TOWN Hall bosses at Warrington are to sell the Fordton Leisure Centre to a developer who wants to build a supermarket, pub and café restaurant on the site.
The decision was made at a private meeting of the borough council’s executive board when five bids from prospective 
developers were considered.
Details of the prospective purchaser and the price offered have not been revealed.
But Cllr Mike Hannon (pictured), deputy leader of the council, who presented a report to the board, said: “The offer represents the best consideration for the council in terms of price and most appropriate form of development.
“It consists of a small, neighbourhood supermarket, pub and café-restaurant.”
Money raised from the sale of the 30-year-old leisure centre – which was converted from a former school – will go towards funding the Orford Park project, which includes a new, modern leisure centre.
Cllr Hannon’s report made it clear that none of the five offers made for the site were binding and could be withdrawn at any time up to legal completion of a sale.
The developer will wish to obtain planning consent, so legal completion is unlikely to take place before late summer.
In any event, the leisure centre will not be sold with vacant possession until the new centre at Orford Park is open, so there will be no interruption of service.
If the sale does not proceed, there could be a significant impact on the council’s ability to continue to make cost savings, to support the capital funding of the Orford Park project and to demonstrate best practice in management and disposal of property assets.
Supermarket for leisure centre site
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
9 Comments
Two words. No consultation.
For the council’s next consultation, they should ask what to do with the parts of the town centre outside of Golden Square. Personally, I think they might just want to bulldoze them now and use the money from the sale of rubble to fund their annual changes to the road layout on Winwick Road.
Yes, g_m once again after discussions behind closed doors we’re presented with yet another take it or leave it choice that seems to have become the hallmark of LAs these days; to be fair this is not a problem perculiar to WBC. It may well be this proposal is truly beneficial to the borough but we’ll only know that after they have signed on the dotted line and we can see the fine detail..
Some costs savings could be achieved with better management of inhouse facilities, but that too seems to have passed them by. WW recently reported that WBC car parks lost almost a quarter of a million pounds this year to add to those of approx £120,000 in the previous year. Management of garage and parking sites around the borough appears to be in disarray. No maintenance has been carried out for years and they seem only to collected roughly a third of the rents that are due. How many more leaks are their aboard the good ship WBC, becasue they all add up?
“It consists of a small, neighbourhood supermarket, pub and café-restaurant.”
there is a small neighbourhood supermarket and pub just at the back of the leisure centre, on Cotswold Road. but yeah if you think more of the same is essential for a small estate then go for it
I would guess that Its Tesco buying the new site which will spell the end for the Co-op on Cotswold Road.
What amazes me is that they keep nailing these things into the coffin of the town centre then moan that is going to ruin. Well, duh.
Once more this is becoming the norm for WBC. No consultation whatsoever and what gives these people the god given right to know what is best for us. We will never know because we will never know the detail until its too late. As you say WBC is in complete disarray! It’s time that the District Auditor was involved because the various losses reported recently together with the disarray in the Planning Department, the extortionate pay rises for senior executives, and the getting rid of staff affecting front line services needs to be investigated. WBNC cannot be allowed to get away with this for much longer. Why do we need another Supermarket on the bust A49? WBC have just spent £millions on the Longford Island project which has done nothing to improve the traffic flow along the A49 and now we need further taffic build up at the Fordton Traffic Island like a hole in the head. It’s time that our “elected” Councillors consulted with its electorate and began to listen to the opinions of its residents before carrying our these crazy schemes. I expect there is a shortfall of capital funding on the Orford Park site – the length of time its been going on – and the Councillors require some quick capital to underpin the project! What a way to conduct a £multi-million enterpirse that is WBC. “OUR” Town is steadily getting worse and some action needs to be taken fast before it is irretreivable. Roll on May 2012 when we can all have another say at the ballot box.
The problem with elections is that there is no party worth electing, and very few councillors measure up to the job, and those that do, don’t get into Town Hall because they speak for the people.
The clamour for consultation is an interesting one. In a representative democracy you elect people to act on your behalf, rather than have consulation as the process for decision making. If what people are saying is that they want consultation because they lack confidence in the decisions by those who have been elected, then the solution is to replace those elected by electing others. Evidence suggests that most respondents to consultations are those with particularly stronly held viewpoints, which themselves might not be representative. Interestingly in this particular case, I understand that the Councillor presenting the report represents the area that the leisure centre is in, and has done so for many years, which suggests that local people have some degree of confidence in his ability to represent their views. It is often said that the the population gets the elected representatives it deserves, whether that is true in Warrington, I don’t know, but if people aren’t happy they can do something about it on the first Thursday in May.
It says that “the developer will wish to obtain planning permission” which is obvious as no point in buying it if you haven’t already got planning permission ….. so in reality that means there will be a consultation in a way as people will be able to comment either in support or against the submitted planning application and its plan. On the other hand if the council have chosen this tender along with it’s proposed supermarket, pub and café restaurant then they have pretty much said to residents that they WILL approve it eh ? Maybe the residents are happy about it though and perhaps they fancy having another convenient shop and a pub and cafe nearby , you never know. Damn site better that being told you are getting a block of flats and a new housing development thats for sure 😉
Those are good points. I think one of the problems is a complete lack of confidence in the whole planning process at the moment coupled with my own belief that there is a lack of democracy in Warrington because officers seem free to do as they choose without councillors holding them to account. I’ll cast my vote like most people but it’s wasted if the decisions are being made by unaccountable council employees who also seem to be free to ignore policy. This was evident not only in the failure to take action following the planning maladministrations but also in the way Diana Terris dismissed councillor’s appeals to show restraint in accepting her 9 per cent pay rise.