Old police HQ to go in council’s £8m sell-off
A FORMER police headquarters, a park ranger base and office buildings are among 16 sites a council has agreed to sell or transfer to community groups.
Bury council’s cabinet approved the disposal of the land and building assets earlier this month, with income estimate from the sales, along others previously approved, thought to be around £8m.
They said the reasons to rid themselves of the assets were to generate capital sums to support other council projects and to help community groups take on the management of property.
Among the sites to be sold or transferred are the former police headquarters site on Irwell Street, the ranger base and park lodge at Clarence Park, Walmersley Road and the huge 2,300 square foot Humphrey House office building on Angouleme Way.
Other sites up for sale or transfer include Pinfold Lane Day Centre, Pinfold Lane, Whitefield, Spurr House, Pole Lane, Unsworth, which is an adult day centre and part of the cleared site of Whittaker House, Whittaker Street, Radcliffe.
A council cabinet report said there was ‘an urgent need to dispose of many of them to help meet savings targets and rationalise the estate.’
The report gave details of the cash income expected form selling the property.
It stated: “The council is undertaking a review to rationalise its surplus land and property assets and has received a reports back which included phase 1 and phase 2.
“This report now includes those assets identified as phase 3.
“The previous reports identified that the total pipeline of sites indicated that circa £8M in capital receipts can be generated.
“£600,000 is likely to be needed to drive forward the programme, primarily through the appointment of a programme manager, property agent and property lawyer.”
The council said there were also further capital costs of £1.6m that have already been incurred related to the programme.
The report said the Park Lodge at Clarence Park was a possible ‘right to buy’ while the former ranger base has been the subject of interest from a community group.
Plans to complete the demolition of the former police station in Irwell Street were approved by the council in 2018.