Background Files which I have used to help understand the situation concerning the sale of the former Newland Avenue Primary School together with a summary of the current position as I understand it.
.draft-development-brief-newland-ave-school – Draft Development Brief – decision to sell the school started
Briefing Note to Wyke Area Committee – The latest news from the council about the progress of the sale.
development-prospectus-newland-ave-school – The development prospectus circulated by NPS – Norfolk Property Services on behalf of the council
Assets of Community Value Policy – Government policy about the asset of community value legislation
surveyform – The survey form I used to gather local resident’s views about what the school site should be used for.
HCC Openspace, Sport and Recreation study
My local Councillor Dave McCobb, has kindly provided me the latest information from the Hull City Council in relation to the sale of the former Newland Avenue Primary School.
This includes an informative briefing note and detailed explanation prepared by the planning office of the council and can be summarised as follows as to the current position:-
- At the Wyke Area committee on 16 December 2015 an update on the disposal of Newland Buildings was given that inter alia noted that the sale has been agreed and is with solicitors but not yet completed. The purchaser is keen to progress but has agreed to exchange in February to give time for the Council to achieve vacant possession.
- The purchase is to be by way of a contract conditional on the gaining of planning consent for the proposed refurbishment scheme. This is to retain the frontage building for conversion to ground floor shops with apartments above. The main rear building will be converted to apartments. If planning consent is forthcoming then the sale will be completed .The contract allows some months for the planning application to be submitted but the purchaser intends to start the process as soon as a conditional contract is in place.
- There has been an application from a community group to have the buildings included on the Register of Community Assets .The application is still in process and will be formally determined in the near future .The outcome has no direct bearing on decision to sell the asset which predates the application. If the application is successful the owner will have to follow a process under which community organisations can match any bid for the property should the purchaser decide to sell it.
- Local residents and organisations are gathering a petition to lobby for the Buildings to be retained by the Council. This has not yet been presented to the Council. The decision to sell the Buildings was only recently reaffirmed by the portfolioholder Cllr Hale. The capital receipt is over £450k and represents over 25% of the annual receipts target needed to support the Council’s capital programme.
Councillor Dave McCobb has kindly offered to meet up with me in the next week to discuss the situation and I will be hoping to meet with him on Friday which is the earliest I am available to discuss the situation as soon as possible.
As you will see below the first application to register the site as an Asset of Community Value was received by the council after the decision to sell the site had been made. I submitted the second application yesterday to the council together with copies of the clearly showing the strong feeling in preference for retaining the site as an asset of community value.
The planning office imply that because the decision had already been made the sale will not be affected whether or not it is registered as a community asset. They mention that the Asset of Community Value Legislation will only apply to the [new] “owner” if they decide to sell but obviously it appears that that will be too late for our purposes.
The residents will be left a façade of the building containing shops and flats but no space for any of the community ideas and suggestions so much preferred by local residents. The ramifications of the rapid eviction of current users will cost the tax payer upwards of £15K just to try and create space in Chanterlands Ave Library alone. Suggestions that the Calvert Centre or Orchard Park might provide venues only serves to illustrate how badly we are in need of civic space and I can only begin to imagine what difficulties this will create for the current users of the Newland School Site.
The council and the developer are moving quickly forward to vacate all current services (causing a lot of headaches for them and the council in rehousing them) so that work may start even before planning permission has been granted? Surely that needs to be challenged?
The actual sale is subject to planning consent being granted for the proposed development. This may well allow an opportunity for the views of local residents and traders to be raised with the planning committee.
The results of the survey from the 35 forms received to date show overwhelming preferences for the school site to be retained for community use.
In particular the Youth Club, Garden, Sports area Community Hub received very high preferences. Only 4 residents out of 39 preferred the proposed development which the council have accepted without any discussion with local residents or traders.
The following link is a copy of the summary of the survey results which summarise the 39 responses and the actual survey is published here.
After you have digested this information, briefing note, my comments and the survey result I would like to suggest we hold a public meeting and invite the council to meet with local residents to discuss the plans. I am not sure how such decisions have been taken without involving local residents and the community. I hope the council will be able to explain their lack of engagement with residents and how they propose to respond to the bizarre situation where an asset of obvious community value is being sold without allowing any discussion by local residents.
I would like to ask for your help what steps we should now take to review the situation and whether you would be interested in me organising a public meeting at which interested parties could be invited to have a discussion on the situation that has arisen.
Please consider joining the Facebook Group which I have set up to enable this to be discussed.
Many thanks for your help.
Patrick Naughton-Doe on behalf of Newland Avenue Community Action Group.