Sale of tip site on hold after price concerns

PLANS to sell north Cardiff’s only tip have been delayed after concerns were raised the land was being sold too cheaply.

Cardiff council has been told to look again at plans to sell its Wedal Road Household Waste and Recycling Centre, which closed in March. The decision to sell the 0.55-acre plot of land for £400,000 to Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has been referred back to the council’s director of economic development, after a meeting with councillors.

It is understood that councillors were concerned by figures in confidential papers that suggested the land’s total value, if planning permission for residential homes were built, could be as high as £2.5m. Cardiff council said it is investigating the leak of the figures and that it sells land “for the highest possible value based on an independent valuation”.

Property professionals in Cardiff said that valuing the land was not straightforward. One said that the shape of the plot and the low density that was likely to be possible, meant that £400,000 was a reasonable valuation. Another suggested that if the site had planning permission for housing it was likely to be worth at least £1m.

Another site in Wedal Road – a former youth hostel – sold at auction for £930,000 in March 2016. That site was just 0.26 of an acre, less than half the size of the tip site.

A Cardiff chartered surveyor, who wished not to be named, said the former tip could sell for more than £1m on the open market. But Matthew Morgan, partner at a Cardiff property agent EJ Hales said the deal was “reasonable.”

Cardiff and Vale UHB said it’s exploring a range of options for the site.