If you have driven along Undercliff Drive between Ventnor and Niton, you may be aware of the property called Woodington. It’s situated on the St Lawrence side of the traffic lights (by the landslide).
The property, which was privately purchased by the Isle of Wight council ahead of a proposed compulsory purchase order several years ago when plans were in place to realign the road through the property, is to be sold at auction following a Delegated Decision by Cllr George Brown.
Realignment scrapped
Following purchase of the freehold, the Undercliff Drive road realignment scheme was scrapped and for some time the council has rented out the property.
A couple of weeks ago, a Delegated Decision report was released that revealed the council intend to sell the property at auction with a guide price of £280,000 – £300,000.
The council has set a reserve price on the sale of the freehold interest, but keeping the figure confidential as, “if made public at this stage of the disposal exercise may prejudice the eventual sale”.
The report reveals a limited market for purchasers due to the history of land movement in the area and difficulties with gaining insurance/mortgages.
Press office fail to respond (again)
We wrote to the press office 15 days ago (25th July) to request further information in relation to the purchase of the property in 2006.
Once again, they failed to either reply or even acknowledge our query.
It has been suggested to VB by a trusted source that the purchase price paid by the council was in the region of £410,000, with a substantial sum spent on the property prior to rental by the housing services team.
As press office have failed to respond to our query, we’re neither able to confirm or deny this information.
Update 16.55:
(Not sure how I missed this) The document reveals, “The property was purchased by the council in December 2006 for a total cost of £483,943.06. Due to the depreciation of the building since acquisition it is currently held in the council’s accounts at a book value of £456,377.”
The Delegated Decision document is embedded below for your convenience.
Image: Tax Brackets under CC BY 2.0
