Ryde Town Council is set to auction off the derelict former Vectis Hall building with no reserve price – despite spending at least £175,000 of taxpayers’ money on the project with little to show for it.
The Town Council purchased the historic Ryde building on Melville Street for £125,000 in 2020, amid promises it could be restored ‘back to its original glory’. Nearly 6 years on, the site remains boarded up and deteriorating.
Since April 2023 alone, Town Council spending records show at least £52,000 more has been spent on the building. The expenditure includes more than £30,000 on scaffolding and clearance works, alongside asbestos removal, structural assessments, planning consultancy fees and ongoing Public Works Loan Board repayments.
One payment of £23,240 was made for ‘scaffold & other works’, followed by another £7,145 for ‘scaffolding & clearance’. Additional payments include £1,231 for asbestos removal, £900 for a structural assessment and a further £5,475 to Christopher Scott for services relating to ‘pre-application and submission’.
Ryde Town Council has also budgeted up to £40,000 for Vectis Hall repairs during the current financial year, alongside ongoing insurance, security and loan costs.
Planning documents submitted in 2024 revealed part of the building had already collapsed internally, creating what engineers described as an ‘imminent’ collapse risk. Listed building consent was later granted for the demolition of an unstable wall after engineers warned of severe movement in the masonry.
Now, the property is heading to auction through Clive Emson Auctioneers with no reserve price attached – meaning there is no guaranteed minimum return for taxpayers. The hammer goes down on 17th June.
With the original purchase cost, ongoing borrowing repayments and repair works taken into account, public spending linked to Vectis Hall could now be approaching £200,000, with a real risk that the Town Council makes a loss when the property goes to auction next month.
This is another case of people supposedly and allegedly acting for the benefit of the community but completely out of their depth spending council money they had no right to waste.Sooner these parochial authoriites are dissolved the better.
Why was taxpayer money spent on this when it was owned by the family of one of the Ryde town concillors. When did this change hands and why??
Councillors are only Councillors to line their own
pockets.
Well now, there’s a question that won’t never be asked of the councilor involved ay? Why indeed. And will we get an answer? Of course not, it was only OUR money
Plenty more money to be wasted by the very expensive Ryde Town council. No thought for people struggling to pay the outrageous precept, just empire building.
Amazing how the Council; wastes public money !!
So this is where Ryde residents get screwed over again by the town council, if this building should sell for far less than purchased for then the council needs to find and fund the difference.
Did we Ryde residence also have extra put on our council tax to enable the purchase of both this property and the old Natwest Bank, surely as Ryde residence will not have the Vectis building surely we should get the cost of council tax refunded
The aerial photo suggests the Vectis Hall site could be repurposed as access/car park for the Royal York Hotel if the much more important hotel were to be redeveloped. Cost a lot of money, and probably many problems – but maybe an opportunity not to miss if the Vectis Hall site gets flogged off.
What former uses did this building undertake during it’s lifetime?