A former primary school on the Isle of Wight will be sold for £400,000 to make way for a potential 16 houses.
Since closing in 2015, Weston Academy, in Totland, has sat empty and the Isle of Wight council’s previous attempts to sell it have failed.
Bath-based company
Now with government funding available, and multiple bidders coming forward, the council’s cabinet agreed last night (Thursday) to sell the site to its preferred option: Bath-based company, Strategic Green Land.
The company has offered £400,000 and, subject to planning permission, proposes turning the site into 16 houses, of which four would be either sold or rented at an ‘affordable’ rate.
Much of Victorian buildings to be retained
The bid has also proposed to retain the original stone schoolhouse and much of the Victorian school buildings.
The council received multiple bids ranging from eleven to sixteen houses, with prices offered from £1 (with overage paid at a later date) to £420,000.
Other bids ‘unattractive’
The authority said both the lowest and highest offers were ‘unattractive’ for various reasons as the highest bid did not propose to build affordable housing and overage leaves a lot of financial unknowns.
In a report sent to the council’s cabinet, officers revealed there were numerous issues which affected the development viability of the school and it did not have the money to deal with them.
£200,000 to make the site suitable for housing
Since then the council has secured nearly £200,000 in the Brownfield Land Release Fund which the developer can use to make the site suitable for housing.
There are tight timescales attached to the government funding, the council said, which would mean it could not re-market the site in time to attract another offer.
Under the grant, the site must be released for housing by the end of the month (March).
IWC paid for maintenance for ten years
Despite the school being empty for nearly ten years, the council has continued to pay to maintain and secure the site which costs around £3,600.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
