Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director, Community Services.

The Cabinet Member, Adult Care, Communities and Libraries, introduced the report and outlined the key issues as follows:

·         Old Manor Hospital site is of significance, as part of the gateway into Salisbury;

·         Site poses several challenges, of which the most significant is the presence of several listed buildings in poor states of repair;

·         In light of the above, site is considered only to have significant value as a clear site;

·         Potential uses include Primary Care Trust facilities, extra care housing,  dementia housing or other sheltered housing stock; and

·         At this stage, approval is sought to enter negotiations for the acquisition of the site, and any further decisions will be brought back to the Cabinet Capital Assets Committee.

The Leader emphasised that, given its current condition, the Council should not expect to pay for the site, and that its £2m valuation is based on a clear site. Acquisition could be facilitated through Secretary of State intervention if necessary. This view was endorsed by the Leader of the Opposition, in attendance, who backed an approach to the Secretary of State to this effect.

The Cabinet Member, Finance, Performance and Risk, expressed concerns that the site would only function as a cleared site and therefore viability should be fully investigated before proceeding. The Cabinet Member, Economic Development, Planning and Housing, commented that, whilst this would be undertaken, the site’s value as a community asset means that it should be developed as such if practicable, even if funded by asset sales elsewhere.

The Leader raised the issue of Homes and Communities Agency funding and requested that recommendation (b) be amended to stipulate that as high a proportion of the £25,000 requested is obtained through HCA grant as possible.

After discussion by the Cabinet Committee, it was,

Resolved:

a)    To approve in principle the acquisition of the Old Manor Hospital and Old Laundry sites in Salisbury from the Primary Care Trust for the development of extra care housing and care home facilities for older people subject to the satisfactory conclusion of negotiation with the trust.

b)   To authorise the provision of up to £25,000 from the Adult Care capital budget, subject to securing as much of this as possible in HCA grant funding, to undertake further investigations on the site to include surveys and a robust feasibility study. Any grant funding obtained will be deducted from the £25,000 Adult Care budget available for this.

c)    To delegate authority to the Head of Strategic Property Services, the Service Director for Adult Care Strategy and Commissioning and the Service Director for Economy and Enterprise to progress the negotiations to acquire the site.

d)   Note that a further report will be submitted to the Cabinet Capital Assets Committee once the negotiations are concluded to seek approval to purchase the site and to identify the capital and revenue resource implications involved.

e)    To note that a full business case will be presented to Members once the site has been acquired as to the proposed development on the site and the most economically advantageous method to achieve this.

And that,

A joint letter from the Leader of the Council and Leader of the Opposition to the Secretary of State should be drafted prior to the Summer Recess in respect of the option to obtain a compulsory purchase order on the site, if necessary.