Two former council buildings remain un-sold after more than 3 years

TWO former council headquarters building in Dorset remain un-sold after more than three years – and it could be some time before any significant property or land sales are achieved.

Both the former East Dorset District Council HQ at Furzehill and the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council office have yet to be sold, or redeveloped, although in Weymouth’s case there are discussions taking place over plans for a housing and commercial scheme at the, now vandalised, harbourside site.

Of the other former district and borough council main offices Westport House at Wareham is still in use, the former North Dorset council site at Blandford is being redeveloped for housing and the former West Dorset headquarters in South Walks House is now an outpatient unit for the County Hospital.

Councillors have been told that Dorset Council officers are still working through its list of assets and is unlikely to be able to produce a definitive decision list until 2024, although some key decisions could be agreed in May next year.

The process of pulling the list of land and properties together has been slowed by Covid and a shortage of staff.

Councillors were told that all the council’s assets could be worth at least £0.5 billion – although it is still not sure about everything it owns.

Thursday’s place and resources scrutiny committee heard that although the council is not certain of all its assets, many of them passed on from previous authorities at the time of reorganisation in 2019, the small percentage which have yet to be positively identified is likely to be small areas of land, often verges or small play spaces.

Former East Dorset district councillor Barry Gorringe told the committee he was disappointed that the previous district council offices at Furzehill on the outskirts of Wimborne remained unsold, despite being put on the market before reorganisation at an asking price of £5million.

“It’s just sat there, doing nothing,” he said.

The officer in charge of the council’s assets, Peter Hopkins, said part of the reason for slow progress had been down to Covid, occasionally because of inadequate records passed over from previous authorities, and “the council’s estates function being totally under-resources at the moment because of a combination of staff leaving and being unable to fill specialist posts.”

The meeting heard that the assets exercise was not simply about identifying and selling land or property: each had to be considered for possible future uses; for alternative uses such as housing or business, and what the realistic chances of achieving an open-market sale were at a fair price. In some cases a transfer to town or parish councils, or to a community group, also has to be considered.

The result of the exercise so far is a list of around 20 properties, or parcels of land, which the council believes should be its priority for action.

Further consideration is expected to be given to the asset management plan in the spring.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.