Decision details

To seek approval to sell the land at Burntstump Country Park, Arnold shown edged red in the plan at Appendix 1 (“the Land”) subject to the right for members of the public to be able to use the upper car park area shown coloured yellow in the plan at Appendix 1 (“the Car Park”) at weekends and Bank Holidays during the period between April to September in each year and subject to the Car Park being removed from the current Off Street Parking Places Order.
To seek approval to sell the Land, without selling through the tender process as defined in Standing Orders for Dealings with Land, to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire (“the Purchaser”) for £98,500.
To seek approval to remove the Car Park, which comprises of 49 car parking spaces, from the current Off Street Parking Places Order (“Parking Order”).

THAT:
(a) approval is given to sell the Land direct to the Purchaser, for £98,500 without using the tender process as defined in the Standing Orders for Dealings with Land, subject to Park visitors being able to use the Car Park during the Increased Demand Period and subject to the removal of the Car Park from the Parking Order
(b)the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance in consultation with the Director of Organisational Development and Democratic Services be authorised to negotiate and approve the heads of terms for the sale of the Land and the legal agreement for the management of the Car Park during the Increased Demand Period in accordance with the proposals set out in this report.
(c) the Car Park is removed from the Parking Order and that the Parking Order is modernised to allow for the introduction of parking bays for electric vehicles and that, if approved, these amendments are made at the same time as those proposed in relation to Calverton and Carlton (see Appendix 3 and Appendix 4) and a new Parking Order is made to reflect this but is otherwise on the same terms as the existing order, namely the Gedling Borough Council (Civil Enforcement Off-Street Parking Places) Order 2014 which will be revoked by the new Order
(d) the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance in conjunction with the Director of Organisational Development and Democratic Services is authorised to take all necessary steps to revoke the existing Parking Order and bring into effect the new Parking Order in accordance with the proposals set out in the report, including consideration of objections received pursuant to the statutory consultation and any necessary decisions pursuant to the applicable regulations.

The reasons for these recommendations are as follows:
(a)the Car Park is underused, except during the Increased Demand Period
(b)Park visitors will still be able to use the Car Park during the Increased Demand Period which means that in real terms visitors to the Park will experience no loss of parking compared to that which currently exists
(c)the Council will obtain a capital receipt
(d)the capital receipt from entering into the sale of the Land is likely to be no less than that which could be achieved if the Land was sold in accordance with Standing Orders
(e)sale of the Land will support partnership working with the Purchaser as it will assist them in being able to use their headquarters more efficiently
(f)to enable parking bays for electric vehicles
(g)to enable a new Parking Order to be made

An alternative option could be for the Council to offer to sell an equivalent amount of car parking spaces (49 spaces), on similar terms to those proposed for the Car Park sale, from its more popular Lower Car Park. The only other likely purchaser (other than the Purchaser) for spaces in the Lower Car Park is the adjacent private hospital which could use it for its patients, visitors and staff. However, when the Lower Car Park is full visitors of the Park are inconvenienced by having to park in the more remote Car Park. Under this scenario, this inconvenience would be likely to occur all year round, rather than in the Increased Demand Period only. As the Council’s main priority in providing parking at Burntstump is for the use of Park visitors, pursuing an objective that would inconvenience them would not seem to be preferable. In addition, sale on this basis could prevent the Purchaser from being able to use their headquarters more efficiently and would mean that the Council would have to retain responsibility for the Inaccessible Land. For these reasons, sale on this basis would not be recommended.
Another alternative would be to sell the Land through the tender process as defined in Standing Orders. This would enable the sale of the Land to be effected in an open and transparent way with a wider audience being made aware of its availability for sale. However, it is not thought that there would be any other parties who would be interested in purchasing land in this remote area, part of which they would only be able to use outside of the Increased Demand Period. Therefore, sale by tender would be unlikely to achieve any higher value for the Land and could incur unnecessary marketing costs and waste officer time. Sale by tender would therefore not be recommended.
A final option would be to not sell the Land. As the Land currently produces little income for the Council, has management and maintenance liabilities (some of which would still apply in respect of the maintenance of the Car Park and Access) and there is no apparent requirement for the parking spaces outside of the Increased Demand Period, obtaining a capital receipt whilst Park visitors are able to park in the Car Park in the Increased Demand Period would be a more financially preferable alternative. Another consequence of not selling would be that the Council would retain the liability for the Inaccessible Land. Sale of the Land rather than retention would therefore appear to be a better alternative.