A plot of land in Margate’s Old Town which has been the centre of a campaign to retain a tree is one of several Margate sites due to go under the hammer with Clive Emson auctioneers.
The land next to 3 Duke Street has planning permission for five flats and a commercial unit. The freehold guide price is £275,000-plus.
The land was previously considered for a community garden under a Countdown to Turner scheme in 2011.
However despite a spend of £7,881 on design, consultation and soil sample for the site and another at Cobbs Place, the gardens did not come to fruition.
The Duke Street site eventually went to auction as part of the council’s asset disposal programme in 2017 and was bought for an astonishing £270,000, way above the £70,000 guide price. The site formed part of a larger redevelopment scheme known as the Queen’s Arms Yard.
An application was lodged with Thanet council in November 2017 to build a shop and seven flats on the ‘scrubland’ at Duke Street. This was approved in June 2018, with some amendments.
The permission is for the erection of a four storey building with four, one-bedroom and one, two-bedroom flats along with retail on the ground floor.
Another site going under the hammer is the car wash area on the corner of Northdown Road by the Resort art studios.
There is planning permission in place for two commercial units and 21 two-bedroom flats.
Jon Rimmer, auction appraiser, said: “Planning permission is in place for an attractive development in a prominent corner position on Athelstan and Northdown Road.
“There would be 21 two bedroom flats plus a couple of commercial units. Obviously developers and builders will be looking at this opportunity.”
The freehold guide price is £520-530,000.
Also up for sale is The Old School Hall in Dent-de-Lion Road in Garlinge.
It was used as a church hall for many years but is now vacant. It has front and back gardens and has a freehold guide price of £180-200,000.
Another lot is a freehold block at 61 Godwin Road which contains four flats and is currently let at £19,740 per annum.
It has a freehold guide price of £255-265,000.
Also in Cliftonville is a one bedroom ground floor flat at Burlington House, 41 Harold Road. Flat 1 is currently let at £6,000 per annum and has the remainder of a 125-year lease from 2011. Its guide price is £70-75,000.
The online auction ends on Wednesday 10 February.
Visit https://www.cliveemson.co.uk for more details.
With all the housing planned for Garlinge, surely it makes sense to keep the old school hall for community use?
You’d think wouldn’t you 🤷🏼♂️
Quite agree.
Haha well that would just be too sensible wouldnt it!
The school hall was first advertised for sale about a year back and it had a community use order attached to it, not sure of full terms but it was along the lines of a community centred group could put in to buy it and if accepted had 6 months to raise the money ( or such like) there was a rumour at one point that a boxing club were interested.
The funds from the sale are apparently going to be used to improve the church facilities round the corner.
I do hope that for the car wash site on Northdown Road / Athelstan Road has in its plans plenty of out of sight refuse areas for those 21 flats! There is already a serious problem with rubbish and fly tipping in this area and I can only see this adding to the problem.
However, a housing block will only serve to improve the visual appeal of this very run down plot of land.
A modern development in the middle of Old Town!
I hope not !
And what about car parking for these proposed developments? Both Old Town and Cliftonville already have parking problems. No new builds should be permitted without sufficient parking for the number of properties being built.
There should be government legislation not only for this, but also that all new buildings these days should have solar panels installed.
I think nobody should be allowed to buy a car unless they can prove that they have a genuine need for one. I also think that what’s needed is a huge improvement in public transport.