, the figures had been revealed as a part of a national investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. They displayed that between 2014 and 2018, Bradford Council bought or transferred 318 homes or portions of land – bringing in £22,667,340. The Council says the income had helped keep budgets for services while funding for local councils was being cut using the important government. Properties offered in that period encompass a former faculty website, a kids’ home, homes, and a registered workplace. The largest sale in the previous few years became the sale of land at Shirley Manor in Wyke – the vacant land was sold in 2014 for £1,196,589. The 2016 Whiteley Hill Resource Centre sale and surrounding land added £679,000.
Last Summer, plans to turn the construction into a wedding and conference venue were submitted through The White Abbey Ballroom Limited. The application was turned into authorized the previous month. The former website of Heaton Royds Special School in Shipley was offered in 2015 for £461,000. The web page has been proposed as a housing development. The former Bradford Register Office on Manor Row changed into offered for £350,000 in 2017 to incapacity charity Bradner. Bradner was ‘delighted’ as plans for the ex-Register Office authorized A former bed shop on Sunbridge Road to become offered at public sale in December 2017 for £214,000. Plans to show the higher flooring of the construction into apartments were authorized for the ultimate 12 months. Wibsey Park Lodge was offered in October for £156,000. That sale has been mired in controversy because the lodge was pulled down rapidly after the sale – without making plans permission.
An N Rahim has submitted a retrospective application for the demolition of the construction and the construction of 4, 3-mattress semi-detached homes on the web page. Other Council-owned residences have been bought for a nominal charge. A plot of land was changed into bought at Cleckheaton Road in 2015 for simply £1. Former toilets at Station Road in Ilkley had been purchased for a nominal £1 price in 2015. Other houses had been transferred for free of charge. Most of those schools went from being run by using Bradford Council to becoming academies or free colleges.
A Council spokesperson said: “Since 2011, the Council has authorized £262 million of budget financial savings and has invested £56 million into precedence regions largely to help cover the effect of demographic boom throughout social care. “The cuts on Local Government had been large, far more than different Government departments, and negative to those individuals who depend on public offerings the most. “One manner that many Councils have managed those hard cuts is by finding new ways of running to occupy buildings more effectively, to invest in the retained estate and supply savings. This consists of rationalizing and reorganizing property and, because of this, in a few instances, selling and increasing them.
“For instance, we managed to locate almost 1,000 council personnel into refurbished council homes inside the city center, supporting the financial system, while saving money usually with the aid of promoting off surplus buildings at the outskirts, which have now been correctly redeveloped with the assistance of the private sector. “This rationalization of assets gives opportunities for the Council to make savings while also doubtlessly creating benefits to the human beings in the district via manner of new traits and housing, for instance. “Each asset offered has its tale and is bought for different reasons. This would include belongings that might be surplus to requirements to the Council, no longer fit for motive, for instance, care home centers that might not be as much as twenty-first Century requirements, or vacant homes that might be a blight on their network. These can be sold by using the Council and bought on.
“Assets of specific import to the network can also be taken off the Council books through asset switch. Bradford Council is processing extra network asset transfers than every other Council in West Yorkshire. This enables the network to deliver treasured offerings again to the community and run belongings that would have closed in any other case. These agencies also can appeal to outside investment for improvements to the premises. Over £1 million of funding has been attained for assets which might be approximate to or have transferred.” Neighbouring Calderdale Council bought forty-two spaces for more than £ three 054,056 within the same term. Leeds and Kirklees Councils only provided partial records – no longer consisting of sale expenses.
