Wiltshire home where poisoned Russian spy lived to be bought by Council
The property will undergo some renovations before being put on the market
Last updated 12th Mar 2021
The home of Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy who was poisoned in Salisbury in 2018, is to be bought by Wiltshire Council.
The local authority has agreed to purchase 47 Christie Miller Road, so the address can be brought back into use.
Mr Skripal lived at the property with his daughter Yulia, who both fell ill in March 2018.
They were poisoned by Novichok and it's believed the pair first came into contact with the nerve agent on their front door handle.
Since then, the property has been out of use. The roof was removed and a deep clean undertaken in January 2019.
Before it is put back onto the market, Wiltshire Council is going apply some major renovations.
The address will then be offered as a shared ownership property, in line with the authority's affordable housing policies.
This will include a legal stipulation that it must be used as a residential property, that it may not be sub-let, and that nobody can trade on its history.
'We will ensure the property isn't used for anything other than a home'
Cllr Philip Whitehead, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said:
"It will be good to see this house used as a home again.
"Throughout this process, we have been in regular contact with the local residents, and after consulting with them we have agreed to refurbish the property and offer it for purchase under our shared ownership scheme, at an agreed market rate.
"During the coming months, we will rebuild and refurbish the property to bring it back into use as a home, and to protect local residents, we will ensure that the property will not be used for anything other than a home".
Meanwhile, the Amesbury flat where Charlie Rowley and his girlfriend Dawn Sturgess were poisoned was demolished last year.
Work began last October to dismantle flats 9 and 11 on Muggleton Road.