FOR the past two years a cheeky blue plaque that had been displayed on derelict on an eyesore block of flats, has now been removed.

The plaque resembling other formal blue civic memorials that are dotted around the town, states: “Ross-on-Wye 2015-2022, fine example of urban neglect, erected by the mayor’s trust”.

Last week contractors moved in and prepared the derelict building in Wye Street for demolition and removed the cheeky plaque.

At the time the imitation blue plaque was erected in June 2022, people said that it was sad to see a building in such a prime position in a beautiful place being rundown and uninhabited and that the plaque had highlighted people’s concerns with one resident claiming, it was ‘bloody shameful’.

Dating from the early 1970s, the three-storey Riverview Flats are located within the town’s conservation area, but has been empty for the past nine years and was now ‘in a very poor state of repair’ according to Gloucestershire developer DP Rollings in its planning application.

A previous design for a four-storey replacement block was refused in March 2021, which was dismissed at an appeal by a government inspector in 2022.

Ross residents had increasingly become impatient with the flat’s continued state of disrepair and that of the Riverside Inn opposite.

The pub is currently being renovated, and the four flats are shortly to be demolished to make way for six two bedroomed flats.

The proposed building’s new lower-key modern design for the prominent will house the accommodation on the three upper floors, with the ground-floor being used for parking as at present.

However local residents said that the four-storey plan for the site was’ much too high’.

Herefordshire Council’s building conservation officer concluded the approved plan would not adversely impact on the listed building next door and the wider conservation area.