Ryde Town Council has defended its decision to purchase Vectis Hall after the long-derelict Ryde building was put up for auction with no reserve price despite significant public money being spent on the project.
The historic Melville Street property was bought by the Town Council in 2020 for £125,000 amid hopes it could be restored and brought back into community use.
Nearly 6 years later, the building remains boarded up and deteriorating, with additional spending on scaffolding, asbestos removal, structural assessments and consultancy work pushing overall public expenditure significantly higher.
Planning documents submitted last year revealed part of the building had already collapsed internally, creating what engineers described as an ‘imminent’ collapse risk. Listed building consent was later granted to demolish an unstable wall following warnings about severe movement in the masonry.
The property is now due to go under the hammer through Clive Emson Auctioneers on 17th June with no reserve price attached.
In a statement issued to Island Echo, Ryde Town Council said the original purchase had been inspired by the successful acquisition of St Thomas Church.
A spokesperson for Ryde Town Council has said:
“Following the successful purchase of St Thomas Church, Ryde Town Council sought to repeat that achievement with Vectis Hall.
Article continues below this advertisement “The building was bought with the intention of using grant monies to fund its regeneration, bringing a long-derelict historic building back into community use.”
RTC says the decision to sell the building was ultimately driven by 2 key factors – the lack of large-scale grant funding available following the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost of maintaining the site.
So yet again we have a hobby council with no experience of property management losing taxpayers money, paid 125 thousand and probably the same on maintainence over 6 years and going to get less than half of our taxpayers money for the building if anyone with any sense bids on it, knowing the very same council will object to any and every potential use of the building. These councils have no place in a modern world.
Well said. If this happened in a non publicly funded organisation, most likely people would be sacked. Expect we’ll get more bills covering the cost of RTC new ivory tower.
What’s it like being psychic? Can you tell me next week’s lottery numbers?
I’m sure you’d kick up a fuss if they employed someone with the industry knowledge to tell them it was or wasn’t a good deal too.
Just stop farting around and knock this damned eyesore down and build some homes for those that need them.