Station site sold for below market value

The land that Newark Police Station was built on was bought by Nottinghamshire Police for below its market value, a Freedom Of Information request has confirmed.

Newark and Sherwood District Council provided details of the sale in response to a request by the Advertiser.

The Queens Road site was owned by the council — it was its depot — and sold to the police for £520,000 in 2005.

The market value at the time was £832,500 — a difference of £312,500.

The council acknowledged that, when disposing of land, it had a duty under Section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 to obtain the best price it could reasonably obtain.

It said: “The 1972 Act does, however, provide mechanisms for the consent of the Secretary of State to be obtained in certain circumstances for the disposal of land at less than the best price where it is in the interests of the economic, social, or environmental wellbeing of the area.

“I can confirm that such consent was sought and obtained for the sale to the police authority at an undervalue for the purposes of a police station and ancillary uses.”

There was provision in the sale for the council to get extra money if the site is sold within 80 years of the completion date, because it was sold at less than market value.

If the whole or part of the freehold is sold, the force would pay the council 37.54% of the net proceeds of the sale or, if greater and there is added value from buildings, the sum of £312,500.

The same is true of the leasehold and 20% of the rental income of buildings would be due to the council.

Among the covenants is an insistence that the police cannot dispose of the leasehold in part or as a whole to anyone other than a “complementary use” for a period of 15 years from the sale, which runs until January 2020.