Council’s £ 13m deal for complex is revealed

WAKEFIELD COUNCIL has bought a major food and entertainment complex site for £ 13m, in a deal that was kept secret from the public for several months.

The local authority purchased the city’s Westgate Leisure Park, home to Pizza Hut, Cineworld and Mecca Bingo in May 2019.

Wakefield Council said it had bought the site, which also accommodates Frankie and Benny’s and Nando’s, as an investment.

The deal came to light after the council’s leader, Denise Jeffery, denied rumours last week that the authority was going to buy Wakefield’s Ridings Shopping Centre, saying: “It’s not our role to buy into shopping centres”.

A document detailing the transaction, which was signed off by Coun Jeffery’s predecessor Peter Box, showed the purchase cost a total of £ 13.3m as well as an extra £ 800,000 in fees. The move was funded with the help of a loan.

The adjoining Westgate Retail Park, which has shops including Curry’s/ PC World and Pets At Home, was not part of the deal.

But the council’s online register which details decisions made behind closed doors made no mention of the leisure park when the purchase was made last year. It said only that some land at an unspecified location had been bought.

The first public record of the deal anywhere was a single line in the council’s 167- page budget report in February.

Tom Stannard, the authority’s corporate director for economic growth and regeneration, said: “We purchased the Westgate Leisure Park last year as part of our strategic corporate asset management plan and capital investment strategy.

“The investment was undertaken in line with government borrowing regulations at the time and council investment policy.”

He said the site is one of the most visited locations within the city, “wh ich we are keen to support”.