Wolverhampton City Council bosses to buy back land they sold for £850k
Council bosses have set aside £850,000 to buy back land they sold to the Government as part of plans for a new magistrates court.
They want to get back land in Darlington Street, near the Fold Street car park, which had initially been sold for the development of a multi-million pound magistrates' court building.
Despite plans for the five-storey building being officially lodged with council chiefs in 2010, they did not go any further after the government determined it would not 'deliver sufficient value for money'.
The council had sold the land, next to the Fold Street car park, to the Ministry of Justice in 2006 but now wants to buy it back to form part of its Westside development. The council would not reveal how much it sold the land for.
Council spokesman Paul Brown said: "The £850,000 is an identified budget for the site but the council is undertaking due diligence and independent valuation advice to inform any negotiations and recommendations to acquire the site."
The money has been moved to the Westside budget from 'unallocated resources' in the capital programme.
The council announced its 12-year City Centre Action Plan late last year, which aims to breathe new life into the area and includes a 'Westside' quarter, canal quarter, city centre cinema, public squares, Molineux quarter, and hundreds of new homes.
Council bosses have said they are committed to making sure it is delivered - and that buying back the Darlington Street site will make it more attractive to investors.
Tim Johnson, the council's strategic director, has said the development of Westside will play an important part in the wider regeneration of the city, and they are looking into buying the land next to Fold Street car park to market the two together, providing a more viable area for potential leisure and retail development.
The Westside development 'represents the largest single mixed commercial, leisure and residential development opportunity in Wolverhampton city centre', stretching from Penn Road Island in the south to Darlington Street in the north.
