1 week Ago
Cambridgeshire County Council agreed in July to enter into an exclusivity agreement with a preferred bidder to sell its former base. The chosen buyer had proposed to turn the building into a hotel. The authority set a deadline of October 9, for the contracts to be exchanged, after ‘learning lessons’ from the previous attempt to sell the building which ultimately fell through.
Michael Hudson, executive director for finance and resources, told councillors at a meeting of the assets and procurement committee this week (October 15) that the sale of Shire Hall had not been completed by the deadline. He said the county council was now opening up discussions again with the other bidders that had wanted to buy the building. Mr Hudson said: “Members will recall that a key lesson learnt from earlier bids for the old Shire Hall site was to include clear staging points to reflect if necessary the keenness to take decisions to see this project continue to move.
“As such, the committee in its July meeting set a period of exclusivity on the preferred bidder to conclude the sale, that ended on October 9 in terms of a period of exclusivity. “Unfortunately we have not been able to make progress with that deal. “As a result we are now discussing the possible next steps with all of the previous shortlisted bidders as we are keen to seek a strong commercial resolution to take forward for this very important site.
“Therefore I expect to bring a paper back to this committee with a recommendation in the winter and we are hopeful that will result in a sale, and even more hopefully in a planning application coming forward in 2025.” Councillor Steve Count said he was concerned that “once again” a deal to sell Shire Hall had “failed to complete”. He asked why a report could not come back to the committee on the sale sooner, claiming there “seems a lack of urgency on the biggest asset” the county council is selling.
Mr Hudson said there was a “keen sense of urgency around” the sale of the building. However, he said the county council needed to take due diligence. Mr Hudson highlighted that the period of exclusivity had ended the week before and that the authority had only just started opening up discussions again with the other bidders.
He said officers had thought it was important to give councillors a verbal update, before a full report could be prepared..
