THE PETER PAN SCANDAL

Pisa attracts tourists with its Leaning Tower and the Taj Mahal works wonders for India.

Scotland is lucky enough to have the house and garden that inspired the world famous Peter Pan.

Pisa is unlikely to knock down its famous tower and India will work hard to protect its Taj Mahal.

But Scotland is probably going to allow the destruction of the Peter Pan house and garden.

(Peter Pan creator's home to be demolished)

Italy like tourists. Dumfries apparently does not?

The Peter Pan house, made famous by Peter Pan author JM Barrie, is called Moat Brae House, and is in George Street, in Dumfries, in South West Scotland.

The people who run Dumfries have long neglected Moat Brae, one of Scotland's greatest assets.

Could some of them be 'philistine freemasons'?

Moat Brae has now fallen into the hands of a body called Loreburn Housing Association whose Chief Executive is Ashan Khan.

Khan says the House is “a goner”.

Strangely, Loreburn Housing Association, when they bought the house in 2008, paid more than the £140,000 asking price.

Roger Windsor is the chairman of the Peter Pan House Action Group.

He says he feels “duped” by Loreburn and thinks they had no real intention of repairing the building.

(Peter Pan creator's home to be demolished)

The action group employed architect Luke Maloney to examine the house.

He attacked the housing association for having “no scruples”.

Mr Maloney added: “There is no question the building is in a bad state through a lack of maintenance, but also through a lack of action by Loreburn.

“The dry rot could have been prevented by covering the roof and ventilating the building but Loreburn did exactly the opposite.

Moat Brae in Dumfries which inspired Peter Pan. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2669109.stm)

In London, in 2008, the house where JM Barrie is believed to have written Peter Pan was up for sale for £6.75m.

"The six-bedroom Victorian property in central London is opposite Kensington Gardens, where James Matthew Barrie met five boys who inspired his creation."

(Peter Pan house up for sale News guardian.co.uk Books, January 14, 2008.)

Meanwhile, in Dumfries in Scotland, the house and garden which helped to inspire Peter Pan is likely to be destroyed for lack of a few bucks.

Barrie used to play 'pirates' in the gardens of Moat Brae in Dumfries as a child.

Moat Brae is a grade B listed building.

Image:Michael Llewelyn Davies as Peter Pan.jpg

Moat Brae has lain empty for around nine years and has been vandalised.

Windows, mirrors, baths, sinks, and a chandelier have been smashed.

Constable Iain Aird, of the notorious (Lockerbie investigation) Dumfries and Galloway police, said in 2008: "It seems that youngsters have been breaking in and hanging about in the property and over a few weeks the building has sustained a substantial amount of damage."

The damage began in November 2002 and by January 2003, £200,000 worth of damage had been done.

Where were the police? (BBC NEWS Scotland Peter Pan house vandalised)

Barrie moved to Dumfries in 1873 at the age of 13.

Two of his friends lived at Moat Brae.

"Our escapades in a certain Dumfries garden which was an enchanted land to me was certainly the genesis of this work," he wrote, in 1904, about Peter Pan.

Dumfries is a poor, almost 'ThirdWorld' town.

It needs world-class tourist attractions.

And Peter Pan is known worldwide.

Perhaps the Scottish Government will buy Moat Brae and turn it into a major world-class tourist attraction, like the Eiffel Tower.

Or perhaps Dumfries will just fall over and die.

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