Borough care home set to be sold at auction

Two more closed Derbyshire care homes are set to be sold at auction, joining two more which have already been listed for sale for more than a month.

On September 9th, auction listings for former Derbyshire County Council facilities, Briar Close House Care Home in Borrowash and Thomas Colledge House in Bolsover, were posted by BTG Eddisons.

Weeks later, a council decision notice, dated October 9th, now states that the two facilities, alongside The Grange in Eckington and Rowthorne in Swanwick, are to be sold at auction, with the decision to take effect from October 17th.

Briar Close and Thomas Colledge are set to be sold at an auction on October 28th, with guide prices of £300,000 and £375,000, respectively.

Auction listings for The Grange and Rowthorne are not yet available, and this is the first time their individual sales have been detailed.

The county council was asked about the decision notice and the auction listings and issued a statement via a spokesperson.

It said cabinet member approval is required for sales where the properties are expected to £500,000 or above, indicated that this had not been the case before but is now the case for the listed care homes.

They said: “Officers have delegated powers to place properties for auction up to a value of £500,000.

“Where properties are expected to achieve in excess of £500,000, cabinet member approval is required.

“Recent sale results have been very positive, so cabinet member approval has been sought because we anticipate the homes will generate income in excess of £500,000.”

Ernest Wilson, part of the BTG Eddisons group, was the council’s appointed partner to try to sell eight care homes, which had been slated to close under the previous Conservative administration due to budget cuts and the prioritisation of specialist dementia care.

However, a sale to a sole provider fell through weeks before Christmas last year, under the Reform UK administration, and it then decided to vacate all the facilities, effectively evicting its residents, close them in June, and either sell or reuse the properties.

One of the eight former care homes, Castle Court in Castle Gresley, was sold at auction on September 30th for £2.59 million, above the asking price of £600,000, to private provider Your Health Group, which will now refurbish and reopen it early next year.

To date, the council has not specified whether any of the eight care homes will be retained for other council services, with the authority suggesting this remained an option rather than a sale.

A council decision notice regarding Briar Close House, Thomas Colledge House, The Grange and Rowthorne states that the sales will include 999-year leases that restrict the future use of the properties.

It writes: “Sales by way of leasehold interests would allow the council to place use restrictions which were key to allow consideration as to what they might be used for in future and enable the council to restrict the use of the sites going forwards and to prevent any development which would directly impact on the surrounding residential area and help support the development that was required in the area.

“Sales by auction was the quickest route to market and would encourage competitive bidding in a fair, open and transparent manner.”

The decision notice, referring to the failed sale of the eight homes to a sole provider, writes: “A sale did not materialise.”

It says: “The buildings were vacant, and the unoccupied buildings would inevitably deteriorate over time and could pose a danger to the public if left unsecured. The cost of securing and retaining the assets long term for future use would be cost-prohibitive and does not align with the council plan.”

The notice says “the assets would require significant capital investment and would not be financially viable” to retain or redevelop.