Going to Gladstone Park on Sunday, I dropped in to see the "folly" that has replaced Dollis Hill House. It looks much the same as when I took pictures before, although on Sunday a family was picnicking there.
Looking at this rather pleasant, sunny scene, it struck me what a huge amount of sound and fury had been pointlessly expended on the site. There were still efforts to block the demolition when I spoke at the Planning Committee back in 2010. I have previously given a timeline of the travails of Dollis Hill House here. All the money that was paid out by the insurance after the arson had by that time been used up paying for the scaffolding around the House. Vast quantities of officer time had been spent trying to find a renewal solution long after it was clear that that was not possible, and in the interval the wrecked House had blighted that part of the park for almost twenty years.
It seems a great pity that we did not reach the current solution a decade ago.
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