Sandwell Council urged to flatten The Public in experts' report
Property experts recommended bulldozing £72 million arts centre The Public and selling off the land, before a deal was signed to transform it into a college, it can be revealed today.
Sandwell Council spent £39,000 asking Jones Lang LaSalle to investigate what it could do with the West Bromwich gallery last year to cut the £1.5 million subsidy the cash-strapped authority was providing.
A copy of the report, which the authority continued to refuse to disclose while it negotiated with Sandwell College, has now been seen by the Express & Star. Philip Farrell, associate director of Jones Lang LaSalle, described the New Street venue as 'the wrong building in a challenging location'.
He said the council would rake in around £200,000 if the building was flattened and sold off. He also proposed an alternative option of turning the site into a conference centre and stopping all of the not-for-profit cultural and community activities taking place there.
The council previously said it could not release the report, despite a request under the Freedom of Information Act, as it 'may prejudice the council's commercial interests'.
Council leader Councillor Darren Cooper said he believed the report 'vindicated' the authority's deal with the college.
