Anger as Plymouth's ex-register office in 'fire sale' for just £295k

'It's a shame such a key site is to be flogged off at such a low guide price'

Plymouth’s disused register office is going under the auctioneer’s hammer with a guide price of just £295,000. The sale, taking place on November 1, has been described as a “fire sale” by incredulous Hoe residents and councillors at a time when vendor Plymouth City Council needs to raise nearly £9m to help pay for the Armada Way revamp.

PlymouthLive revealed last month that the building was surplus to council requirements and was being disposed of with it earmarked for a mixed-use scheme including a “quality” hotel and 52 homes. But until now the price tag had not been revealed.

Auction appraiser James Lofthouse, at Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers, said: “This is a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial site comprising a former register office and surrounding grounds. It occupies a key location next to the iconic Plymouth Hoe and is close to the city centre.

The site offers mixed use redevelopment potential, subject to all the necessary planning consents, in one of the most desirable areas of the city.”

The auctioneers stressed the guide price was a “minimum expectation” and said it is not necessarily the price the property will sell at, and can change prior to the auction. But the figure has been met with amazement, especially as an end terrace house on nearby Citadel Road can be bought for £230,000 and a flat in the Rivage block on the waterfront is going for £795,000.

Both Penny Tarrant, chair of the Hoe Neighbourhood Forum, and Tory Cllr Lee Finn, chair of the housing and community services scrutiny panel, described the guide price as “a fire sale”.

Mrs Tarrant said: “I do think it's a shame that such a key site is to be flogged off at such a low guide price, when we were led to believe the council was expecting a seven-figure sum for it.”

The Lockyer Street building, which opened in April 1982, has been disused since 2020 when weddings and records of births and deaths were moved to new premises at Derriford Business Park. The council has instructed Clive Emson to auction it and the surrounding land, totalling 0.27 hectares.

The square site encompasses the two-storey block including offices and ceremony rooms over 574sq m, plus parking for 20 cars, and gardens. The property is allocated in the Joint Local Plan under policy PLY27, for a mixed use development including a hotel and housing in the order of 52 homes.

Mrs Tarrant said the Hoe Neighbourhood Forum, had been working on a soon-to-be-released draft neighbourhood plan, having received grant funding to conduct a housing needs analysis, which showed there was “a great need for affordable housing of different sizes within the Hoe Forum area”.

She said: “We were then able to commission a feasibility study and then a viability study. This led to us apparently working together with the council on bringing forward an affordable housing scheme of around 36 homes, which would be sympathetic to the site and to the conservation area, within which it sits.

“Despite many requests, we received no further communication from councillors or officers until we heard a rumour that the site was to be auctioned. On questioning this, it was confirmed to be true.”

She added: “Given time and a bit of support from the council, it's highly possible that we, as a community, could have found a way to raise funding to buy the site and to have worked together with the council as partners to bring forward some desperately needed housing in the city centre.

Tory opposition leader Cllr Andy Lugger, also a solicitor, said: “I have today been advised that the Labour administration is prepared to sell the site for £295,000 by way of a public auction. Whilst I am not a chartered surveyor, I do consider this figure to be well below market value, unless there is some encumbrance.

“The site has massive ‘hope value’ and a public authority must get the best price for any disposal. Accordingly, I should be keen to learn why this undervalue transaction is proposed as it is tantamount to an impecunious person selling off the family silver to stave off bankruptcy.”

Last month PlymouthLive reported that the council aims to raise nearly £9m from selling off “surplus property”. This will pay for 29% of the £29,892,665 cost of the ambitious Armada Way revamp.

The council has “ring-fenced” assets which it is selling, estimated to be worth about £12,750,000 of which £8,716,449 will be used to pay construction costs on the Armada Way scheme.

Cllr Finn has now called on the Labour-led council to stop all property sales pending open market valuations of council assets being sold.

He said: “We thought the days of Labour giving property and land away for a pound were over. Considering the financial position of the council, to set such a low valuation of a prime piece of real estate is beyond comprehension and we call for a pause in any such asset sales until the audit and governance committee has had a chance to review all fire sales.”

He asked why the former register office site had not been placed on the open market, and described auctioning property as “tantamount to visiting a casino” and said: “It depends on the reserve price, who is present and above all what people are prepared to pay. It is quite conceivable it does not reach its reserve. It's gambling in all but name.”

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