Land sales made £27m for council since 2010
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HALTON Council has sold £27.2m of land and property in the borough since 2010, the Weekly News can exclusively reveal.
The data was released by the local authority under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).
The great sell-off follows a period of tightened finances for the council, which according to deputy council leader Cllr Mike Wharton’s speech in March has had its central Government annual funding slashed by £59m, and it spending power cut by 29%.
Details of council land sales and listings are often not published and contained in the confidential sections of local authority reports packs with the stated aim of not prejudicing deals, or in layman’s terms – not showing the council’s negotiating hand in what the going price for land is.
The biggest payday was for the sale of the former Fairfield High School site in 2016, which reaped £7.1m for 11 acres.
Next was the sale of 4.2 acres of green space in Upton Rocks, Widnes, for £3.44m in November, 2014.
The third largest receipt was the sale of HBC Fields in Halebank for £2.2m paid for in two instalments. Next in fourth place was the former ICI Recreation Centre on Liverpool Road, Widnes, measuring 3.7 acres, for £2.05m, in July 2015. Fifth was the sale of industrial units on St Michael’s Industrial Estate, also ● Widnes, for £1.875m in 2016.
None of the top five was in Runcorn, where the biggest sale was 2.1 acres of industrial units on Expressway Industrial Estate for £1.63m in December 2015.
According to the council data, the smallest sales were giveaways.
Seventy-five square metres of garden land next to French Street in Widnes went for free, and John Briggs House in Widnes has a listed sale price of £0.
Other apparent bargains on the list include the £1 sale of 115sq m of land at Linear Park in Daresbury, classified as a transfer back the Homes And Communities Agency, and the £1 sale of 84sq m of garden extension land on Factory Lane and Derby Road in Widnes in April 2014.
The types of land sold are a broad mix with some playing fields and green space but also industrial units and former offices.
The full list is as follows (site, address, purpose, month, price, size in square metres), there are about 4,000sq m to an acre: ● Green Oaks Path adj. French Street, Widnes, garden, February 2011, £0, 75sq m. ● Johnsons Lane, Widnes, commercial land, May 2011, £3,000, 1,505sq m. ● Newmoore Lane Linear Park, Daresbury, transfer back to HCA, August 2013, £1, 115sq m. ● Sewell Street, Runcorn, garden, November 2013, £10,500. ● Former Pingot Centre, Widnes, former day centre, November 2013, £462,000, 10,672sq m. ● Site of Parsonage Road, community mobile, surplus land, February 2014, £10,000. ● Bridgewater Day Centre, Runcorn, former day centre, February 2014, £107,980, 3,294sq m. ● Macdermott Road (land at), Widnes, playing field, March 2014, £125,000, 4,286sq m. ● Land at Factory Lane and Derby Road car park, Widnes, garden extension, April 2014, £1, 84sq m. ● Northern Lane (land at), Widnes, surplus land, April 2014, £26,000, 363sq m. ● Birchfield Road, Widnes, residential property, June 2014, £135,000, 737sq m. ● Transporter Bridge House, West Bank, Widnes, former office, July 2014, £75,000. ● Wilsden Road (land at), Hough Green, Widnes, surplus land, July 2014, £500, 34sq m. ● Mersey View Road (Haydocks), Widnes, commercial lease, July 2014, £200,000, 41,277sq m. ● Seymour Court, Manor Park, Runcorn, industrial units, September 2014, £1.7m, 33,650sq m. ● Wilsden Road (land at), Hough Green, Widnes, surplus land, October 2014, £96,000, 977sq m. ● Upton Rocks, Widnes, surplus land, former greenspace, November 2014, £3.44m, 16,993sq m. ● Page Lane, Tanhouse Yard, Widnes, industrial, January 2015, £283,350, 5,421sq m. ● Miscellaneous land, Riverside ward, Widnes, surplus land, February 2015, £9,000, 322sq m. ● Land at Percival Lane, Runcorn, expansion of ● Percival Lane industrial units, March 2015, £10,000, 430sq m. ● Trumpet Loop, Lowlands Road, Runcorn, commercial, April 2015, £5,000, 4,400sq m. ● Former Ditton Direct Link, Queens Avenue, Widnes, Former Direct Link office, April 2015, £83,220, 2,322sq m. ● Halton Village Hall, Main Street, Runcorn, May 2015, £52,000. ● Johnsons Lane, Widnes, commercial land, May 2015, £875,000, 30,948sq m. ● Kildare Close land, Hale, garden extension, June 2015, £1,096, 60sq m. ● Surplus land at Former ICI Rec, Liverpool Road, Widnes, surplus after new recreation centre constructed, June 2015, £2,050,000, 14,978sq m. ● Crossways Widnes former depot, former housing depot, August 2015, £62,500, 3,040sq m. ● Clifton Road grazing land, Runcorn, grazing land, October 2015, £9,000 but some due back under clawback arrangement, 2,833sq m ● Expressway Industrial Estate, Runcorn, industrial units, December 2015, £1.63m, 8,340sq m. ● John Briggs House, Widnes, former social services offices, January 2016, £0, 3,224sq m. ● Kildare Close land, Hale, garden extension, January 2016, £3,000, 110sq m. ● Land comprising three former Grange schools, Latham Avenue, Runcorn, surplus school site, February 2016, £600,000, 25,021sq m. ● Ditton Road land at, former O’Connor site, industrial, February 2016, £185,000, 4,859sq m. ● Land at Denton Street and Bower Street, Widnes, garden land and off-road parking, April 2016, £7,500, 140sq m. ● Peel House Lane surplus land, former school site, April 2016, £7.1m, 46,139sq m. ● Pine Road land, Runcorn, open space, May 2016, £273,000, 9237sq m. ● Edinburgh Road land, Widnes, former garage site, September 2016, £42,000, 1114sq m. ● Dewar Court, Astmoor, Runcorn, industrial units, November 18, £1,45m, 12,174sq m. ● St Michael’s Industrial Estate Blocks BCD, Widnes, industrial units, November 2016, £1,875,000. ● Marshgate, St Michael’s Industrial Estate, Widnes, industrial units, November 2016, £430,000, 15,213sqm. ● HBC Fields, Halebank, land for rail sidings, payment one, December 2017, £750,000, 49,663sq m. ● HBC Fields, Halebank, land for rail sidings, payment 2, December 2016, £1,45m. ● Former Simms Cross School caretaker’s house, residential property, July 2017, £102,000. ● Picow Farm Road former playing fields, Runcorn, former playing fields, March 2018, £1.46m, 18,977sq m. ● Land at Avondale Drive, former Our Lady school playing fields, Widnes, former playing fields, March 2011, £44,300, 1,134sq m. ● Agreed but sale not completed: land at Hale Road, Widnes, former Castaways site, commercial land, £50,000, 5,600sq m.