The authority is set to sell Rectory Farmhouse to the highest bidder after its plans to make the derelict building an outreach sixth form centre fell through.
The farmhouse and its buildings such as the Barn – which is now the community centre – date back to 1843 and were taken on by the borough council in 1985 as part of a land transfer from Northampton Development Corporation.
The farmhouse, on Olden Road in Rectory Farm, has had a variety of uses within recent years including being used as part of the community centre, a pre-school which has since relocated into the community centre and a police out-station. But it has stood empty since 2018 and is currently boarded up.
The council had agreed to auction it off in February, with a date set for it to go under the hammer in May. But the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to the process, but now the property will be auctioned off on Wednesday September 16 after being listed on Rightmove. The sale will generate a capital receipt for the council.
It has been listed at a price between £250,000 and £275,000, with the website desciption stating: “The property is vacant and requires extensive modernisation and refurbishment and presents an ideal opportunity for change of use from the existing D1 planning use category having been used as offices and a nursery. The property has potential for residential use and stands in lawned grounds extending to in excess of half an acre.”
The neighbouring community centre meanwhile has undergone a £250,000 refurbishment, with a separate hall being built to meet growing demand.
