Frustration over derelict sites

The owners of the Old Johnson Hospital in Spalding are refusing to engage with council officers as the authority continues to push for them to pay rates.

In an update to councillors on its derelict sites policy last week, it was revealed the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) had said no to South Holland District Council’s request for the owners to pay business rates.
But officer Mark Whelan told a meeting of the authority’s Performance Monitoring Panel that it was continuing to insist it reopens the investigation.
The Voice revealed in October the building was taken off the list of rateable properties 15 years ago as it was a former public building replaced by a new building.
Mr Whelan said though the initial VOA response was ‘no’ the council was continuing to insist it would.
“The question to the VOA is; how is that building classified as derelict when they haven’t paid rates for as long as they’ve pretty much owned it?” Mr Whelan told the meeting. “We’re awaiting the outcome.
“There has been push back from them which says they’re not intending to open the case again.
“We’ve pushed back again and said ‘oh yes’ you are’.
“There’s been a bit of tooing and fro-ing, but in essence we have said to them they seriously need to look at it as it’s the only way we are going to get engagement.
“We’ve tried many different avenues to engage with the owners. We reached out through an agent I knew who used to work for the owners and he recently confirmed that they weren’t willing to sell the site or do anything with it, as of the last three months.
“That means you push on the rateable challenge to see if you can drag them kicking and screaming to the party.”
Mr Whelan added that he thought the site had been sold ‘far too cheaply’ but that the site was maintained by the owners and under current guidance the council could only step in if the property became a safety concern.
He told the meeting that though the policy was working, if it was created again it should be under the planning team.
“It’s only a light touch.” he said. “It’s a policy for the public to say ‘what can we do about this’?
“It’s good, it works and it’s tested. We’ve seen people might do something with the Bull and Monkie in Spalding. Something could happen with The Bridge in Sutton Bridge?
“It was always going to be a slow burn.”
He said “You often see many negative comments about buildings, but if they are under private ownership, there’s not much we can do.”
Mr Whelan also gave an update on other buildings.
“The Bridge Hotel is still unregistered,” he said of the derelict building the council was out-bid for.”
Unfortunately we’re in a situation we can’t talk to them to see what they’re going to try and achieve with the site.
“I think it’s fair to say it’s probably the least enthusiastic outcome. In an ideal world we’d be in conversation with the owner of the site and we could engage with them to find out what their plan is.
“This policy gives us the framework to work with them and hopefully guide them to a successful outcome. For instance, we think something will happen with The Bull Hotel shortly and the Majestic Bingo in Spalding we’re monitoring very closely.
“But ultimately it does not give us any extra powers. It’s a framework to contact owners to see if we can engage with them.”