THE owner of Colchester’s landmark Jumbo tower will be ordered to smarten it up after doing no work to it since he bought it six months ago.

Chicken farmer Paul Flatman bought the Grade II listed building at auction for £190,000 in May.

But Colchester Council says its dilapidated condition is having an adverse affect on the area.

It is to serve Mr Flatman with a notice ordering him to repaint the entire water tank, replace glass and spruce up the top of the tower, and reinstate the ground level door.

The action was backed by the Balkerne Tower Trust, set up to preserve Jumbo, which revealed it had heard nothing about Mr Flatman’s plans for the future of the Victorian landmark.

Chairman Brian Light said: “We fully support this action being taken by the council.

“It is not before time because the condition of Jumbo has been a disgrace for years. It has had no substantial maintenance ever since it was sold by Anglian Water – that is 27 years of neglect.

“The question of use future use is an ongoing debate. The question of its future can be solved now.”

In August the Trust wrote to Mr Flatman asking for a meeting with him to find out his plans for the Victorian water tower.

But Mr Light said he had received no response.

The Trust drew up its own business strategy for the building and estimated repairs and alterations to make it safe for public access would cost nearly £300,000.

The cost of comprehensive repairs was put at more than £710,000.

The trust had raised more than £40,000 in public donations to buy Jumbo and its patron, Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell, opened the bidding at the auction in May.

However, he could not keep pace with the sums being offered.

Sir Bob said he had heard nothing from Mr Flatman since he acquired the building either and welcomed the council’s decision to take action.

A Colchester Council spokesman said planning officers were drafting a Section 215 Notice, which gives councils the power to compel buildings to be cleaned up when their condition adversely affects the amenity of the area.

She said: “The notice sets out the steps that need to be taken, and the time within which they must be carried out. In this instance the notice will require the reglazing and decoration of the cupola and reinstatement of the door at ground floor level as well as the repainting of the water tank itself along with other remedial works.

The Gazette was unable to contact Mr Flatman.