Council criticised for only selling three of 16 former Northampton school sites, valued at £90m in 2007, for less than £5m
Goldings School: Crestwood Rd Crestwood Road, Lings Way, Northampton NN3 8JJ
THE LEADERS of Northamptonshire County Council have been accused of incompetence after it emerged that out of 16 former school sites across Northampton which were due to be sold for more than £90 million in 2007, only three have been sold to date, earning less than £5 million.
The school sites, which are spread across Northampton, were declared ‘surplus to the authority’s needs’ following the scrapping of the town’s middle schools in 2004.
In 2006, at the height of the UK’s housing boom, more than 100 developers were queuing up to buy the pieces of land, with more than 1,500 houses expected to be built across the 16 sites.
The council eventually chose to sell all the sites to just one developer, house builder Barratt, for more than £90 million, but that deal fell through in 2008 following the national housing market collapse.
The council then pledged to sell the sites separately, but information obtained by the Chronicle & Echo shows that as of last night, only three of the 16 sites had been sold.
The leader of the authority, Councillor Jim Harker (Con, Kettering Rural) defended the council’s position, arguing now is not the right time to sell the sites.
But the leader of the opposition at County Hall, Councillor Brendan Glynane (Lib Dem, Delapre) labelled the lack of sales a ‘spectacular disaster’, claiming the money could have been used to buy new street lights or improve the county’s roads.
He said: “They trumpeted this as good financial management back in 2007, saying the best thing to do was one big deal, but at the time, we said the sites should have been sold separately.
“If they had been sold to individual companies rather than going for the one big deal of £90 million, most of these sites would now have been developed and the council would have got the money in.
“But I think the way they actually handled it shows complete incompetence. It was a political policy to go for the big bucks and it failed spectacularly.”
The opposition leader has now pledged to push the council’s Conservative leaders for more information on what is being done to sell the remaining sites and said he believed sales should be actively pursued as the council faces making savings of £105 million over the next four years.
He said: “These school sites are assets that belong to the taxpayers of Northamptonshire.
“The leaders of the council keep telling us they’ve got to squeeze everything out of every last asset they’ve got, but they’re clearly not doing that.
“If they sell these remaining sites now, they certainly won’t get the £90 million they should have got back in 2007, but any money they could get could help pay for vital things like new street lights.”
Of the 16 school sites, sales have so far been agreed on three, Cherry Orchard Middle, Ryelands Middle and Great Billing Middle, earning the authority just over £4.8 million.
A total of 11 of the remaining sites are unsold, although the council has said two, St James Middle School and Millway Middle School, are under offer to developers.
Two more sites, St Luke’s Middle School in Duston and St Mary’s Middle School, have also been transferred to community organisations.
Discussing the number of sites which remain unsold, Councillor Jim Harker, who has led the council since 2005, said it would be foolish to sell the sites when the property market is still struggling.
He said: “Nobody could have predicted the way the housing market was going to collapse and I still believe the judgement we made back in 2007 was right at the time.
“Nobody can sell land now, with the way the economy is, and there’s no point in selling it off cheaply.
“It’s better to wait until the market improves, or at least until we could get reasonable values for the sites.
“If we could sell them for a reasonable value now obviously we would, but we are where we are, the whole economy is in a different situation to what it was several years ago.
“There’s absolutely no point in selling these sites now for ridiculous figures when if we hold on for a little while, the economy will have turned round and land values will have gone up again.”
The total area of land covered by the 16 sites adds up to 93 acres.
When Barratt struck their deal to buy all the sites in 2007, the company predicted it would make more than £300 million by building houses on the land.
The council also predicted it would earn about £6 million per site.
IN 2007, Northamptonshire County Council announced it had agreed plans to sell the following middle school sites and sections of former school land to house builder, Barratt. The deal later collapsed and now the majority of the sites remain unsold:
SPENCER MIDDLE SCHOOL: Most of the former middle school site had been used to provide a site for the new St James School. The area for disposal was the remainder of the land. NOT SOLD
EMMANUEL MIDDLE: The playing fields of the former school were retained for use by Northampton Academy. The area for disposal was the part of the site on which the school buildings stood. NOT SOLD
ECTON BROOK MIDDLE SCHOOL: The area for disposal was the fields of the former middle school. NOT SOLD
BLACKTHORN MIDDLE SCHOOL: The area for disposal consisted of the former middle school site, except for an area of playing field that had been retained for use by Blackthorn Primary and Rectory Farm Primary. NOT SOLD
PARKLANDS MIDDLE SCHOOL: The area to be disposed of consisted of the former middle school building and its grounds. NOT SOLD
ABINGTON VALE MIDDLE SCHOOL: Part of the former middle school site was used to provide the new Bridgewater Primary school. The adjacent area was surplus to requirements. NOT SOLD
KINGSTHORPE MIDDLE SCHOOL: The area to be disposed of consisted of the former middle school building and grounds. NOT SOLD
GOLDINGS: Part of the former middle school site was used to provide a replacement school for Woodvale Primary. The area to be disposed of consisted of the former middle school building and surrounding land. NOT SOLD
GREEN OAKS/BECTIVE site: A new school was built on part of the former Bective Middle site. The area to be disposed of consisted of the remainder of the former middle school site and the Green Oaks building and site. NOT SOLD
ST JAMES PRIMARY SCHOOL: The area to be disposed of was the building and grounds of this former primary school. UNDER OFFER
MILLWAY MIDDLE SCHOOL: The area for disposal was the fields of the former middle school. UNDER OFFER
ST LUKE’S PRIMARY: The area to be disposed of consisted of the school buildings and grounds. The school relocated to a new school being built on the St Crispin site. TRANSFERRED TO THE COMMUNITY
ST MARY’S RC MIDDLE: A new school for St Gregory’s Primary was built on the site. The area for disposal was the remaining grounds. TRANSFERRED TO THE COMMUNITY
CHERRY ORCHARD MIDDLE: Part of the site had been used to provide a new school for Weston Favell Primary. An additional part of the site was used by Northampton Lawn Tennis Club. The area to be disposed of consisted of the former Cherry Orchard School building and the remainder of the site. SOLD FOR £2.8 million.
