the stately home since 2005.

The barrister also claimed the notices failed to give “prescribed particulars” demanded by the strict terms of the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991.

However, ruling in favour of the Newbold brothers, tribunal judge, George Bartlett QC, said: “I conclude that the authority’s contention that the notices were invalid must fail...that is sufficient to dispose of the authority’s case”.

The Newbold’s case will now go ahead for a full hearing later this year, at which it will be up to the brothers to prove that the bill for “remedial works” needed to restore Wentworth Woodhouse to its former glory can be laid at the door of the Coal Authority.

Yesterday Giles Newbold said he and his family welcomed the court’s decision and added that they hoped it would lead to a brighter future for the house and its estate.

He added: “We are pleased that we are able to take our case further so that we can secure the regeneration and long term future of this magnificent part of the nation’s heritage.”

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/coal_body_facing_100m_claim_for_damage_1_4291634

News - Court fight over a stately treasure (Wentworth Woodhouse)

Clifford Newbold, owner of Wentworth Woodhouse, in the marble hall. Picture by Chris Lawton

ONE Sunday more than a decade ago, retired architect Clifford Newbold and his son Giles embarked on a project to give new life to one of Yorkshire’s most neglected stately homes after reading about its plight in a newspaper.

Mr Newbold, who had spent much of his life working in London, was involved in the design of the capital’s iconic Millbank Tower. But his new project, which he took on in his mid-70s, would prove even more challenging.

The father-and-son team spent 10 years labouring to bring Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, back into use, and their plans for a museum, hotel, spa and conference centre are now ready to begin.

But no work will start until the outcome of a court case against the Coal Authority is complete, because it is claimed that the stunning building, built by the Earls Fitzwilliam in the 1700s, is breaking up because of subsidence.

The irony of the situation is that the Grade I-listed house itself was built using the profits made from coal, with thousands of tonnes still lying in seams hundreds of metres below the estate.

Wentworth Woodhouse’s history is defined by its troubled relationship with the fossil fuel, with the last Earl to live there forced to watch as a 1940s Labour government ripped up his garden for opencast mining.

As Giles Newbold talks about that episode, in which Fuel Minister Manny Shinwell laid waste to the estate, there is real anger in his voice, and he describes what happened as vandalism.

For both men, the vision is to move the house away from its past and build a new future, based on more illustrious stories of its place at the centre of a thriving community.

Showing pictures taken by the RAF of the opencast devastation, Giles Newbold, a 36-year-old building surveyor, said: “They actually used explosives and blew up the bedrock within a few metres of the walls of the house.

“The holes were up to 40m deep. One area had a planted woodland which contained every species of tree found in northern Europe. It was just felled and the ground dug for coal. We want to restore that.

“We are in a position where we could start in six months, but we just need to get the case with the Coal Authority settled.”

Many of the house’s contents, commissioned and built up by successive Earls, were taken by the Government in lieu of death duties when the last Earl died.

Many family portraits are now held by the National Portrait Gallery, while other artworks and statues from the house are scattered around the globe.

A painting by George Stubbs of famous estate racehorse Whistlejacket was commissioned in the 1760s for one of the rooms, but is now in the National Gallery. A facsimile currently hangs in the Whistlejacket Room.

Mr Newbold junior said: “We want to bring those works of art back.

“Many of these pieces were commissioned for Yorkshire and they should be here to be enjoyed by the people of Yorkshire.”

When the Newbolds bought the house for £1.5m it was “stripped clean” and Mr Newbold senior said an “enormous sum” had already been spent tracking down simple items.

One fire grate from the house was found in a London saleroom, while the bell board, which told servants where to go in the house, was discovered in Dublin.

Despite what has happened, the stunning interiors of Wentworth Woodhouse have stood their many tests, and the splendid state rooms, including the Pillared Hall which contains empty plinths where statues once stood, will form the museum.

Meanwhile, the Newbolds have already started welcoming some visitors to the house, including students both past and present,

Mr Newbold senior, 85, said: “There has been a great deal of interest from architecture students at Sheffield University.

“For them it is a fantastic opportunity because this house hasn’t had a lot of reports written on it and hasn’t been extensively studied in the way that others around the country have.

“We also recently hosted a group who were here when it was a training college for teachers.

“They reverted to being girls again and started looking for the rooms they remembered. We want to welcome more people and for this place to be part of the community as it once was.”

A High Court ruling on the Coal Authority case is expected in the next few weeks.

From: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/court_fight_over_a_stately_treasure_1_4110335

News - Restoration staff at stately home lose jobs because of dispute (Wentworth)

AS hundreds of people are eagerly sending in their CVs for jobs being created by the proposed redevelopment of Wentworth Woodhouse, the stately home’s existing staff are being laid off.

Up to eight people who have been working to restore the 18th Century, Grade I listed property, near Barnsley, are faced with redundancy.

The decision has been made because restoration work remains on hold pending the outcome of a compensation battle between owners, the Newbold family, and the Coal Authority, over mining subsidence.

It is hoped 1,500 jobs could be created by ambitious £200 million plans by the Newbolds to turn to the property into a museum, hotel and conference venue - dependent on receiving the Coal Authority money.

Giles Newbold, son of architect Clifford Newbold, who bought the estate for £1.5 million in 1999, said: “We have been trying to find a future for Wentworth Woodhouse since we purchased the house. Restoration work was going very well until movement started to be noticed in 2005.

“The movement not only affected most of the main house but also the other buildings and grounds.

“Under the law if repair work is carried out on areas affected by mining subsidence you will severely jeopardise your claim.

“This meant that we had to stop restoration work on most of the site and grounds.”

Mr Newbold said the team of staff had taken ‘many years to put together’ and the family had been trying to retain them until the dispute over the subsidence was resolved but work had now dried up.

He added: “We decided we would try and retain the staff while the ongoing dispute with the Coal Authority was resolved. The restoration of the State Rooms had been the next big project but because of movement, this had to be put on hold and other smaller jobs dotted around the property had to be found.

“The first formal claim for mining subsidence was in 2007 and after years of discussions and legal proceedings we are no nearer an answer.

“After so many years of not being able to restore the State Rooms we have run out of sensible work for the men to do.

“With the present stance of the Coal Authority we cannot see when we are likely to be able to restart work.

“This has forced us to look at making redundancies. We shall continue to do all we can to avoid the need for job losses but in the present situation this is proving very difficult.”

The staff were given 90 days’ notice of redundancy.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/restoration_staff_at_stately_home_lose_jobs_because_of_dispute_1_3460430