Angus planners are to press Strathmartine Hospital developers for beefed-up security at the derelict site amid fears of a fatality there.
The call has come from local councillor Craig Fotheringham who slammed the lax measures in place to prevent entry to one-time asylum site in the wake of another recent fire.
Mr Fotheringham sits on Angus Council’s development standards committee, which has had Strathmartine on its enforcement cases list for a number of years in connection with £60million plans to put hundreds of new homes in the sprawling grounds.
At this week’s meeting, the Monifieth and Sidlaws member said another fierce blaze at the hospital last month had only served to heighten his concerns that a tragedy may be just around the corner.
Echoing the warning of a senior Scottish Fire and Rescue figure whose Dundee crews were involved in tackling the May 17 fire which ravaged one of the old Strathmartine wards, Mr Fotheringham said: “I fear that Strathmartine is a disaster waiting to happen.
“Of course I understand that the scale of the site means that if people who shouldn’t be in there want to get in, then they will get in.
“But we have all seen again the effect of yet another fire there and God forbid that this will continue and there will be a fatality at this site.
“We’ve had several fires now and it can only be a matter of time before something more serious happens.
“The security is obviously very lax and I would suggest it is too easy for people to get into the Strathmartine Hospital site.
“This application is a fixture on the enforcement action report to every development standards committee and we are told the efforts are continuing to be made to progress the legal Section 75 agreement for the development.
“My main concern now, given this latest fire, it how poor the security is and I think we need to ask the developers what additional measures they plan to put on the site and the timescale for those.
“Strathmartine will be a magnet for all sorts of behaviour that should not be going on and with the summer now upon us and what we have seen in recent weeks I think this issue needs to be addressed very quickly.”
A senior planning officer told the committee the authority had already been in contact with Heathfield in the wake of the latest blaze.
“We will take away this request and resort back to the committee,” they added.