RYELANDS MIDDLE: A new school was built on the site of the Duston/Ryelands grounds. The area to be disposed of was surplus to the new school’s requirements. SOLD FOR £1,707,000
GREAT BILLING SCHOOL: The area to be disposed of was the building and grounds of the former primary school. SOLD FOR £305,000
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Woman’s body found after ‘suicide’ in Northampton hotel room
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Exclusive: PM David Cameron says Northamptonshire Police Commissioner role is “a big job for a big local figure”
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 13 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Finker
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 11:36 AMKevSmith, basic demolition often works out cheaper than security and dealing with vandalism but if you spend more than a minimum it defeats the object. The further costs of clearing the site then become part of the new project whenever and whatever that is.
happyhippo
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:46 PMi can only speak regarding the old care home site of Nicholls House, in Briar Hill... it doesnt need a buyer... the Council itself, is turning itself into a 'local authority trading company, to cater for ALL care, both domicillary, AND residential... Nicholls house was not fit for purpose, but is it being re-developed, whilst building and labour costs are rock bottom? is it heckers, they are going to buy MORE land... and who will pay for that i wonder?? This council deserves a vote of no confidence, and nothing else
ianrock
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:02 PMIt must have cost quite a bit of money to security fence all these sites. Northampton councils big idea for any space that comes available is to make a fast buck and sell it so developers can build houses on it. Why not retain the land and develop it to make a gradual profit for the town and be of use to the community. Anyone of these sites could house a council run sports club, with all manner of sports being able to be played on the site. A decent sports club house would really unite a lot of people.
TheCount
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 06:19 PMLook on ther brightside...with the collapse of the housing market and the land registry the land is probably worth £2million now.
KevSmith
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 11:46 AMTHERE IS NO MONEY - GB is skint !! Add to this disgrace - the site of the old nicholls house elderly care home in briar hill which was bulldozed in double quick time and the waste just left there - with the site boarded up for years and making briar hill look a disgrace...NCC could have at least cleared the land and it could have been grassed over until a buyer found...at the moment its an eyesore...if it cant be sold -do something with it !! how many other homes were bulldozed in the same way and have the same treatment ?
Removed by moderator
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:37 AMWhat do you expect? Have you ever met an MP? One can only imagine what a councillor's depths are tramelled. The council will be better run the professional staf they employ. Not half wits who have nothing better to do.
Common sense
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:33 AMNCC would appear to have ben greedy back in 2007 looking for the biggest and easiest buck--unfortunately it has backfired. Now they will be criticised for selling (at current market values) or for holding on in the hope property values increase. Doomed if they do and doomed if they don't! However if land is sold cheaper to housing associations or indeed council houses are built--the cheaper the land the better.Why NCC should think land values will increase is an unknown. NCC own these sites upon which c1300 houses could be built, they own Buxton Fields upon which c1000 houses could be built and rumour has it they want another 2000 houses (in addittion the the exsiting 2000 allocated) around Moulton and Sywell---even if they have to fiddle to do it . Perhaps they should sell what they have first ? NCC are holding back housing development in and around Northampton.Perhaps the land values today are as high as they will get! Time to get the cash in.
Finker
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:33 AMShaz - doubt they would get planning permission for a car park.
Finker
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:32 AMStroppy, you can build on school land, it depends on a number of factors. The fact you can is why a deal was being lined up but the crash happened before it was signed - if it had been lots of little deals it would still be the same. LadyM has it exactly right - you don't sell when the price is rock bottom.
willi eckaslyke
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 10:15 AMThe spivs running things, are quietly selling them off to each other at knockdown prices...Converted barns are old hat - it's now converted schools. .
Stroppy40
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 09:13 AMThe Council thought this was going to be a cash cow. Can't build on school playing fields UNLESS you're building another school. When you've built the new school, the existing site becomes brownfield land and can be sold to the highest bidder. Genius!!! Only they got their timings wrong and the bottom fell out of the market. You couldn't make it up!!!
lady muck
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 08:33 AMYes Brendan...let's sell at the bottom of the market, just like Gordon Brown did with the country's gold reserves.....or are you afraid that this is as good asit gets ? .
Shaz fromn
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 08:16 AMSo Goldings land can't be so why don't they make the land in to a car park for Woodvale primary so the parents can park and drop of there children that way taking the pressure of crestwood road or car parked either side of the crossing and over low kerbs!!.
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.