Council land auction will potentially benefit via investment in schools

Wrexham Council is auctioning off two plots of land which could raise more than £75,000.

It includes a former builders yard on Gutter Hill in Rhos, which has been given a guide price of £25,000 or more, and an old coach yard off Aberderfyn Road in Ponciau worth £50,000 and above.

Both are set to go up for auction next month and the authority said they would be suitable for redevelopment subject to gaining planning permission.

Wrexham.com asked Wrexham Council last week if the sale was part of asset review and if there will there be similar future sales. We also asked if the cash raised is ringfenced in a particular ‘pot’.

Wrexham Council told us: “We regularly review our assets and where we can find no use for them we dispose of them – this is normal practice.”

“Monies raised will go to the General Capital fund which has as the Corporate Priority of investment in schools.”

Ponciau councillor Paul Pemberton, whose ward the two sites are based in, said he hoped the sale would help to regenerate the disused land.

He said: “I’m ecstatic that the builder’s yard is going because that’s on the gateway to Rhos.

“It’s been overgrown for around 30 years so if anyone can make use of that and tidy it up then I’m excited about that because I think it will benefit the area.

“The old bus depot used to be run by a village firm, but the buildings are in a very sad state of repair and I think they would need to be demolished.

“It’s a good chunk of land and if it benefits the village I’m 100 per cent behind it.”

The builders yard was in use since the 1930s and formerly owned by a company called EW Gittins. However, after it closed the 0.8 acres of land became overgrown.

Meanwhile, the bus depot was operated by family-run T Williams for 80 years before being taken on by a firm known as J.O. Travel in 2005. In June 2011 the business was sold to GHA Coaches , who chose not to use the building, which is surrounded by approximately 1.2 acres including woodland.

Both sites will go under the hammer at an auction being held at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford on December 6 2018.

Wrexham.com / Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme).