Skipton council land 'undervalued' before sale

4:20pm Friday 10th October 2008

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Craven District Council sold land to Skipton Building Society at more than £400,000 below market value.

In February, councillors agreed to sell the land, off Gargrave Road, for £840,000. But at this week’s council meeting it was revealed the council had acted unlawfully, by not knowing the true market value.

Work has started on new offices for SBS subsidiary Homeloan Management Ltd on the land.

Gill Cooper, the council’s monitoring officer and head of legal services, told the meeting the council would have to re-affirm its position. “Councillors were not told at the time what the market value was. This was not transparent and it was wrong,” she said.

She said two valuations should have been presented to councillors – an unrestricted value, representing the best price reasonably obtainable, and a restricted valuation, in other words the market value taking into account what the land was to be used for.

If the difference between the two had been more than £2 million, the council would have had to seek the approval of the Secretary of State. She said the land, with planning permission for offices, had now been valued at £1.3 million.

Council leader Coun Chris Knowles-Fitton said it was a technical hitch and urged members to re-affirm their earlier decision. “What may have been reasonable, may not have been legal,” he said.

But Coun Andy Solloway said the council had lost out on more than £400,000. “We have taken our eye off the ball and that is why we have got into this mess. Let’s straighten up and fly right,” he said.

Later, Coun Knowles-Fitton said that, when the original decision was made to sell the land, there was a compelling case of economic and employment need.

“It is well recognised HML has a significant effect on Skipton and makes a valuable contribution to the wider area of Craven,” he said.

“Sixty-three million pounds is added to the Craven economy every year by HML alone and 15 per cent of jobs available in Skipton are supplied by HML. These arguments are still relevant today, particularly in view of the economic crisis.

“At that time the main objective in disposing the land was to retain HML and all the economic and social benefits it brings to Craven.”