Financially Troubled Hastings Borough Council To Consider Selling Assets

Hastings Borough Council is considering the sale of several properties, following publication of a long-awaited review of the authority’s finances.

Next Monday (August 7), Hastings cabinet members are set to consider the final report of a Local Government Association (LGA) peer challenge, which looked into the council’s troubled financial position. 

During the same meeting, cabinet members are also set to decide whether to put four council assets up for immediate sale.

These assets include Upper Wilting Farm in Rother, 12/13 York Buildings and two parcels of land with outline planning consents known as Bexhill Road and Mayfield E.

In a press statement released ahead of the meeting, council leader Paul Barnett (Lab) said:

"We believe that selling these four assets is the best way forward for the council, in terms of raising revenue to help with the financial situation and, in the case of Bexhill Road and Mayfield E, that the sale of the land will mean homes are built more quickly than we could build them. 

"The housing crisis is the council’s top priority and any additional finances we can raise will help us address this and also ease the pressure on our budgets."

Upper Wilting Farm is made up of 188 acres of farming land in Rother.

The land is within the strategic gap of the Rother Local Plan, meaning it has no immediate potential for redevelopment.

Both the land at the rear of 419 to 447 Bexhill Road and at Mayfield E site in Hollington have outline planning consent for residential development.

A full application for the Bexhill Road site is currently going through the planning process.

The council says selling this land would allow social housing to be built more quickly than if the council was to develop the sites itself.

The final site, 12/13 York Buildings, is a mixed retail and residential building in Wellington Place. It is Grade II listed.

The council recently spent more than £1m renovating and converting the building’s upper floors into six flats.

The council had been planning to use these flats for social housing, but ultimately decided it was unsuitable for this use. 

Collectively, the sale of these assets are expected to bring in around £3m, money the council says would be reinvested into funding its capital programme and to reduce its external borrowing.

Enabling the sale of council assets was one of 13 recommendations made in the LGA report. 

The report also recommended that the council take actions to tackle its housing overspend  and to undertake a comprehensive review of all its spending to areas where it can make cuts.

These recommendations come as the LGA warns that the council could be forced to issue a s114 notice—a process often compared to bankruptcy—before the end of the current financial year. 

Similar warnings had were found in a leaked briefing by the LGA review team previously reported by the LDRS.

The council says it has already begun work on the recommendations, including through the sale of the four assets above.

Cllr Barnett  said:

"When I became council leader in 2022, I immediately ramped up our work to respond to both national and local financial pressures.

"This led directly to us setting a much tougher budget in February as the cost of tackling homelessness had substantially increased by then.

"So I want to thank the LGA for coming and doing this review in March, and for their recommendations, all of which we are taking on board.

"We have listed nearly 100 actions already taken or planned in response in this report, and I welcome all partners across the town who wish to work with us to resolve this crisis that is impacting so many residents.

"The financial difficulties that we are facing are a result of a national housing crisis.

"The system is broken, and as a result is forcing many of our residents out of secure accommodation into temporary housing provided by the council. 

"Our housing register has more than 1,500 households waiting for a new home, and there are more than 500 households (more than 1,000 people) living in emergency temporary accommodation. 

"The ever-increasing costs of temporary accommodation means that to provide housing for everyone we have a duty to house has increased from £730,000 in 2019 to £4.5 million for 2022/23—a rise of more than 400 per cent—and it is predicted to rise to £5.6 million for 2023/24.  

"And yet without the cost of temporary accommodation and housing, the council’s budget for 2022/23 shows an underspend of £1 million.

"Because of the huge increases in housing costs, there are going to be difficult decisions that have to be made across the whole council as we continue to try to balance our budget."