Purpose

Decision relating to offers received for the
site.

Content

In the Cabinet Paper dated 12th
December 2023 it was decided that King George V House in Amersham
should be disposed of as it was now surplus to requirement. Knight
Frank have acted as agent (selected through a tender process), and
the site was marketed in April and May 2024. Initial bids were
received and 10 of the 20 developers who submitted a bid were
invited to a 2nd round of bidding. Best and Final offers were
received. A full schedule of the offers received could be seen in
the Confidential Appendix.
 
The site was within the
Chiltern Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation zone of influence
and therefore any development that resulted in additional homes
would need to provide Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace. The
Council was currently negotiating on a potential solution for this,
but it was not finalised. Any SANG credits not attributed to the
KGVH disposal could be sold to other developers to release other
housing sites and to realise capital receipt (amount to be
determined).
 
The site currently occupied by
Buckinghamshire Council’s King George V House former offices
was an established employment location suitable for redevelopment.
The Local Planning Authority was supportive in principle of
brownfield development in existing town centres, which brought
regeneration benefits to an area. The original planning permission
for KGVH contained a condition that, despite the site having
previously been residential, the site should be retained for
employment use if it ceased to be used as a civic building. Any
conversion of the site to residential would require a modification
to this condition. Officers anticipated that applications from the
buyer would be policy compliant, particularly in regards to
affordable housing.
 
One representation was
considered by Cabinet Members in exempt session.
 
RESOLVED -
 

That the offer
detailed in the Confidential Annex which realises the best value
for the site when taking into account delivery risk and net present
value be accepted. 

That authority be
delegated to the Service Director of Commercial Property &
Regeneration to negotiate Heads of Terms in line with the offer
received and instruct Legal to deal with the conveyancing process
through to completion.