A CONSTRUCTION firm that have been publicly criticised by a community group for not fixing an eyesore tram shelter have hit back - “we are not being paid to do this”.
Brenig Construction, based in Mochdre, have called the project, to repair the structure on Gloddaeth Road in Llandudno, a “Labour of love” and claimed the delay to fixing the shelter - specifically the roof - is due to the “authorities not wanting the work to happen at the moment” with the onset of the tourism season.
The response comes after Terry Toffee, Friends of West Shore, lashed out at the company on social media stating they had failed to reply to emails and it had been a year since the group had made their first request to Brenig to fix the roof.
Mr Toffee wrote: “The roof of the lovely tram shelter on Gloddaeth Road level with The Oval is in an awful state. This is the responsibility of Brenig Construction in Mochdre and as we cannot get responses to private emails we are making this public address to Brenig to see if we can get a response this way.
“The structure itself is Victorian. It stood on the North Shore promenade for many years and was moved in 1928 or 1929 to its current location to make way for the band stand on North Shore.
"We have a solid structure buiilt by Victorian engineers that has lasted 150 years and a renewed roof by Brenig that lasted barely 150 days before it started to disintegrate and lapse into the state it is in today.
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“It has been 12 months since we made our first request to Brenig to repair the roof. Llandudno is representing all of Wales in the upcoming Britain in Bloom competition (judging early August) and we have this eyesore on one of the main routes in and out of town.
“This is an open plea to Brenig to repair the roof as soon as possible and to make sure it is fit for purpose this time.”
Brenig said in its response that they have been updating community leaders, in regard to the upcoming work, but there is no mention of the Friends of West Shore group.
A spokesperson for Brenig Construction said: “The restoration of this magnificent tram shelter is a labour of love for us and we are carrying out the work as a community benefit – it is not costing anything to local taxpayers as we are not being paid to do it.
“The roof repairs were carried out in accordance with the specification supplied but that clearly has not worked and we have agreed to re-roof the shelter with a different specification so that this time it lasts.
“To carry out the work we have been told it will be necessary to erect scaffolding and have a lane closure on either side of the shelter.
“Understandably, with so many Bank Holidays and the onset of the tourism season, the authorities do not want this to happen at the moment.
“We have been updating community leaders at regular intervals to keep them informed about the situation.
“We fully understand that the needs of the tourism economy must come first and we will complete the work as soon as our application for lane closures is approved so that this shelter can be restored to its former glory.”
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