By John Baron
The sale of Pudsey Town Hall to a Manchester-based property developer has this week been confirmed by local councillors.
Property and investment company AGHA Group, which is run by Agha Sameer Anwar, is the new owner.
On its website, the company says: “We buy buildings with character — mills, workshops, yards, warehouses and blocks — and we bring them back into use as places people actually want to work and live in.”
The property’s sale price was £575,000, plus fees at 4% which totals £598,000. Leeds City Council has previously stated five offers were received as the local authority looks to balance its books.
AGHA Group will need to secure planning permission for the change of use of what is a historically significant building within a conservation area.
Reaction
The sale completion has been received with disappointment by local opposition councillors.
Cllr Andrew Carter (Cons, Calverley & Farsley) expressed his disappointment. He said in a statement: “‘Fire sale’ gone through today. Leeds City Council leadership, hang your heads in shame. Asset stripping madness, council tax payers [have been] fleeced again!”
Cllr Trish Smith (Reform, Pudsey) – who was also involved in the Pudsey Town Hall CIC which looked to take the building into community ownership – added: “It is such a shame to see Pudsey lose yet another part of its community heritage.
“Pudsey Town Hall CIC did everything the Council asked of us, in the way it asked us to do it. We developed the business case, followed the required processes, worked with officers, brought community partners together and continued trying to find a sustainable future for the building.
“What makes the outcome particularly difficult to accept is that the Town Hall has ultimately been sold for a figure only modestly above what the CIC was prepared to offer. We therefore have to ask what Pudsey has actually gained by losing this historic civic building from community ownership.
“I also find it disgraceful that the council chose to dispose of Pudsey Town Hall in this way when community asset transfers have been very recently used elsewhere to give important public buildings a sustainable future. Instead, this process was pushed through with what I believe was completely unnecessary haste.”
Cllr Smith added: “I sincerely hope the new owners understand what they have acquired and recognise that they are taking stewardship of an important part of Pudsey’s history as well as a development opportunity. The CIC has previously made clear that we are willing to work constructively with the new owners to explore ways of protecting the historic civic floor and its heritage. That offer remains.”
Posting on Facebook, Cllr Simon Seary (Cons, Pudsey) said: “Following Historic England’s decision not to list Pudsey Town Hall, Leeds City Council resumed negotiations with the interested party and completed the sale of the building today.
“The keys have now been collected for handover, and the ‘For Sale’ signs are due to be removed on Monday.
“It is a sad day to see this important building pass out of public ownership. However, we must now look forward and hope that the new owners fully engage with the community and deliver something positive for Pudsey after the building has stood empty for far too long.”
At a meeting of the full council in March, Deputy Council Leader and Executive Member for Communities Cllr Debra Coupar (Lab) said: “For councillors in Pudsey and Calverley & Farsley, I know the importance of this building and I am also disappointed that we were unable to come to a solution that the community and the CIC could have taken over this building.
“I did work for a lot of hours on this to try to come to a solution that would be really suitable. Unfortunately we couldn’t do so.
“After six years of trying, we would have not done the right thing as a council [if we didn’t] try to protect tax payers’ money. We needed to move on with the sale of the building.
“It’s unfortunate for the people who were involved, and I accept that, but I don’t think there was anything more that this administration could have done to get it the position that you needed it to be in.”
WLD has been following local and national government cuts and building sales in West Leeds via its Cutswatch series here.
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Somewhat disengenuos to suggest if the CIC had taken over they wouldn’t have constantly been seeking financial support from the council. Sad to see it happen nonetheless but I still believe the then Pudsey Borough council sealed it’s fate well over 50 years ago by blowing all it’s money on Dawson’s Corner.