Bristol is being sold off and no one but the few in charge now know which assets are going.
In July 2022, the council put up five buildings for sale; six months later, five more went under the hammer. Six months after that, an additional seven were for sale.
The list started putting together, got very long after that. I counted 45. And that’s not counting Redcliffe Wharf.
Facing a dire financial forecast in the very near (now!) future, the council started looking at how to make money. £36 million to be precise. They’ve lowered the estimate now but are still hoping to make £23.9m in capital savings and £4m in revenue.
Who chooses which parts of Bristol to sell off?
John Smith, executive director of growth & regeneration, and chief executive Stephen Peacock are in charge of the policy and the decisions respectively. Peacock chairs the Estate Strategy Board, which is where the decisions on which assets to sell off, are made.
Until the October 2023 Cabinet meeting, all asset disposals were rubber stamped visibly. For the first time, however, the assets up for sale were exempt from publication.
The following are all the asset sales I have found.
July 22 Sales
Five freehold assets went up for sale in July 2022 in an attempt to make £1,875,000 for the council.
January 2023
In January, five assets went up for sale, including the Visit Bristol offices at Queen Square, which had been provided at peppercorn rent.
Some assets have been used for service delivery and staff so they have to be relocated. Other places were empty, disused or being rented or leased by other organisations.
July 23 Sales
In July, seven assets were recommended for disposal to generate capital proceeds totalling £0.850m (link).
In June, Cabinet approved £6.04m funding to deliver the work, which mean the £36m the council was hoping to raise, dropped to around £30m.
September sales
In September 2023, more sites came up in the pipeline (total estimated value between £5 – 6 million). Some of these will be appropriated for the housing revenue account.
Former St Peters Elderly Persons Home, Horfield
96-98 West Street, Bedminster
Marshall Walk (Inns Court), Knowle West
Former Filwood Cinema, Filwood
Cameron Centre, Cameron Walk, Lockleaze
Lockleaze Police Station
Freshways (Treetops), Knovill Close, Lawrence Weston
Latimer Close, Brislington
Sea Mills Community Centre and Library
Whitehall (Glencoyne Square), Southmead
2-16 Filwood Broadway
Lanercost Road, Southmead
Sea Mills Children’s Centre
Further sites being considered for HRA development pipeline (total estimated value between £3 – 3.5 million):
1 Downton Road, Filwood
Redfield House, Verrier Rd, Redfield
111 Capgrave Crescent, St Annes
148 Rodbourne Road, Horfield
Ex Community Centre Wordsworth Rd, Horfield
Horfield Primary School House
Broomhill School House
Former Southmead Youth Centre
Former Southmead Library
Then there were further assets in the July to October file:
1 Unity Street, City Centre, Bristol, BS1 5HH - a multi-storey largely vacant office building fronting both Unity St and Frogmore
Hallen Marsh – development site in Avonmouth
Land at Rackham Close, Lockleaze (2 x self-build plots sold on open market)
Lacey House, Service relocation
1b Abercome walk, no service or equality impact, reprovision to HRA
199 Newland Road, no service or equality impact, reprovision to HRA
Community Asset Transfers
There are numerous properties for sale, some transferred to housing and others put up as community asset transfers (CAT). A CAT is a publicly funded asset, which the public paid to build and sustain, which the council then hand over to a group they choose. The group then has to fund the service itself and profit how it wishes. It’s ultimately a loss of a public asset.
The mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, likes to tell us how Bristol is only 42 square miles. How much of that will be Bristol owned by the end of this ever-increasing asset disposal?
Thanks for Sharing Joanna
A discraceful state of affairs