Reference: D685
Decision Maker: Leader of the Council
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
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.
Publication date: 08/03/2018
Date of decision: 08/03/2018
Accompanying Documents: