For sale signs go up to protect services

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For sale signs go up to protect services

Wednesday June 30, 2010

Nine council buildings, that are either underused or provide poor value for money, could be sold in a totally unprecedented move by H&F Council to cut its £133 million debt mountain.

It says the estimated £20 million proceeds will contribute towards paying off debt and cutting interest repayments. Rental payments will also be saved. In total £2.5 million in cash would be freed up for frontline services every year.

The council says it has to cut £55 million from its budget over the next three years as a result of the national public spending squeeze and that the asset sales are necessary to protect front line services in tough times.

The sites being considered for potential sale are:

  • Fulham Town Hall
  • The Sands End Community Centre
  • The Askham Centre
  • Distillery Lane Centre
  • Palingswick House
  • The Irish Centre
  • 58 Bulwer Street
  • The Greswell Street Centre
  • 50 Commonwealth Avenue W12

There are three properties where the council proposes to discontinue its lease. These are:

  • The Information Centre in Hammersmith Broadway
  • Cambridge House
  • Barclay House

The council is also considering moving Hammersmith Library to a better site (see below for details on each site).

The council has made it clear that the proposed asset disposals would be only the first wave in a rolling programme, with more sites likely to be a considered for disposal later this year.

Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, said considering the sale of the buildings is part of the ‘tough decisions’ it faces as Government cuts hit town hall budgets.

“All indications are that we will have to reduce our spending by around £55 million over the next three years,” he said.

“We have stated very publicly that our focus will be on selling our assets to protect services. We have to put people before buildings and safeguard as much of our budget as possible for voluntary sector grants, child protection and services for the elderly.”

Consultations on the proposed sale of individual buildings will run over the summer and the results carefully considered before any formal disposal decisions are made.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of proposals to merge education services with Westminster Council, in a move the council says will cut costs by eradicating duplication, while continuing to drive up standards.

H&F council has also become one of the first in the country to publish details of its payments over £500, arguing that exposing its books to public scrutiny will drive out further waste.

The programme of moving council services and staff into fewer, more cost-effective sites is well underway. The council has shrunk its use of space by 40 per cent already with asset sales of £42 million. Vacated properties include Riverview House offices and Stowe Road depot. Now the council is asking voluntary groups to do the same. 

“The voluntary sector is hugely important in supporting local residents, but in these difficult times we must all do more for less,” adds Cllr Greenhalgh. “We are asking the voluntary sector to do what the council has already done - to use buildings more effectively and to focus on services rather than bricks and mortar. By moving to community hubs we will be able to provide better, more modern facilities for voluntary organisations under one roof, rather than in expensive, disparate buildings, many of which aren't suitable and have access problems.

The council will put in place extra support to help the groups affected by these site disposals to find suitable alternative accommodation and to manage the transfer process.

While these sales will make a significant contribution to debt repayment, they represent a modest proportion of the council's property portfolio. The council’s full property register (pdf, 26KB) is being published online today in the interests of transparency. Hammersmith and Fulham is the first council to have done this.


 Detailed site briefings

Fulham Town Hall could be part of a major regeneration plan for Fulham Town Centre, bringing new business and vitality to the heart of Fulham. It is woefully under-used and requires major renovation which the council cannot afford in the current economic climate. Most council services have been moved to other buildings over recent years and the council argues that ‘in this day and age, taxpayers simply cannot afford the luxury of having two town halls in one borough’. Selling the site also provides the most likely route to preserving the building and bringing it back to life.

Cllr Greenhalgh added: “As one of the smallest authorities in the country, we do not need, and cannot afford, two town halls. We want to see the building itself brought back to life as part of the biggest regeneration of the area since the Broadway development. Retaining its heritage and historical identity will be at the heart of any future proposal – we cannot and would not want to change the fabric or identity of the building.

“We need to ask taxpayers whether they want to continue to spend millions of pounds simply maintaining a building that is woefully underused and under occupied, or do we want to look at innovative ways we can bring it back into use while preserving its heritage in a way that benefits Fulham as a whole while it no longer burdens the taxpayer?”

Services such as registrars currently located here will be relocated to suitable accessible accommodation elsewhere in the borough. Tenants and leaseholders who presently get support and advice from reception services at Fulham TH will continue to be supported through even better local arrangements.

