,the figures had been revealed as a part of a national investigation by way of 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 whilst 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 made in the previous few years become the sale of land at Shirley Manor in Wyke – the vacant land was sold in 2014 for £1,196,589. The 2016 sale of the Whiteley Hill Resource Centre and the land surrounding it added in £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 last month. The former website of Heaton Royds Special School in Shipley turned into offered in 2015 for £461,000. The web page has because 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 ‘delighted’ as plans for 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 ultimate 12 months. Wibsey Park Lodge changed into offered in October for £156,000. That sale has been mired in controversy because the lodge turned into 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 bought for a nominal £1 price in 2015. Other houses had been transferred for free of charge. Most of those have been schools that 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 extra than different Government departments and negative to those individuals who depend on public offerings the most. “One manner that many Councils have been able to manage those hard cuts is by using finding new ways of running to occupy buildings greater effectively, to invest in the retained estate and supply savings. This consists of rationalizing and reorganizing property, because of this, in a few instances selling them 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 usual with the aid of promoting off surplus buildings at the outskirts, which have now been correctly redeveloped with the aid of the private sector. “This rationalization of assets gives opportunities for the Council to make savings whilst also doubtlessly creating benefits to the human beings in the district via manner of new traits and housing, as an instance. “Each asset offered has its very own tale and is bought for different reasons. This would include belongings which might be surplus to requirements to the Council, no longer fit for motive, as an instance, care home centers which might be not as much as twenty-first Century requirements, or vacant homes which might be a blight on their network. These can be sold by using the Council and bought on.
“Assets that are of specific import to the network can also be taken off the Council books thru asset switch. Bradford Council is presently 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 extra than £three,054,056 within the same term. Leeds and Kirklees Councils only provided partial records – no longer consisting of sale expenses.
