Council set to sell site

Slough: ‘No clear idea’ on funding for multi-million pound project. report says

Slough Borough Council is set to sell the former AzkoNobel site – once earmarked for hundreds of homes by the local authority – according to a damning report presented to senior councillors.

The Wexham Road site was bought by the council for £38million in January 2021, with the intention of developing the land for 1,000 homes in a project costing upwards of £250million.

However, the financial implications of the project were not presented in public to councillors last year, and it was not ‘properly costed’.

Instead, the public report stated the financial implications were referenced in the private Confidential Appendix C of the January 2021 report.

Nevertheless, there was ‘no detailed assessment of the total project cost’, nor were

there detailed assessments of the cost risks or how the project would be funded.

SBC is continuing its sale of assets as it attempts to reduce its debt levels as it seeks to clear £600million of its £760milllion debt.

In a separate report to be presented to councillors at a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Confidential Appendix C is revealed to state: “The acquisition and project costs will be funded through a combination of existing HRA capital budget and funding agreed for Strategic Acquisition (General Fund).

“This would be reflected in the ‘Treasury Management

Strategy 2021/22’ and ‘Capital Strategy 2021 to 2025’ reports to Cabinet in February 2021.”

Next week’s report adds: “However, neither of the above reports included the AkzoNobel purchase nor how it was to be funded.

“In other words, the council agreed to purchase a site and potentially embark on a project which would have committed the council to at least £250m without any clear idea about how this was to be paid for or from where.”

Due to SBC’s ongoing struggles with its finances, the project now has ‘no financial means of being delivered and the current position is that funding could not be provided in the foreseeable future’.

The report adds: “The asset is therefore surplus to requirements and needs to be disposed of.”