Cash-strapped council to offload three more houses

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

The “best offer” will be accepted by Powys County Council in a bid to make £1.1 million from the sale of three properties that also come with land.

Last week, the cabinet member for planning and property, Liberal Democrat Cllr Jake Berriman took the delegated decision to press ahead with the disposal of three properties near Welshpool.

The report which explains the details of the sale of Maesyrabad in Pool Quay, Little Weston in Montgomery and Arddleen Grange in Arddleen (pictured), is being kept confidential due to paragraph(s) 14 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Due to this, the report claims that: “the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

However, the published minutes show that Cllr Berriman has granted “delegated authority to the head of property, planning and public protection (Gwilym Davies) to accept the best offers submitted for these surplus properties”.

This follows “an appropriate period of marketing and negotiation, where offers are based on the guide prices detailed in the report”.

A five-day period between the decision being taken and being implemented allows for councillors to “call-in” the decision for scrutiny if they wish to.

The decision is set to come into force on Friday.

The trio of properties are currently being advertised for sale on the council’s website.

Maesyrabad in Pool Quay is described as: “A detached three-bedroom property with scope to improve set in plot of some two acres, with a range of useful outbuildings.”

The guide price for this property is £250,000.

Little Weston in Montgomery is described as: “A detached thee bedroom property with scope to improve set in plot of some two acres, with a range of useful outbuildings.”

The guide price is £350,000.

Arddleen Grange in Arddleen is described as: “A detached four-bedroom property with scope to improve set in plot of some 3.8 acres, with a range of useful outbuildings.”

The guide price is £500,000.

The council has an annual target of trying to make at least £10 million a year in “capital receipts” by selling off assets.

This money would then be used to help finance the council’s future plans to build new schools, mend roads, maintain council buildings and help reduce the need of borrowing to pay for these projects.