STOKE ON TRENT FOR SALE

 So its official the labour council has put stoke on trent up for sale.

The firesale has begun i wonder just how many of these buildings such as libraries and care homes will become mosques and faith schools which are training grounds for more potential terrorists

 

City council plans to sell buildings to raise £25m

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Sentinel

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DOZENS of council buildings are to be sold off in a bid to raise £25 million to help fund major projects like new schools.
Cash-strapped Stoke-on-Trent City Council is looking to offload buildings to cut maintenance and energy costs by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

1. ​
   Swann House

Bosses also want to raise £25 million from sales in just four years.
It will help fund the authority's £60 million contribution to the Government's Building Schools for the Future to transform 18 city schools.
Town halls, offices, local centres, libraries and depots will all be considered for sale.
A number of the authority's 37 empty buildings, which cost almost £500,000-per-year to secure and maintain, will also be sold.
The Sentinel has learned consultants were hired to review 40 of the council's properties, including the Civic Centre, the Potteries Museum and Fenton Manor leisure centre, as well as offices at Swift House and Swann House.
The consultants' report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, recommends the authority consolidates its own office space into the planned Central Business District in Hanley to kick-start that development.
Birmingham-based King Sturge also recommended selling 30 of the 40 buildings it surveyed, but the authority today refused to discuss specific sites.
Up to £280,000 is to be spent bringing in staff to oversee the sell-offs and making sites attractive to developers.
The council is also looking to save more than £800,000 in 2012/13 by merging services like children's centres and libraries.
Councillor Paul Shotton, deputy leader and cabinet member for transformation, said: "Clearly we have already sold buildings, such as the former Heathside care home in Goldenhill and our property at 11 Hartshill Road, and this process will continue.
"We will continue with our rationalisation of assets, but it is very much a long-term project and not all the decisions have been taken yet.
"The investment of £280,000 will help increase capacity to deliver this project to achieve our ambitious target of £25 million in capital receipts over the next four years or so."
Councillor Dave Conway, leader of the opposition City Independents, pictured below left, said any move to close local centres would be met with a "backlash" if alternatives are not found and urged the authority to focus on selling empty land.
He said: "Stacks of money could be brought in by putting planning permission on empty land and taking it to auction. If you get rid of it you also get rid of the risks and liabilities and you don't have to pay to clear fly-tipping."