Cambridge House and Barclay House are council offices that will no longer be needed – the council’s Smartworking programme and staff restructuring, along with the market-testing of services over the last four years, has radically reduced the in-house workforce resulting in a much-reduced accommodation requirement. Other sites, including Riverview House and Stowe Road depot have already been disposed of.

The Askham Centre is under-used. Children’s Services located there would be moved to more cost-effective premises.

Palingswick House in King Street currently houses 21 voluntary sector organisations. Palingswick House needs renovation work the council cannot afford and could raise a multi-million pound contribution to the debt reduction plan. It is not accessible for disabled people and it is not located in the borough’s most deprived communities.

The council is proposing instead to concentrate voluntary sector accommodation in two new community hubs, one on the Edward Woods estate and the other, provided by the North Fulham NDC in Dawes Rd. These, it argues, will provide better, more tailored sites for a wider range of organisations. Priority will go to organisations who provide services for the most vulnerable local residents and who support the council’s overall priorities for the borough. The current users of Palingswick House will be able to apply for space, along with other local organisations.

Irish Centre
The council is planning to meet with the wider Irish community to discuss options for future funding arrangements for the Irish Centre. Its lease does not expire until 2012, so this will be a long lead in from consultation to any changes that are proposed. There are a number of issues which need to be considered before a final decision can be made on the options for this building, which will be subject to a separate report later in the year.

Sands End Community Centre is currently under-used. It houses gym facilities and adult education classes which could be re-provided nearby; the local children’s centre which could move to better facilities in Townmead Road where there is outside play space; and a local library. The library is the least used of the six libraries in the borough. It issues only 13 items per hour at a cost of over £5 per visit and its future as a potential community facility elsewhere in the ward will be the subject of a separate consultation this summer.

Distillery Lane
This site has been vacant since early June following the relocation of the after-school service to St Paul's Primary School.

The Greswell Street Centre is currently occupied by HAFAD who will be offered alternative accommodation at the more accessible White City Collaborative Care Centre

Bulwer Street has three occupants: Shepherds Bush Families Project provides the Children's Centre for the area which would be moved to another site nearby. If a formal decision to sell the property is made following a consultation the Vietnamese Association would be invited to apply for space at the Edward Woods community hub. Groups that use the centre would be helped to find other locations in the wide range of other community venues in the area.

The Broadway Information Centre is badly located and under-used by the public. Together with public information being more widely available through the internet, the public information centre is not considered the best use of this site.

50 Commonwealth Avenue - Nubian Life will be offered alternative accommodation, or if no other suitable location is identified, the building will be retained.

Hammersmith Library
In addition, the council will seek to move Hammersmith Library to a new site in central Hammersmith. The current site of Hammersmith Library is a listed building from which it is difficult to run a modern, accessible library. It may be possible for the current library to move to a better site in Hammersmith Broadway. This proposal will only go ahead following consultation with residents and only if a suitable site for the library in the centre of Hammersmith is secured.

Buildings Consultation» (opens new window)

Read more on voluntary sector grants»

View the council's property register» (pdf, 26KB)

