Come On Down

Roll Up! Roll Up! for the Great Property Give-away. Hartlepool Borough Council, having almost completed the first phase of its Business Transformation Programme; the phase which saw the Council borrow £3m in order to pay a number of Executives (that it apparently didn’t need) fabulous ‘Golden Goodbye’ payments, has now moved on to the second phase. It is now busily selling off properties in prime town centre locations at knock down prices in what looks like a desperate attempt to recover some of the money. The sale of four properties is currently being discussed at Cabinet level: Rockhaven, to be sold to Hartlepool Voluntary Development Agency for £60,000; The Archive Building, (£100,000); The Leadbitter Building (£150,000) and The Old Municipal Building (£200,000). The sale of the latter three has been agreed with Cleveland College of Art and Design. The surprisingly low values have been decided upon by the council’s own valuer and include car parking rights which would have a considerable value in their own right. The three central buildings were subject to extensive renovation work during the time of City Challenge. HBC is currently facing a £4m deficit in its budget; by 2012 its reserves will be down to £12m, having halved in just 4 years and it has just increased its council tax charge by 2.5% which is at the top end of increases currently being announced nationally. [other property up for grabs] Going For A Song It has a £4m budget deficit, is using up its reserves at an alarming rate and has just borrowed £3m to pay for the retirement and redundancy packages for surplus executives. Yet Hartlepool Borough Council is currently in the process of selling off one its many property assets at an estimated one- third of its market value. A significant part of the Business Transformation Programme is to rationalise the amount of council owned property in order to reduce the council’s maintenance costs and to capitalise some of its assets to raise cash. Most people would assume that this would imply that those properties that were to be sold would be sold at the highest price obtainable to raise as much cash as possible. Rockhaven, located in the centre of town in Grange Road, is currently the home of Hartlepool Voluntary Development Agency, It is a larger than average Victorian end-terrace house complete with bay window and entrance palisades. Similar properties in nearby Clifton Avenue are currently selling for £225,0000; Hartlepool Borough Council has valued Rockhaven at £60,000.It is believed that there is a clause in the deal that should H.V.D.A. sell the property on within the first five years H.B.C will receive a share of the profit. The Council is currently trying to fill a £4m shortfall in its finances and continues to eat into its reserves at an alarming rate in order to prop up its finances. It is also intending to increase council tax by 2.5% in the next year. The management board of H.V.D.A. includes several current labour Councillors.