It is apparent that St John’s is one of the issues the council puts on the back burner while they attend to matters more visible and closer to the city.

In this article it is reported that ‘Captain Brassel said the building’s “derelict state” was a continuing concern. 

The old orphanage caught fire four times in 2016, three of those within the space of two weeks last November’.  

The article continues: ‘following those outbreaks, owner John Ferrara was ordered by Goulburn Mulwaree Council to secure the building to prevent further break and entry’.

Captain Brassel goes on to say: ‘The building has been secured by a construction fence so nobody should actually be getting in there’.

This is no longer true.

I have pointed out to the council on a number of occasions over several months that: portions of the security fencing facing Bourke Street had been damaged and dragged down, sections big enough to allow vehicles (let alone trespassers on foot) to enter; vandals have also breached areas of fencing fronting Glebe Street; and I have witnessed trespassers inside the security fencing.

I suggested the rangers inspect the fencing with a view to having it repaired.

No response, and apparently no action.

How can the council justify the presence of this derelict, dangerous eyesore in our city?

Carolyn Clancy, Goulburn