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» Send us your comments now

There are no plans to demolish Jepson House, In fact, Cabinet agreed on 5th September 2011 that an extensive programme of decent homes works should be carried out at Jepson House and the contract has been awarded to carry out the work.
From H&F Council on 11/10/2011 at 15:34
Could you pls confirm or refute claims that Jepson House in Bulow Estate is being demolished. If so, could you confirm when this is likely to take place?
From krys on 07/10/2011 at 14:39
Many countries and most European ones maintain, in London, cultural centres: The French Institute, the German (Goethe) Institute, the Italian, Hungarian, Polish Centres, and many others. They aim to act as cultural hubs and meeting place and for the provision of language courses. Most of them also allow other cultural groups to hold meetings and other manifestations on their premises. None of these institutes are subsidised by the British taxpayer, or Council-tax payer: all of them are kept afloat financially by their respective governments. The Irish Centre may, or may not, fulfil some, or all, of these tasks: I have never seen any event advertised in the national press. Why, alone amongst such cultural outposts, should the Irish Centre be subsidised by us, the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham? In my view, the Council has the duty to sell the building, but, as a matter of courtesy, it should give the first refusal to the Irish government.
From George Ross on 19/01/2011 at 17:23
Is there a list of available venues for hire which can be circulated to the various groups that use these buildings. I'm particularly interested in venues near to the Shepherds Bush Village Hall in Bulwer Street. This hall is in constant use by local groups and as far as I am aware no advice has been imparted to them as yet.
From AP on 17/01/2011 at 17:48
Asset disposal (if property prices are expected to increase) seems a bad idea in the long run. Can these properties be leased, perhaps on a long-term basis? This would provide income while retaining capital value. Probably the most urgent means of reducing cost should be the halt of giving away expensive housing to those who cannot afford it. Hammersmith and Fulham is not a cheap district and those who cannot afford it MUST NOT BE ALLOWED to live there for free! No sane honest working man would live where he cannot afford it - and it is unbelievably immoral to hand out housing benefit in this expensive district.
From Peter Payne on 13/01/2011 at 13:12
It there no limit for Hammersmith and Fulham Council, they are one of the most greediest local authorities the rest been Kensington and Westminster and now they are proposing to join forces. They are selling public assets under the noses of the public they are supposed to serve, has anyone noticed how the have sold the sites of Adult Education buildings and even public toilets and also selling properties which can be used for rehousing yet, they have people waiting on housing list. This includes a tower block containing 68 flats which has been neglected, for over 3 years because they are supposed to be doing decent home work on the block which residents of the block were informed 4 years ago and no work has been done to the building. This is a fact as am a leaseholder in the block, who has not been moved, but they tell me they do not have 3 beds to move me into.
From doris on 30/11/2010 at 19:29
Whilst other councils are tightening their belts and being creative during these difficult times our clueless councillors can't think of anything more imaginative than selling off important community buildings that have been part of OUR heritage for over 100 years. The decision has been made to sell our assets rather than lay people off. We say cut waste, mange better and work harder! It's the council's responsibility to cherish, maintain and make available our public buildings and not sell the crown jewels because you don't have the ability or stomach to manage the finances. Future generations will look back at this big sell off with shame and despair. To find out how you can help save the Borough's important buildings for future generations join the "Save Fulham Town Hall" group.

