Labour donor chased by debt collectors over water towers he neglected

Millionaire Labour donor is chased by debt collectors after council is forced to step in to repair historic water towers he neglected 

  • Dr Anwar Ansari, who supported Sadiq Khan, is being chased by debt collectors
  • Somerset Council carried out work on historic water towers owned by Dr Ansari
  • He bought the Grade II-listed towers in 2013, but subsequently neglected them

A millionaire Labour donor is being chased by debt collectors after a council was forced to step in to protect two Grade II-listed water towers he neglected.

Dr Anwar Ansari, who has donated £20,000 to support Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, ran up a bill with Somerset Council over work it had to carry out on the historic structures in the village of Rockwell Green.

But the council claimed it had received no communication from Dr Ansari since the summer and was now taking legal action to recover the money, thought to run into thousands of pounds.

Croydon-based property boss Dr Ansari bought the towers in 2013 and has explored the possibility of converting them into residential properties but has since been accused of allowing them to be swallowed by a jungle of weeds, which could imperil their future.

The Victorian Society ranked the Rockwell Green water towers as one of the ten most endangered heritage buildings in the country.

Dr Anwar Ansari, who donated £20,000 to support Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, has run up a bill with Somerset Council

Croydon-based property boss Dr Ansari bought the towers in 2013 and explored the possibility of converting them into residential properties

The society’s president, comedian Griff Rhys Jones, described the towers as ‘tremendous titans’ and warned against ‘throwing away our industrial heritage’.

In January, Somerset Council was forced to intervene after Dr Ansari failed to obey an order from November 2022 to remove vegetation.

Council officials cut back the overgrowth, before attempting to bill Dr Ansari for the work. By April, residents in the area had grown concerned by the presence of Japanese knotweed, which, if left untreated, can prise apart a structure.

Another notice was served ordering Dr Ansari to sort out the site and it emerged last week that debt collectors had been instructed to pursue him for the costs of the initial maintenance work.

When approached by the Mail, Dr Ansari’s representatives initially claimed that all debts had been settled. On the same day last week that they were asked for comment by the Mail, Dr Ansari’s representatives contacted the council for the first time in months.

A council spokesman said: ‘Some payments have been received but around half of the debt remains outstanding.’

A spokesman for Dr Ansari said that his company had carried out work to remove the overgrowth, but claimed the council appointed its own contractors, before presenting an ‘extortionate’ £10,000 bill, which they had started to pay off.

It is also disputing the enforcement notice relating to the knotweed. An appeal is said to be pending.

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