Following the devastating fire in South Street
A statement has been released by Dorset Council:
In the early hours of Monday morning, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Rescue Service were called to a fire at the Gorge cafe on South Street. We helped the emergency services with evacuating residents to a safe space. Our Building Control has been on site all week working with the emergency services, providing advice on how to work with the unstable structures.
Currently, part of South Street and the Hardye Arcade have been cordoned off for safety reasons. Dorset Council Highways and Building Control surveyors with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service have assessed the structures of the café and neighbouring buildings and have agreed that the properties are unstable with unsupported chimney stacks and other parts of the buildings that could potentially collapse. The council’s responsibility is to keep the public safe, and so the cordoned-off area allows people to use most of South Street as before, with a few businesses affected. Some traders can only be accessed from the Acland Road car park side.
We do not have a timescale for when the damaged properties will be repaired or demolished. This will be for the building owners and insurers to decide. However, Dorset Council’s Building Control team is working with the owners and their representatives.