H&F Council reply: Cutting waste and improving efficiency is out top priority. We have already lost 1,928 council staff which is 25% of the workforce, and we expect 700 more jobs to go. With historic debt of 131 million and cuts to our funding of 65 million over the next four years, the scale of the challenge can't be over-estimated. As one of the smallest councils in the country, we have to ask ourselves whether we can afford two town halls, one of which is hardly used. By selling under-used buildings, we could save 2.5 million a year, money that would otherwise have to be cut from service budgets.
From Peter Pan on 23/11/2010 at 19:35
These assets belong to the people of Hammersmith and Fulham - with property prices in the area continuing to increase, it seems like a crazy frenzy of asset stripping. The Council is selling off the family silver in order to reduce Council Tax and ensure that Hammersmith and Fulham will permanently have to rely on employees and facilities in neighbouring councils in order to provide frontline services.
From Lucyinldn on 18/11/2010 at 17:15
Reply to Wolfgang:
We would be very interested to hear about specific proposals and would consider them along with wider consultation feedback, although we cannot take them forward unless the consultation process leads to a formal decision to dispose of individual buildings and or sites. Any sales which may occur will be at market value. In the meantime, please email your ideas, with your contact details, to buildingsconsultation@lbhf.gov.uk
From H&F Council on 24/08/2010 at 13:19
There are local charities that are not government or council funded who currently rent properties and venues for their work from the private sector. If some of these council properties were leased or sold to local charitable organisations instead of to the commercial sector, some of the front-line community services could be replaced/maintained by these charities. I propose that the council invites such charitable groups to make offers/proposals for taking over properties like the Distillery Lane Centre, Sands End Community Centre, etc. There may be some great win-win ideas out there, along with the cash the council needs. How do we make specific proposals if we have them?
From Wolfgang on 23/08/2010 at 12:09
It is simply not correct to state that because a building is listed it cannot be altered. Change can take place and historic buildings can be adapted to 21st century needs. Listing is not intended to fossilise a building, but it recognises a buildings special significance and means that it is deserving of care and attention. Hammersmith library for instance can be sensitively adapted to create the modern, accessible library that is needed and probably for less expense than starting from scratch elsewhere in borough. The Victorian Society is the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment. It fights to preserve important Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes so that they can be enjoyed by this and future generations.
From The Victorian Society on 11/08/2010 at 12:12
In response to Kendal 02/08/2010 at 16:10
H&F Council says: We welcome your comments and urge you to take part in our online consultation. The reason why we have proposed selling Fulham Town Hall is because we believe that it may be the best way of safeguarding the building's future community use. Our latest estimate is that it would cost £7 million over the next five years just to maintain the building. In these tough financial times it is difficult to justify spending that money when we need to find £55 million of savings in the next three years. As a small council we simply do not need two Town Halls and that money could be better spent on frontline services. However, we must stress that, because the building is Grade II listed, it cannot be altered even if it is sold.
From H&F Council on 05/08/2010 at 14:26
Surely renting out Fulham Town Hall is by far the best option. It is ridiculous to just sell it now because the cash is needed - why not rent out the space, and allow businesses to refurbish, within the Graded parameters - any council refurbishing such a building would clearly waste millions of pounds. Just make sure it is structurally sound, and let businesses do the rest...
From Charlie on 05/08/2010 at 13:58
Stop the sale of council land.
From asv lorry driver on 02/08/2010 at 21:52
Stop the sale of land. They are (Y)OUR parks and open spaces.
From *home on 02/08/2010 at 21:46
It's a poor reflection on a Council that is prepared to sell off Fulham Town Hall, a star building in its portfolio and the chief civic building of Fulham. It shows a lack of pride and dignity in the function of a Council. If our Victorian forefathers had the will and vision to invest in good local governance, with a building to match, then we should be able to follow in their footsteps. If, instead of reducing Council tax by 3 per cent a year, the Council had held tax steady, we would still have benefitted from reduced bills in real terms and debt could have been paid down rather sooner. For the Council to sell off its prime asset in this way is extraordinarily short-sighted. Use Fulham Town Hall more, or rent it out - but don't sell it off.
From Rosemary on 02/08/2010 at 19:41
It is disgraceful that the council is proposing to sell Fulham Town Hall in a fire sale. The town hall is the perfect venue for dancing, and ballroom in particular, in terms of the floor, its size and its aesthetic appeal. It is a unique amenity in southwest London. It also has a stunning second hall with a wonderful sprung floor. The immense attraction of the venue for dancing is demonstrated by the fact English National Ballet came close to making it their base.
It is scandalous that the council should try to support its decision with the argument that the venue is underused. It is underused because the council does nothing to promote it, has let it go to rack and ruin, and charges ludicrous amounts for ordinary people to use it for its purpose. I would have no difficulty whatsoever in filling both halls with ballroom dancing 7 days a week.
Fulham Town Hall would make, and should be used as, an amazing dance and arts venue. There is no other similar facility in Fulham. It is obscene to sell this crown jewel property in a fire sale and deprive residents and dancers of a fantastic amenity. Join "Save Fulham Town Hall" facebook group and email savefulhamtownhall@hotmail.co.uk.
From Kendal on 02/08/2010 at 16:10
Excellent that the council is looking at all the wasted expenditure. Community services can be organised far more efficiently. This council (like many others) has gradually grown totally out of proportion. Time for proper resource allocation.
From Paul on 02/08/2010 at 10:47
Some of these buildings are either historic or are relied on by the signficant sections of the community as the base from which key services are delivered. To say that they are currently underused or provide poor value for money is to misunderstand the role and duties of the Council.
From M Emerson on 30/07/2010 at 17:14
Well done on taking these steps and starting to take some meaningful cuts. Too much money is wasted by this council and others, so shutting down underused and superfluous buildings is a very sensible first step, but it must be followed by bigger cuts to make any difference to the accumulated debt. The number of councillors for example could easily be cut as well.
From Alex on 27/07/2010 at 15:19
We've been expecting it for some time so it's no shock. We're reassured that we won't be moved out of the building until they find us somewhere to move into, and we have to work with them constructively. We'd rather buildings get rationalised than front-line services get cut.
From Maria Brenton on 24/07/2010 at 16:09

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