Bankrupt council sells site of scrapped project

A scheme to widen the Victoria Arch railway bridge was scrapped in 2023

An effectively bankrupt council has sold its stake in a town centre site once set aside for a multi-million pound redevelopment.

Woking Borough Council purchased about half a hectare of land between Victoria Road and Guildford Road during a spending spree that contributed to its financial collapse in 2023, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Proposals for the site included new homes and the widening of the Victoria Arch railway bridge.

The council's executive scrapped the project four months after declaring itself effectively bankrupt and accepted a bid for the land in June.

Network Rail previously told the council that it had no appetite to proceed with the railway works and the scheme was at "no longer either financially practicable or supported by key stakeholders".

Finance portfolio holder Dale Roberts described the scheme as "ambitious, but in practical terms, fatally flawed" and "never viable in the way it was configured".

He told a meeting of council's executive that the project collapsed due to the local authority's financial problems, but "the seeds of failure were sown long before that".

"We're closing a chapter on a project that could never have delivered," he added.

The council has not revealed the sum generated by the sale of the land, but council documents show the "highest financial offer" was accepted.

The local authority's original budget to redevelop the bridge was £115m, but that soon rose to about £169m.

Housing portfolio holder Ian Johnson told the June meeting that problems first began to materialise when existing site residents refused to sell their properties to the council.

The council also agreed to sell a site in Commercial Way and Goldsworth Road Industrial Estate.