Idlerocks owners ‘take safety seriously’
Wednesday 10th November 2010, 1:00PM GMT.
The burned out remains of Idlerocks Hotel at Jerbourg.
OWNERS of the Idlerocks Hotel say they are doing all they can to secure the site after reports that children had been spotted playing in the burnt-out building.
The Guernsey Press revealed how some as young as nine were feared to be putting their lives at risk at the Jerbourg site, which was gutted by fire in 2003.
Its current owners are understood to be private company Ramle Rocks Ltd, administered by the Royal Bank of Canada.
Yesterday, a spokesman for RBC said: ‘As the manager of the private company that owns the former Idlerocks Hotel property, RBC takes its responsibility extremely seriously and is concerned that members of the public, and in particular children, have been able to gain access to the building.
‘We are in regular consultation with private contractors to ensure the security of the building and have in the past taken advice from Guernsey Police.’
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They’re not doing a very good job of it are they? I don’t understand why Ramle Rocks Ltd. have been smashing all the windows there either? Really bad for any children playing there.
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Don’t blame the owners – there’s only so much they can reasonably do to prevent access to the site.
Besides, the site is a derelict hotel, not a playground. It is also private property and the children should not be trespassing in the first place.
It is not the owner’s responsibility to keep an eye on other people’s kids, it is their parents / guardians / carers. If a child is hurt, the finger of responsibility should point squarely at them.
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So they are doing all they can! No, they are not.
At some point in the future the site will be cleared for redevelopment. I suspect that the owners would feel that they would be far more likely to get their preferred plans through if it will otherwise stay the way it is.
If the structure is unsafe demand that it is rectified. If there is no provision in law for that then introduce one.
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Why not also ban the children from the cliffs, for that matter also the roads, or from all the other dangerous places they can get hurt…..
The point is, kids will always find somewhere `adventurous` to play.
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slep – you’ve missed the point. All the places you mention are public places, and I totally agree kids should be allowed to be adventurous. I can’t stand the whole cotton wool culture.
That’s not the point here though. The Idlerocks site is not public land, it is private property. You wouldn’t like it if some random children decided to use your house as a playground, would you? How would you feel if the Press started printing articles about your property because it’s unsafe for trespassing kids to play on? Even worse, how would you feel to be sued because someone playing on your land got injured, when they shouldn’t have been there in the first place?
I see the deeper conotations here, which is the increase of a culture where people blame everyone else but themselves for their (or their children’s) actions. It needs to stop quick before we end up having burglers suing homeowners for damages because they trod on a nail whilst stealing their TV.
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Paul, I was not condoning the idea of kids invading the Idlerocks, I was simply saying if you manage to shut them out of one place they`ll find somewhere else to play.
But I like your last paragraph which hits it on the nail (Scuse the pun!)
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