At a council meeting reviewing the Labour Council's draft annual accounts for 2018/19, councillors discovered that the valuation of its Market Walk shopping centre had fallen to £18.5 million.
It's important because that's £4.841 million less than taxpayers paid for the centre in late 2013, just five years ago.
The report told councillors "the valuation of Market Walk Shopping Centre in 2018/19 resulted in a reduction in its existing use value from [last year] £20.4m to £18.5m", a fall of £1.9 million over one year alone.
Previous valuations from our past enquiries:
|
Year |
Valuation |
Change £ |
|
2013/14 purchased |
£ 23,341,000 |
|
|
2014/15 |
£ 22,250,000 |
-£ 1,091,000 |
|
2015/16 |
£ 22,250,000 |
£ - |
|
2016/17 |
£ 20,850,000 |
-£ 1,040,000 |
|
2017/18 |
£ 20,400,000 |
-£ 450,000 |
|
2018/19 |
£ 18,500,000 |
-£ 1,900,000 |
Leader of the Conservative opposition Councillor Martin Boardman comments “This is no surprise! Shopping centre landlords and owners all over the country have for the past few years seen valuations plummet in the face of changing shopping habits and the closing of many high street stores."
"Back in 2013 when Chorley’s Labour administration decided to purchase Market Walk it did so at a time when valuations were high, however the future profitability of the retail sector was low. The value of Market Walk has declined year on year, and without serious investment and reinvention we will see this value reduce further."
"Our Conservative Group argued at the time that this purchase was short-sighted and would not benefit the taxpayers of Chorley however the Labour administration continued and borrowed the money signing the taxpayers of Chorley up to long term debt."
"The Labour council have known for years that these values will continue to decline but instead of investing in Market Walk it took the decision to build a £16 million extension which as I write, with only 6 months to completion, has only two tenants signed up?"
Tell us what you think in our survey:
