Cheshire East Council has started selling its buildings – including former care homes and schools – to help its financial problems.
Since 2010, Cheshire East has made more than £2m from sales, including £1.6m by getting rid of the former Oaklands Infant School, Wilmslow, in April after the merger with Dean Oaks.
It also stands to make a further £1.5m from other properties currently classed as sold ‘subject to contract’.
More than £2m is up for grabs if those still on the market fetch their asking price.
A property on Meriton Road in Handforth sold for £144,000 in June last year, and land off Augusta Drive in Macclesfield went for £425 in February 2011. Land at 339 Oxford Road, by Park Lane in Macclesfield, was sold for £15,000 in March this year.
Altogether, such sales have made the council £2,324,425.
Many more council-owned properties have already been sold, subject to contract. If they fetch their asking prices they will make the council an additional £1,550,000. One of these is the former 41-bed care home Trinity Court, Riseley Street, Macclesfield, which was on sale for £750,000. It has been sold subject to contract.
It was closed by Cheshire County Council in June 2007 and most residents moved to Belong Care home on Kennedy Avenue.
Also marked ‘sold subject to contract’ is Priors Hill, on Kennedy Avenue, Macclesfield, asking for offers over £450,000 including its ‘extensive grounds’
The former children’s day centre, a facility for disabled youngsters, was closed last year after the council deemed it was ‘unfit for purpose, prompting a backlash from worried parents and carers. Another sold subject to contract is former 39-bed care home the Manor Way Centre in Crewe, on the market for £350,000.
Sites still on the market include land off Earl Road in Handforth Dean. With a 125-year ground lease up for grabs, there is no specific asking price.
The Ludford Centre in Crewe, a 33,000sq ft former school, is also still on the market for £1.2m, as is Ridley Hall Barns – a farm in Tarporley – up for £1m.
An additional 24 properties are up for rent across Cheshire East. Coun Jamie Macrae, Cheshire East Cabinet member in charge of prosperity and economic regeneration, said: "The council is committed to investing across Cheshire East, including Macclesfield, in first-class facilities and regeneration projects.
"Where the Council has assets that are surplus to its requirements, they need to be disposed of and realise best value for the benefit of the people of Cheshire East. The capital receipts help to support our ambitious capital programme – which last year invested more than £50m across Cheshire East – including regeneration projects in Macclesfield and the surrounding area."
