New Monks Farm: Council under fire for selling land at undervalue to IKEA site developers
The council has come under fire for selling a piece of land to New Monks Farm developers for just a quarter of its value.
Developers want to use the land at Hayley Road in Lancing as a temporary access road to the New Monks Farm development, where 600 new homes and an IKEA are planned, until the permanent access road is built.
In order to determine the value of the land, Adur District Council commissioned a valuation which concluded that it was worth £200,000.
But New Monks Farm Limited contested this and claimed paying this sum would make the development unviable to the extent that it would be forced not to proceed.
The council therefore agreed to sell the land for £50,000, which was ‘the best and final offer’ made by developers, according to a decision notice published on the council’s website.
Justifying the decision, the council said Government policy specified certain circumstances in which an authority could dispose of land at an undervalue – such as when selling the land will help to secure the ‘promotion or improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of its area’.
In this case, the council said it was accepted that this £150 million development would be ‘a significant boost’ to the local and wider regional economy.
However, councillor Lee Cowen said the decision was ‘unreasonable’.
He said: “This decision may be legally watertight but how does this look to the residents in my ward already putting up with the inconvenience of this build?
“It’s unreasonable and I’ve requested to see the land valuation reports.
“As councillors, we have been elected to seek best value for our residents.
“Put the boot on the other foot. If the council was building homes on their land and there was a privately owned ransom strip they wanted to buy, would the owner dispose of this land at an undervalue?”
An Adur District Council spokesman said: “The Council followed government guidance in how it came to the decision to sell the land at an undervalue given the substantial social and economic benefits of the scheme as outlined in the planning report.”
Search HMP&I/018/19-20 to see the decision notice on the council’s website in full.