Borough council tried to buy Northampton's Market Walk twice at auction - but were outbid by competitors

Northampton Borough Council has tried twice in the past two years to purchase the town centre's Market Walk - but was outbid on both occasions.

The Chronicle & Echo can reveal that the borough council tried to buy the trouble shopping centre during two separate auctions 2018.

However, in both cases, the council's bid - based on an independent evaluation of the centre's worth - was beat by competitors.

The Walk was first auctioned in May 2018 where it was bought for £695,000.

It was then sold again only five months later in October 2018, where it was bought for £610,000 Safeland PLC, operated by Errol and Larry Lipman.

Since then, the Walk has been put up for sale online for £2million.

Councillor Tim Hadland told the Chron: "As with all purchases the council makes, we have to use an independent evaluation to be satisfied that the taxpayer is getting good value for money.

"In this case, we couldn't agree on a price.

"We wanted to secure a future for it. We came at it from a slightly different angle than a simple commercial investment and make it something to improve the town centre and consider its community uses.

"Someone was just prepared to pay more for it that we were able to offer."

Since the Lipmans bought Market Walk in 2018, the shopping centre has gone up for sale for £2million and has been considered for several planning applications.

This includes a recent proposal to build three more storeys on top of the Walk and convert it into 359 student flats.