Surprise Twist to the Sale of Land
Council land on Heeley road could now be sold to Town Manor Developments.
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After an 11th hour increase in its bid for the site.
A meeting of the Council’s Cabinet, called to discuss the initial offer made by the developers some weeks ago, was intended to debate whether to sell the land to Town Manor or to go ahead with the planned sale to Muir Housing Group in order to meet the council’s objectives of providing supported accommodation to the homeless. The Council were set to finalise the sale to Muir, which has attracted some public comment concerning the amount the land was to be sold for. However faced with a substantially increased offer from Town Manor on the day prior to the meeting, the Cabinet concluded that it had no choice other than to accept their offer, subject to tight terms and conditions.
Councillor Roger Small, Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources and Finance, said: “the amount of money Town Manor offered was very impressive and it could have been seen as irresponsible of us to turn it down. With the capital raised from the sale the Council can fund improvements and developments around the borough and we still have the opportunity to locate, was is universally agreed as a much needed scheme for the Borough at an alternative site"
The proposed sale will generate £400,000 of capital funding for the Council.
However the Council says it will not ditch the Muir Housing scheme totally. Councillor Patricia Fieldhouse, Cabinet Member for Social Wellbeing said: “We still have a duty to provide accommodation to people who find themselves homeless. With the economic downturn having such a detrimental effect on people and recent figures showing locally a 19% increase in court orders for property repossession when compared to the previous year, we are expecting an increase in the numbers of people coming to us for help as they cannot afford to maintain rent or mortgage payments and risk losing their family home.
“The Muir Group themselves were ready to invest nearly £424,000 into the scheme, the total value of which was approaching £1.7 million and we will not be letting them down by simply walking away. We will now have to look at alternative sites and come to arrangement whereby the scheme can still be developed.”
Town Manor has promised a 10 per cent non refundable deposit to guarantee the sale of the land on Heeley road, with the transaction expected to be complete by mid May.
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