Lewes Forum thread

Go on, tell 'em what you think

Lewes Forum New message

Lewes House

On 10 May 2008 at 7:47pm Local wrote:

There's a story going round on Lewes District Council about why they had to sell the land behind Lewes House to a developer ro build flats. And a right mess they've made over planning permission for that.
Apparently when the council bought Southover House they didn't do a proper survey before buying. As a result they had to spend a fortune renovating it. This left a nig hole in the council's finances - which they could only fill (and hope the voters didn't find out) by selling off - the land behind Lewes House. It might be a good idea if a few of the councillors resigned so we could have some by-elections to sort this lot out. And the officers have got some explaining to do as well. So - get on the case Sussex Express.

On 11 May 2008 at 2:56pm Spinster Of This Parish wrote:

Sorry to disappoint you but the land behind Lewes House has not been sold to a developer - it has been given to a developer.
As for the big hole in the council's finances - �400,000 has to be found to pay for the free of charge bus passes.

On 12 May 2008 at 11:32am Local wrote:

I'm not sure that is correct Spinster, though I'm willing to change my mind if you have better evidence. My understanding is that things dragged on for so long that people on the council were complaining that the land had greatly increased in value by the time the council sold it to the developer at the original price.

On 12 May 2008 at 2:48pm Roly Mo wrote:

�600,000 has had to be found by LDC for the free bus passes.

On 15 May 2008 at 7:51pm Spinster Of This Parish wrote:

Local,
I believe that the land next door (Baxter's) sold for over �2m and that was about 4yrs ago (the developer having to consider demolition costs into the equation too). Lewes House site is a larger plot of land and no demolition costs are to be incurred as it has never been built on before. A six figure sum certainly makes that an incredible bargain. And to make the whole scenario more insulting, the developer benefits from a generous grant from the housing corporation too (more of our money).
Roly Mo,
�400K has risen to �600K? Suspect this is due to the council dishing out bus passes to any person over pensionable age (even if that person is NOT entitled to recourse of public funds).