Bedford’s mayor has been asked to think again about buying the Lloyds Bank building on the town’s High Street.
Councillors at Wednesday’s (11 December) call-in meeting of the Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee said they need to see the business case for buying the building at “considerably above” the professional valuation.
When clarifying why he signed the call in on this decision, cllr Henry Vann (Lib Dems, De Parys) said: “We as councillors are being asked to trust, with no business case, an expenditure of £455,000 over the independent valuation.
“The business case is so important, and why the Executive must think again to justify the potential purchase.”
Cllr Lucy Bywater (Green, Castle and Newnham) who also signed the call in, said: “It seems to me, on first looking at the papers, that the seller’s apparent initial reluctance to sell followed by a considerable asking price should have sounded a warning bell.
“It didn’t seem that they were coming to the table in a realistic way. I’m really fed up with people taking the council for a ride, [it’s] public money being put at risk.”
In response, Bedford’s elected mayor, Tom Wootton (Conservative), said: “This is something that I feel strongly about, that a council should be leading its area.
“Who else is going to big up Bedford, who else is going to fight for our High Street? We’ve had nearly 14 years of a policy of do nothing, that’s what it was, do nothing and watch while things happened.
“And nothing happened, and it got worse and worse. Just carrying on having a large part of our High Street empty was not a very good policy.”
Independent valuation
Addressing the cost of the purchase, the mayor said an independent valuation commissioned by the council stated the value of properties around Mayes Yard can be considered in the context of the council being “a special purchaser”.
“A special purchaser is a buyer who is willing to pay more than market value for an asset because of the advantages that are [not] available to other buyers,” he said.
“Either you believe in Bedford and that there is some future for our High Street or you think, no, we should just have it lay waste for years.
“I am strongly of the opinion that this is the right decision,” he said.
Committee member, cllr Ben Foley (Green, Greyfriars) said: “We are being asked by the mayor to approve a purchase considerably above the professional valuation as part of a redevelopment scheme.
“That appears to be intended to produce a considerable amount of extra shop frontage in a town which he says has far too many empty shops in it already.
“To me, a proposal that involves extra shop frontage really doesn’t seem like it’s going to make sense. Now, I might be wrong, it might be that the mayor’s instincts are right.
“Give us the business case that shows that it is worth it. We need the real, proper information that a fully worked out thought through business case would provide.”
The committee voted to express its concern and to refer the decision back to the decision maker for reconsideration.
Following the meeting, cllr Vann added, “We are ambitious for Bedford Borough and want to see our Town Centres thrive. However, the purchase of a property at significantly above market value and without a clear business case is reckless, and not ambitious at all.
“A spending spree with taxpayers’ hard-earned money is not helping the town centre in any way. The Mayor arranged for the purchase of Debenhams by the council earlier this year, and it lies empty – alongside other council-owned property, all the while costing council taxpayers money.
“The people of Bedford Borough deserve better.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
Additional reporting by Paul Hutchinson
Bedford Independent
