Car park sales continue to ‘ensure essential services can be maintained’ in Surrey Heath

Any sites it deems surplus and underutilised could be flogged of, the council said “to create a financial return and more community value’ – with two more immediately up for sale.

First among is the Charity Aid Store site in Obelisk Way, Camberley.

The council described the building as having the “potential to be developed into modern and desirable town centre housing”.

It could also be kept on as retail with the current occupiers Tivoli Interiors, Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and Charity Aid Store also being marketed with their leases in place.

The next is another car park and comes on the heels of the council warning it could be forced to sell all its car parks if they continued to lose money.

Last month it sold the Woodend Road car park despite pleas to keep it, and now it is doubling down by putting 75 spaces within the Yorktown car park, in Sullivan Road, Camberley, up for sale.

Once gone, there would only be 58 remaining spaces at the site but Surrey Heath Borough Council officers believe this is “more than enough to cope with demand based on the data collected over recent years”, according to a statement released announcing the sales.

It comes as the council must shed £1.74m this year through savings, reduced interest payments, and a further £500,0000 from “service delivery reviews”.

Councillor Kel Finan-Cooke, portfolio holder for property and economic development at Surrey Heath Borough Council said: “It is entirely necessary to conduct this exercise as we continue to seek savings and create revenue on behalf of the residents of Surrey Heath, to ensure essential services can be maintained.

“The council is not a natural owner of all these assets, sometimes community partners are, or commercial operators, including housing developers.

“All offers received for these locations will be carefully assessed to ensure they constitute best value for residents. 

“In addition, all sales are subject to review at the cross-party property and economic development working group before being considered for approval at a formal meeting of the council’s executive.”

The review is the council’s efforts to get a grip of its finances, which have been heavily impacted by the rising costs of essential services, declining income from its investments, and new audits that revealed millions missing in its accounts,

Failure to balance its books will lead to cuts in community support including meals on wheels services, Citizens Advice Bureau funding children’s play parks, and other non-statutory provisions.