Fund raising has often been used to achieve the objectives of local communities. Such initiatives are frequently given their initial impetus by the generosity of altruistic benefactors. Such an example arose in my home county of Denbighshire in 1842. To fully understand why Joseph Ablett of Llanbedr Hall donated 20 acres of land in Denbigh towards the building of a mental asylum for North Wales, it is instructive to consider the events which led to the need for such an institution.
It would take too long to cover every aspect so I will stick to the more salient points. Prior to the North Wales Mental Hospital in Denbigh, any person in North Wales with an acute mental illness was sent to the nearest asylum in Gloucester. Most Welsh patients spoke no English and most English asylum staff spoke no Welsh. Hardly an ideal environment within which to achieve effective treatment.
That the North Wales Hospital was even built in the first place was little short of a miracle. The case of an emaciated Welsh woman living above the smithy in Llanrhaeadr-yng-nghinmeirch was cited in a speech in the House of Commons. The appalling details of Mary Jones were referred to by Lord Ashley in his Commons speech of 1844. He informed the house that "If they went to the Principality, they would find that the insane were too often treated as no man of feeling would treat his dog".
Following the generous donation of land by Joseph Ablett, the fund raising was given a further boost by financial input from both Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. The rest as they say is history. The eventual North Wales Hospital was nothing short of a cultural icon. It provided asylum for the mentally ill of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Meirionedd, Flintshire and Denbighshire. To the rest of the United Kingdom, the North Wales Hospital achieved legendary status often blazing the trail which others would follow. As with all institutions of it's era, it had it's fair share of bad practice but it also achieved so much good.
The decision which brought about it's closure are beginning to be judged with the hindsight of the intervening twenty years. It does not make for attractive reading. The way in which this once great building was allowed to disintegrate was a shocking indictment on those involved. The efforts which made that once impressive institution were cynically undone within a couple of decades. To end the sorry story, the vultures have finally descended. Hiding behind the comfort of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO), the present local council has announced it's plans to go ahead with re-developing the site.
In modern parlance, this means that they intend to cash in on the enormous value of the real estate. With the luxury of a CPO, they can do so unopposed and will doubtless do so. That they are getting involved in the site at all is only because they are being forced to do so. Had the original building not been made so unsafe by successive hoards of adventurers and looters, there would have been no legal need for the council to become involved. Once the roof had become a threat to health following the terrible fire, their hand was forced. It could scarcely have been forced more conveniently in the long history of the council. In having to spend £900,000 to make the roof safe, they now had their motive to pursue a CPO in essence to recover their costs. If the credentials of the buyers since 1995 had been properly scrutinised, things would never have come to this. It's all very well whinging that the holding company is based in the British Virgin Islands, but the current owner was made to wait four years when it applied for planning permission. How long will it take for the council to be granted planning consent following the inevitable CPO? Four years? I doubt that very much.
In my naivety, I had assumed that a CPO was only going to be granted if the original building was restores to it's original glory. Such an eventuality would of course be impossible anyway given that all items of historic value have long since been stolen and flogged. Such items are naturally irreplacable. The plans for the re-development (which will go ahead irrespective of what local people say) are soon to go on display. This charade will comply with the formal legal requirements. The former hospital building will become luxury apartments. Not for the mentally ill (the have-nots) but instead for those with the means to buy them (The haves). The land will sprout houses like mushrooms on a dewy September morning. So who will profit by all of this? Joseph Ablett? No, because his donation was altruistic for the benefit of the people of North Wales. The people of North Wales? No, because the majority won't have a hope in hell's chance of even being able to afford one of these houses. The people of Denbighshire? No, because any profits made out of this venture will rest with the council charged with providing for them. On the basis of recent evidence, I can confidently predict that the people of Denbighshire will not be the winners. The people of Denbigh? No, but doubtless the council will contend that the re-development will bring more trade to our local High Street just like when they sanctioned the building of the Safeway supermarket on the former Smithfield Market site. The council? Absolutely - every step of the way.
If Joseph Ablett came back to see these plans, I wonder what he would think? I wonder what he would say? The North Wales Hospital was so called because it served the people of North Wales. All of North Wales from Holyhead to Aberdovey to Bala to Chirk to Flint and everywhere in between. Even as I write, the vultures with money will be circling ready to make a fast buck out of the new homes. They will rent them for income or sit on them for a few years to make capital. From where I'm sitting, it doesn't read well and doesn't feel right. It is as though the founding principles and needs upon which the hospital was built count for nothing.
Acute bed space for the mentally ill in North Wales has seldom been more stretched. My family has known of acute cases where people with immediate needs have been placed on general medical wards. So how far have we come in the twenty years since it's closure? Has community care been the solution? Can anyone think of a more amazing monument of human endeavour so needlessly and wrecklessly abandoned in the name of progress? I've tried hard to think of one but I can't. I have though formed a clear view on the lack of principle underpinning a CPO. I am more opposed than ever to CPOs having seen them abused by so many councils in so many different places. I would struggle to think of a less democratic process if I tried.
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