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Blowers Green


pearley

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Stopped here for water, etc. this morning and saw this stapled to the fence. If you want to object you have to the 20th January. I would assume that if it is sold the Elsan will go and probably the water tap. The map attached to the notice shows the land to be sold including the waste bin area so that might go too. I know there are facilities only just down the road at Merryhill but getting water there is a pain  in the ass. And I know there is water at Windmill End except that tap is currently out of action. 

What happens to the sale proceeds? Are they ring fenced and can only be used to purchase other property or does it go towards CRTs general expenses? 

20180109_111413.jpg

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Doesn’t this come back to the transfer from BW, in that the Infrastructure Trust owns the infrastructure, and CRT is the operating arm.  Like most businesses you tend to ring fence different parts of the operation for tax and protection purposes.

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5 hours ago, pearley said:

Stopped here for water, etc. this morning and saw this stapled to the fence. If you want to object you have to the 20th January. I would assume that if it is sold the Elsan will go and probably the water tap. The map attached to the notice shows the land to be sold including the waste bin area so that might go too. I know there are facilities only just down the road at Merryhill but getting water there is a pain  in the ass. And I know there is water at Windmill End except that tap is currently out of action. 

What happens to the sale proceeds? Are they ring fenced and can only be used to purchase other property or does it go towards CRTs general expenses? 

20180109_111413.jpg

How much are they asking for the freehold?

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1 hour ago, Laurie.Booth said:

How much are they asking for the freehold?

 

I might be interested in bunging in a few bob if you are starting a fund Laurie. 

I'd quite like to see the full extent of the red line defining the freehold though. Anyone got a better photo showing the whole map?!

How many flats do you think we could we cram onto the site?

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13 hours ago, pearley said:

Stopped here for water, etc. this morning and saw this stapled to the fence. If you want to object you have to the 20th January. I would assume that if it is sold the Elsan will go and probably the water tap. The map attached to the notice shows the land to be sold including the waste bin area so that might go too. I know there are facilities only just down the road at Merryhill but getting water there is a pain  in the ass. And I know there is water at Windmill End except that tap is currently out of action. 

What happens to the sale proceeds? Are they ring fenced and can only be used to purchase other property or does it go towards CRTs general expenses? 

20180109_111413.jpg

This notice does not appear on the CRT Notices page:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/public-notices

Tim

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The notice certainly makes it appear that a sale is already planned. three years ago, a similar sale, according to CaRT, could not be sold unless it was at public auction, so that it was transparently the best deal, to satisfy charitable requirements. The sale actually reduced the potential and also incurred commission. No prior notice of the sale was posted, except for the auction sale board. Is there a covenant on this land that makes a difference, so that has to be satisfied before a sale can be advertised.

Any 'closed' sale must raise some fears of insider dealing and planning collusion.

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53 minutes ago, IanM said:

When this popped up on Facebook my initial thoughts were was it actually an official notice or someone with an anti-CRT agenda trying to stir up trouble.

I must admit that my recollection from passing it several times was that the main pumphouse building was owned or rented by a trust - maybe the Dudley Canal Trust (Wikipedia say that they operate it)  know more but I cannot find anything via Google. I did find a photo from 1984 which showed the site rather downbeat and boarded up, it previous industrial user presumably having left. I'd be surprised if the building is not listed. 

The document in the OP does not feel genuine, however. All such official notices I have ever seen have a header that tells a lot more and I'm suspicious that we have not seen all of the document.

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With few exceptions, when a Charity wishes to make a freehold disposal of property, it has to obtain a written report from a Chartered Surveyor.  The report has to comply with "The Charities (Qualified Surveyor's Report) Regulations" and therefore must cover numerous matters including:

"Advice as to the manner of disposing of the relevant land so that the terms on which it is disposed of are the best that can reasonably be obtained for the charity"

and

"unless the surveyor’s advice is that it would not be in the best interests of the charity to advertise the proposed disposition, the period for which and the manner in which the proposed disposition should be advertised"

which rather reduces the potential for under-selling, intentional or otherwise.

However, this notice is not a form of advertising the property for sale - it relates to s121 of The Charities Act 20111 which applies "Additional restrictions where land held for stipulated purposes"  and is more concerned with the principle of disposal rather than the detail.

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8 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I might be interested in bunging in a few bob if you are starting a fund Laurie. 

I'd quite like to see the full extent of the red line defining the freehold though. Anyone got a better photo showing the whole map?!

How many flats do you think we could we cram onto the site?

I'll go 50 50

:)

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Blowers Green Pumphouse has been used for a number of years by Dudley Canal Trust, presumably on some sort of lease or rental arrangement, now that they have the new buildings at the Tipton Portal they will probably have given C&RT notice that they wish to quit and C&RT are obliged to find another purpose/use for the land and Buildings. 

 

springy

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10 minutes ago, springy said:

Blowers Green Pumphouse has been used for a number of years by Dudley Canal Trust, presumably on some sort of lease or rental arrangement, now that they have the new buildings at the Tipton Portal they will probably have given C&RT notice that they wish to quit and C&RT are obliged to find another purpose/use for the land and Buildings. 

 

springy

The BCNS posted on Facebook a copy of the picture and the comment "Blowers Green Pump House is causing us concern. I have just received this from one of our Society members who spotted the notice on his way through Blowers Green. If you want to make any comments to CRT you have just a few days - until 20th January in fact. See the notice for details and an email might help"

I'm still of the opinion that the notice doesn't look quite right.

Edited by IanM
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The notice is with all the other similar ones from 2017 on the CRT web site at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/business-and-trade/public-notices  so I don't see why there would be any doubt as it if it is genuine or not.

This is the site plan linked to from there https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/refresh/media/thumbnail/34995-blowers-green.pdf

What is not clear to me is what the concern with this is, is it relating to the historical nature of the building, or the potential loss of the services?

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loss of the services is pretty much the key, they seem to be selling things off and removing services all over the place

Notice pinned up just before Christmas with 1 month to respond - good time to bury bad news.....CRT and BW before them are very good at using the "no boating" period to avoid unnecessary opposition. 

  • Angry 1
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CRTs charitable objects are to preserve the canal heritage , a listed pump station like this would seem to qualify. Marple wharf under threat Bulbourne and Marsworth gone amongst others. Yet more services that no doubt will be lost in the future.

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You are right the original plans were rejected (quite sensibly IMO) on highways grounds and according to the parish council variations remain under review. It is still CRTs intention to redevelop if they can obtain appropriate planning I believe. 

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