Cost of keeping defunct academy is an ‘unmitigated disaster’

A VACANT academy building has cost Birmingham City Council £241,000 – in what one councillor described as an ‘unmitigated disaster’.

The authority admitted it had ‘no budget’ to cover the bill for the former Baverstock Academy this year and it remained a ‘financial risk’.

The building, in Druids Heath, has been vacant since August 2017 when the academy closed following alleged ‘financial irregularities’ and damning Ofsted reports.

It has been earmarked for demolition as part of the council’s £43 million plans to regenerate the estate.

But now the near quarter of a million pound cost of keeping the premises secure has been revealed.

The site has been targeted by vandalism, crime and fly-tipping so the council paid for 24-hour security at a cost of £120,000 a year. That was scaled down in June to five patrols a day reducing the bill to £28,000, though crimal incidents did rise.

The authority is also having to pay business rates on the empty buildings due to government rules.

Cllr Paul Tilsley (Lib Dem, Sheldon) described the situation as ‘an unmitigated disaster’.

He said: “I went past there recently, I have to say I was absolutely appalled, it looks like cell block 11 at the moment. It is an absolute scab on our conscience.”

In response, finance and resources chief Cllr Tristan Chatfield (Lab, Weoley and Selly Oak), said: “I wholeheartedly agree. Unfortunately it’s one of these ones where the academisation of our schools system has consequences for us as a local authority and that has a financial implication.

“The government clearly doesn’t care about this financial implication to local authorities.”