Agenda item

Mr P Bartlett declared that he was an elected Member of Ashford Borough Council and, in this role, had been involved in previous discussions about the site.

1.            Mr D’Alton introduced the report and he and Mr Oakford responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)    concern was expressed that, when deciding to dispose of any property, consideration seemed to be given only to the monetary value of the site.  Its community and social value could be difficult to assess and demonstrate but this was also an important consideration.  Mr Oakford advised that the County Council did consider the community value of a site as part of its new disposals policy, which had been discussed by the committee at its previous meeting. However, he added that the Council faced a very large financial challenge to its capital budget, for example, in terms of the rising costs of materials, so had to place a lot of weight on a site’s monetary value;

b)    asked if the option of a long-term lease, instead of sale, had been considered, Mr D’Alton advised that the site was in a poor state of repair, so would not attract a favourable rent, and the Council had been advised that selling the freehold was the better option. In response to further concern expressed about fully investigating all options before committing, he undertook to re-investigate the lease option; 

c)    Mr Watts advised that the proposed key decision under discussion was for ‘disposal’, but the method of disposal would need to be decided and set out clearly in the decision paperwork before a key decision could be taken by Mr Oakford. There would not be time for the committee to consider the issue again before a key decision was taken so it was important that the committee understood and was happy with the proposal at today’s meeting. He suggested that a copy the new disposals policy be sent to every Member of the committee; and

d)    a view was expressed that any consideration of the value of a site should be concerned with its best value on behalf of County Council service users.

2.            Mr T Bond proposed and Mr G Cooke seconded that the wording of recommendation 1. be amended to read ‘…to finalise the terms of the disposal, either by sale or long-term lease’. Mr Oakford confirmed he was happy with this and the new wording was generally supported by the committee.

3.            It was RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, to authorise the disposal of the property, the former Conningbrook Depot, Kennington Road, Ashford, TN24 0LS, and delegate authority to:

1.  the Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services, to finalise the terms of the disposal, either by sale or long-term lease; and  

2.  the Director of Infrastructure, to authorise the execution of all necessary or desirable documentation required to implement the above,

be endorsed.