Council reconsiders sale of guesthouse
Building could be kept on as an investment
Councillors agreed to review the sale options for Cedar Tree House in Windsor amid concerns of a ‘financial mistake’ on Monday evening.
It follows a cabinet meeting last month in which the administration agreed to sell the former Bed and Breakfast against the recommendations of council officers.
The St Leonards Road property was bought by the council for £1.2million in April 2021, with the intention of using it for temporary accommodation by converting it into seven self-contained flats.
But in a cabinet meeting last month, the council took the decision to abandon this plan and explore selling the property instead.
Planning officers had recommended
against a sale – instead preferring a further £490,000 investment from the local authority to make the building ‘fit for purpose’.
They feared interest in the site could be limited and could lead to the council making a loss of up to £400,000 from its original £1.2 million purchase.
As such, a call-in was submitted by opposition councillors Lynne Jones, Helen Price and Simon Bond, with the former expressing concerns over whether the decision to sell at a loss was ‘a good idea for the council’.
Cllr Jones (OWRA, Old Windsor) accepted that the purchase had been made for ‘the right reasons’, but added: “If we are looking at a loss of money, we need to have transparency about why [cabinet made its decision].”
Concerns over transparency were echoed by Cllr Price (tBFI, Clewer and Dedworth East), who added that it was a ‘corporate value’ of the council and highlighted a resident’s suggestion that the property be converted into three studio apartments.
Moreover, leader of the opposition Cllr Simon Werner (Lib Dem, Pinkneys Green) said the council was ‘faced with the consequences of a financial mistake’.
“We have an Option B (agree to the investment for three affordable/key worker homes); this has the potential in the long-term to actually turnover a profit, and we have a perfect property vehicle to actually deal with that – we have the property company,” said Cllr Werner. “If the property company [a council-owned company which manages a small property portfolio] aren’t particularly interested in taking this on, then we would have to come back to the scrutiny panel to say what’s the point of the property company if they’re not prepared to take these kind of things on?”
Council leader Andrew Johnson responded to say that the decision to purchase Cedar Tree House had not been ‘a financial mistake’, but that the council had been overtaken by
‘an explosion of inflation in build costs’.
Cllr Johnson accepted that it was ‘right to explore all potential sale options’, and added: “My position still remains, in regard to this property, [the best option] is a disposal at a time of optimum market value when we are likely to achieve the highest receipt.
“I am not going to be lambasted for taking a decision contrary to the advice I have received; it is my prerogative as an elected member to consider that advice, but also to take what I believe, and my cabinet believe, to be the best decision.”
The corporate overview and scrutiny panel agreed to send the report back to cabinet for a future meeting.