Agenda item

1.            Mr P Oakford introduced the report and responded to comments and questions from the committee, including the following:-

a)    asked if the site could be split and some part kept for local residents’ use for sport and recreation, to support local people’s health and increase levels of exercise, Mr Oakford advised that, as with similar site disposals, the County Council needed to sell it to realise the capital value of the whole site and raise capital to deliver the Council’s capital programme, including the provision of additional school places;

b)    asked if the playing field part of the site was usable by local people for recreation, Mr D’Alton advised that the site was currently fenced off and was not made available to members of the public. Future redevelopment of the site would be the subject of a planning application to be determined by the Local Planning Authority;

c)    asked if there was any other way of achieving maximum return for the Council without selling off the site, Mr D’Alton advised that the more the Council sought to do with the site, the more risks it would be entering into in terms of development, so it did not make economic sense for the Council to try to develop the site itself. Mr Oakford added that the Council needed to release the capital value of the site rather than spend money developing it.  Mrs Spore advised that the Council had no resource or infrastructure to develop the site itself and had no need to retain the site for its own use, as it had been declared surplus to service requirements;

d)    asked if the Council was committed to sell the site, even if offers received did not meet the price it wanted to achieve, and if local bodies had been made aware of the site for sale, for example, in case a local sports club might want to buy it, Mr D’Alton advised that the site would be advertised to the market as widely as possible, with the aim of allowing any and all prospective bidders to be able to put forward a bid for the site. Bids would be assessed against the Council’s adopted policies and statutory duties; and

e)    with regard to local people possibly using the site for recreation, it was suggested that part of the hoarding could be removed to see if local people took to using it, and if the local District or Parish Council could be offered it to buy for local use, Mr Oakford reiterated that, as with similar site disposals, the Council needed to realise the capital value of the whole site and raise capital.

2.            Mr G Cooke proposed and Mr H Rayner seconded the recommendation as set out in the report and this was agreed without a vote.

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 agree the disposal of the property, the former Laleham Gap School and playing field, Southcliffe Parade, Broadstairs, CT10 1TJ, 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; and

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

be endorsed.

Rich Lehmann, Ms J Meade and Dr L Sullivan asked that their abstentions from this resolution be minuted.