Council to sell 'loss-making' Midsomer Norton office block

The Wansdyke Business Centre in Midsomer Norton was opened in 2004

A council is selling a "loss-making" office block, after being accused of not allowing anyone to move in.

The Wansdyke Business Centre in Midsomer Norton was opened in 2004 to create more office space.

Bath and North East Somerset Council took over the running of it from Business West in 2018.

Councillor Shaun Hughes, one of two tenants based in the 19-office facility, said the council's management of it was "disastrous".

He said: "There have been no new tenants permitted to move into the building, no marketing of the available offices, no response to potential tenant requests, and no attempt to find a provider to continue the serviced office space - including myself."

He attended a scrutiny panel meeting where the building was discussed as the ward councillor and a resident of the building, and not as a voting councillor, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Councillor Colin Blackburn said: "This has been a five-year plan to sell off the family silver."

Council cabinet members Mark Roper and Richard Samuel, who were behind the decision to sell off the centre, were unavailable for the meeting, which had been called at short notice after a quarter of councillors signed a call-in of the decision.

They were represented instead by council cabinet member for council house building Tom Davies.

He said that the council had been paying at least £25,000 a year to subsidise the business centre.

Subsidy 'not justified'

He added: "There is no longer market failure that justifies that public subsidy."

Quizzed on why new tenants had not been accepted, Mr Davies said: "My understanding is that there was a period where the leases were being regularised so that every tenant would be put on a new lease and during that period new tenants weren't brought into the building."

The scrutiny panel voted to allow the decision to sell off the business centre to proceed unchallenged.

The long leasehold for the building will be returned to the open market for use as office, industrial, or warehouse space.