A HYDE playing fields may be sold off for as little as £1 as Tameside Council hopes to make more than £3 million by disposing of several assets.
But Garden Street may not end up in the hands of a developer as it is being marketed as a Community asset Transfer (CAT).
The area in Hyde’s Newton area is among 16 the authority is looking to sell off as it looks to balance the books.
It lost out of more than £9 million of funding for Godley Green Garden Village because of delays meaning the Homes England deadline will not be met.
And Garden Street is one of a number of areas teat may be disposed of at its executive cabinet’s meeting on Wednesday, December 20.
News the area, which was a popular venue for Sunday football teams, is on it will not be the Christmas present many people wanted.
However, Tameside Council will not make much money if they are taken as it documents state it will be subject initially of a CAT.
The area taking in the changing pavilion was declared surplus in 2020 but this latest proposal will see the rest of it taken out of council ownership.
And if a suitable group can be found to take it on, that will essentially be handed the property, with a group interested in the initial transfer maybe rekindling interest.
Documents state: “Following approval of a Community Asset Transfer policy in June 2021, was marketed for a Community Asset Transfer, inviting expressions of interest.
“The marketing resulted in the council receiving two offers, one offer for community sports use and one offer – which was late and received after the tender deadline – for a commercial café.
“In respect of the community sports interest, it has become apparent that, in addition to the former changing rooms, this interest would be conditional upon the council also including adjoining playing fields within any future transfer.
“As the fields have neither been declared surplus nor included in the original opportunity offered by the council, it would be necessary for the Council to consider declaring the ‘adjoining fields’ surplus in accordance with its policies, prior to re-marketing the ‘enlarged’ opportunity to ensure that community groups are aware of the larger opportunity.
“The land is allocated as Protected Green Space in the adopted UDP, and any leasehold disposal by way of a Community Asset Transfer would include advertising a proposed disposal of the pitches as Public Open Space at the appropriate time.”
Garden Street is not the only area of Hyde earmarked for disposal – the toilet block at Hyde Park may also be marketed for a CAT.
Documents add: “The council has been approached by a community group who, have confirmed that they wish to take a lease of the toilets, refurbish them and ensure that they are opened and cleaned on a daily basis.
“In order to progress this interest, the council would need to declare the site surplus and the property would need to be advertised in accordance with the council’s Community Asset Transfer policy, in order to understand and approve the detailed business case around the potential arrangements.”
Tameside Council hopes to get £250,000 for land at then junction of Hall Street and Manchester Road and £30,000 for a small area at Ridling Lane.
In neighbouring Dukinfield, the authority hopes to get £25,000 for a land behind properties on Astley Street after being approached by a developer who is seeking to acquire the adjoining area and develop a small domestic garage site/area of secure, off-road parking.
Oh my goodness need attention by who not bothered and the toilets in Hyde park
This is downright ridiculous, how can our councillors sleep at night. A good clear out of them is urgently needed.
Sell them to a developer for top dollar and maybe they’ll be able to afford Christmas trees
The Changing rooms Have been constantly vandalised over a number of years,
I was asked a few years ago if I could fine a space for a young team to play cricket and possibly other sports so this area seemed to be Ideal unfortunately one of our officers confused the garden street foot ball pitches with the Victoria st fields which has a link footpath running fro: Victoria st across to Hickinfield road .
All of the land from Ashton Road up Garden st and then up to Chartwright st is infill land which is unsuitable for building on.
We are always being asked to provide somewhere for young people this location just seems to fit the bill.I have seen multi use sports fields were different sports are played on the same fields .
Cllr Peter Robinso
I hope that Cllr Peter Robinson has his say in this at the meeting on Wednesday. I agree entirely that it is a space that could be used as a multi sports field. It is used every Sunday morning during the football season. Why not do something with the building that used to be a changing room which would useful for school teams wishing to use the fields for sports.
The present government has brought this country to it’s knees and won’t be happy till every Public Service is privatised. They already have plans for further cuts to all local authorities, this means more cut down of services, more loss of accents, more council tax, more depravation and no matter how many properties are built there will be more homeless people. I thank Peter Robinson for the good work he does in our community and hope that he can get the backing to save the land and dedicate it for sports. I also hope he can get the support we need to repair the changing rooms. What Hyde needs is for our community to come together and support the councilors to improve the area.
Most local councils are not able to budget properly, they spend on the wrong things that don’t matter to local people. They should slim down how many counsellors we have. You can’t manage by consensus. The old saying here “to many cooks” I shall give you one example: charging for car parking in a town centre. This brings in thousands of pounds in which the council then go and waste on stupid projects that nobody benefits from. Their latest proposal in Hyde is to revamp the centre, hoping this will attract more people. Yet, if they give free parking this actually would. it would help local businesses in the town with footfall and the town would start to grow and thrive again. Instead of cutting services they should stop wasting money on silly sculptures and projects
But there are too many counsellors sat around the table that they would never agree and when they do its just to waste the money on anything silly to use up the budget so they don’t loose it the year after. Let’s do more for local people and businesses and make our towns thrive. Let’s attract people to the towns with free car parking. Let’s spend the money on the services instead of cutting them. Give the people what they need. Stop wasting our money!