A SERIES of historic Victorian homes at the edge of Farnham Hospital that were "left to rot" are now the focus of a new campaign by the Farnham Building Preservation Trust. Together with Portland House, numbers 1 - 3 Portland Terrace, often known as the Hospital Cottages, have suffered a turbulent history in recent years. They were left abandoned and derelict 20 years ago, becoming open to squatters and pigeons until the Farnham Building Preservation Trust saw fit to restore them. The trust, whose aim is to rescue endangered buildings and return them back to the community, believed that they could be saved and after lengthy negotiations managed to obtain a short lease from the health authority and began to put the buildings back in order. When plans for the new hospital site went through it was proposed that Portland Terrace and Portland House would be restored. However, nothing has been forthcoming and the trust believes its past efforts have been wasted. A spokesman for the trust said: "The new Farnham Hospital is up and running, and a planning application for new homes on the rest of the site is under consideration, but the Hospital Cottages and Portland House are not part of these plans. They are empty and derelict once again." Until a year or two ago the cottages provided housing for six homeless families but now they stand vacant and the trust say that "history is repeating itself." The three cottages, with their neighbour Portland House, are on Waverley Borough Council's list of Buildings of Local Architectural or Historic Interest and were built in the late 19th century. The original restoration cost about £100,000 and the cottages were set up to provide living accommodation for six families, two in each house, with shared kitchens and bathrooms. David Graham, chairman of the Farnham Trust, said: "This looks like a very bad example of waste and mismanagement. With affordable housing in such short supply, surely this fine building could have been kept in use rather than being left to rot all over again."
