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Heysham House, in one of the most desirable postcodes in the country |
Next item in the big sell-off? A mansion with half-acre garden
Empty hostel valued at £2.5m lined up for auction despite neighbours’ protests
HOW would you like to own a substantial Edwardian mansion in Hampstead, easily accessible down a leafy lane and set in its own half-acre of gardens? In fact, you do – or at least the council does, on ratepayers’ behalf – but not for long.
Former hostel Heysham House, in Heysham Lane, off Branch Hill, is the latest target of a programme that has so far seen £15.6million of council property sold this year.
Last night (Wednesday), Lib Dem finance chief Councillor Ralph Scott rubber-stamped the sale, against the requests of neighbours and local councillors who have questioned whether the site is “surplus to requirements”.
Cllr Scott claimed it would cost more than £1million to secure Heysham House, adding: “Not only does Camden not need these hostels but it is oversupplied with homeless accommodation. We will be decommissioning hostels into the new year.”
Apart from questions about how the hostel became conveniently vacant earlier this year as the capital sales project gained momentum, neighbours have more practical doubts.
The neighbouring Spedan council estate is about to have major building work, lasting 44 weeks. During that time nearly all of the estate’s car park will be used to house temporary offices and the builders’ plant.
Residents, supported by their councillors, asked whether the grounds of vacant Heysham House could be used instead, allowing Spedan’s disabled residents to keep their car spaces. The council has turned down the request on the grounds that it would cost too much to provide security for Heysham House.
Martin Davies, Conservative ward councillor for Frognal and Fitzjohns, asked the council to hold off on the sale, although as Cllr Scott’s colleague in the Lib Dem-Tory administration he “reluctantly” supports his decision. “It would have been easier for local residents to use Heysham House,” acknowledged Cllr Davies on Tuesday. “In an ideal world I would have liked them to have held off while the works went ahead, but in order to do that they would have charged all of the costs to the capital works, which would have had to be paid for by leaseholders and taxpayers.”
The cost of securing Heysham House is not included in the public part of the council’s report on the sale.
Although the house, divided into four self-contained flats, will go on the market, probably at an open auction, the rules of confidentiality allow its value to remain a secret. All that is known from council reports is that it is officially valued at between £250,000 and £2.5million.
Commenting on objections from councillors, the council report says the cost of using Heysham House during work on Spedan estate, which would have included providing security personnel for out-of-hours cover, could not be justified when an area on the estate could be used at virtually no cost.
But, after speaking to the New Journal last night, Cllr Scott said that, while the sale would go ahead, he would review figures for using Heysham House as a temporary site for the Spedan works.
The house is technically different from the hundreds of council homes being sold in a bid to raise £243million for “decent homes” improvements. It had been used for many years by Camden’s hostel service, but was transferred to the housing department earlier this year when it was empty.
Cash from the sale will go into the general fund so the council can use it for any capital project. |
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