Latest £23k clue reveals council could be the mystery buyers of historic former bus depot in busy part of Northampton

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) could be the mystery buyers of a historic former bus depot in Northampton, which was recently on the market for £3.2 million.

According to the council’s contracts register, it paid flagship estate agents Savills UK Ltd £23,235 for a feasibility report looking into the former St James Bus Depot.

A feasibility report is a document that assesses the practicality and viability of a proposed project. It is typically prepared before the project begins and aims to determine whether it is worth pursuing.

The former bus depot site, which was recently on the market with Chelton Brown, was sold subject to contract last month (September), but it has not yet been revealed who the buyer is or what their plans for the site are.

This newspaper asked WNC: what the feasibility report said, its opinion on the report, the reason for commissioning the report, and if it had bought the site. WNC has not yet responded to this newspaper.

Chelton Brown previously said it was unable to provide details on the party which has bought the site, or their plans for it, due to client confidentiality. However, when advertising the site, Chelton Brown said it is ideal for a number of redevelopment opportunities, including retail, industrial or housing.

A grassroots campaign called ‘Save The Depot’ has been started by the Northampton Transport Heritage group (NTH), which says the site is “under threat”.

Chair of the NTH, Graham Croucher, says he has been told by a senior figure at WNC that the local authority is interested in buying the site and converting it into social housing.

After speaking with Mr Croucher, on October 6, this newspaper asked WNC if it had bought the site off Church’s, a spokeswoman said: “We remain in dialogue with Church’s over the sale of the site, we will happily offer further details when we have them.”

This newspaper also asked WNC, on October 6, if it was planning to convert the site into social housing, a spokeswoman said “there is no further comment at this time”.

Mr Croucher said: “We understand the council would like to demolish it and build social housing on the site. I was told that by a senior figure at the council.

"If you turn an industrial unit that size into housing it causes lots of traffic problems. We think there would be too many houses on that site for the area.

"Next year will be the 120th year of that building’s existence, so it would be a shame if it was demolished.

"This could become a multi-purpose community heritage hub. In a utopian world, we’d like to see some sort of large exhibit transport museum, like the Coventry transport museum for example. That could be something really special. There’s lots and lots of uses for the site if we use our imaginations. We can bring this site into the 21st century.”