CONCERN has been raised that a land deal between a property company and Borough of Poole has not been completed more than six months after an offer was made.

Forelle Estates offered Borough of Poole £400,000 for land at Marshes End which the council had identified as a temporary traveller site, then offered to buy the council’s entire landholding there – over two acres.

“It is incredible that a property sale, which we were told in March was so urgent that it needed an extraordinary council meeting, has not been concluded six months later,” said Cllr Phil Eades, who raised the matter at full council.

“Now we discover via a supplementary answer only that the prospective purchasers of the site have offered £175k for a piece of land the same size as that they were happy to buy for £400k in March.”

He called on cabinet to bring the matter back before full council. “I am deeply uncomfortable with the process here and will be referring the matter to the district valuer for his opinion on the whole saga.”

Neither Forelle Estates managing director Mike Price nor Borough of Poole’s head of estates, Sarah Varley, would confirm the sale price of the land, and supplementary questions at council are not minuted.

However Mr Price said: “There is a lot of detail to sort out. I am content that the council are getting through it. I will be very surprised if we haven’t got the detail sorted out by the end of this year.”

The company originally made an offer for the parcel of land, next to the Forelle House and Phoenix House office buildings it owns, to develop into a landmark office building which could create up to 200 jobs.

However that was roughly half of the land the council owns on the site and the remainder would be landlocked with no access.

Mr Price said parts of the extra land are not suitable to develop and there is no water supply. He said the district valuer would be involved as part of the process.

“This is a piece of land that can be put to good use for the benefit of the economy of the borough. We already have some expressions of interest from potential occupiers,” he said.

'Longer than thought'

ANDREW Flockhart, interim chief executive, Borough of Poole, said: “It is necessary for the council to undertake a due diligence process and ensure that value for money is achieved for council tax payers as directed by the council at their meeting of March 25. 

“This has taken longer than we first thought it would, but we are in the closing stages of that process now.

"The purchasers have been kept informed along the way and are content that this work is being concluded as quickly as it is possible to do so.”