‘Public not a cash cow’ says town in store row
THE owner of Castleford’s former Poundstretcher store has offered to sell the building to Wakefield Council for £500,000.
But the local authority has rejected the proposal, saying it is "too high a price to pay with public money”.
The council desperately needs to buy the derelict Carlton Street building as part of a major town centre regeneration scheme.
It is understood an agreement was in place to buy it from owner Bartonvale Ltd for £300,000, which the council says is three times the market value. But the deal fell through two months ago amid claims that the asking price had more than tripled to almost £1m.
Bartonvale has hit back at comments by civic leaders that Castleford residents are being “held to ransom” over the deal. A spokesperson for the company confirmed that it wants £500,000 for the sale.
They said: “The market value of £100,000 is the figure quoted by the council and unsurprisingly reflects an extremely negative view of the asset, with our own view being that its value is significantly higher.
“It is also worth mentioning that the timescale of the whole purchase process was never adhered to by the council.
“Delay after delay ensued until we reached the current juncture.
“Notwithstanding this, the figure of £500,000 remains on the table and we are prepared to do the deal today, tomorrow or next week.
“Given that the property has been vacant for five years, despite our best efforts in terms of marketing, it seems inconceivable that the council’s modus operandi would not have been to contact us with a view to working together to turn its fortunes around. Surely it is normal and eminently sensible practice for a local authority to work alongside private investors in order to secure a mutually beneficial resolution for both parties and, of course, the local population.”
When the sale fell through in March, Castleford MP Yvette Cooper and Michael Graham, the council’s cabinet member regeneration, issued statements saying taxpayers were being “held to ransom”.
Mark Lynam, the council’s corporate director for regeneration and economic growth, also said: “It is not fair to use the public purse as a cash cow.”
Responding to the criticism, the Bartonvale spokesperson said: “Considering that Yvette Cooper has been elected to serve the local population we would have hoped that she could have positioned herself as some form of broker here, trying to bring together both parties in order to do what is best for Castleford.
“Yet at no stage has she sought to contact us to try and see if there was anything that could be done to improve the situation and indeed has added fuel to the fire by her inflammatory social media content.”
Plans for the site include demolishing the building to make way for a new skills hub and training centre to be run by the Castleford Tigers Foundation, the charitable arm of the town’s professional rugby league club.
The council was awarded £24m of government Town Deal funding for Castleford in 2019. A series of “strategic acquisitions” has already been made by the council as a strict 2026 deadline to complete the project looms.