Greenwich Council’s cabinet quietly voted to sell the borough’s equestrian centre on Tuesday evening – agreeing to dispose of it in less than a minute.
The Greenwich Equestrian Centre on Shooters Hill closed earlier this year after North Kent College, which had been operating the facility, pulled out. The building has been boarded up since then.
The centre opened in 2013 and was billed as a key Olympic legacy by Chris Roberts, the Labour council leader at the time, a year after equestrian events were held in Greenwich Park.
But on Tuesday night Roberts’ successors nodded through a proposal to sell the centre without discussion at a cabinet meeting chaired by Averil Lekau, the council’s deputy leader, with cabinet members Pat Slattery, Adel Khaireh, Jackie Smith and Denise Hyland all uttering one word: “Agreed.”
Smith and Hyland were on the cabinet when the centre was approved. Roberts said at the time that the centre would “not only introduce thousands of London children to the thrill of horse riding”, but would “also provide educational and training opportunities for many people for years to come”.
By contrast with the fanfare with which the centre was opened 11 years ago, the proposal to sell the site was buried in the cabinet’s agenda under the title “Asset Review Further Outcomes” – a follow-up to a decision to sell the old Plumstead power station and a number of car parks made last month.
“This report follows on from the earlier evaluation of the commercial portfolio undertaken by officers and has identified two further properties that are recommended for disposal,” it said, an appendix naming the equestrian centre as well as a detached house on nearby Mereworth Drive, close to the Shrewsbury House community centre.
“The property comprises a main house with listed building designation and two other properties designed for equestrian training and rehabilitation,” the appendix said.
“The property is vacant with high operating costs. This site has been considered for SEND use but discounted due to the existing building not being large enough or suitable for conversion, combined with the scale (and cost) of demolition required.
“The property’s use does not fit with the rest of the Council’s portfolio and is recommended for disposal.”
The report appears to rule out a community asset transfer – a legal mechanism where a group can take on an old community facility and run it themselves.
“Any lease granted or property sold is expected to be at a level which is below the market value or at nil value,” the report said.
“Given the current financial constraints, this would not optimise financial returns to the council for investment in services supporting the wider objectives of the council and its residents.”
However, a group can still get the centre listed as an asset of community value, which it is not.
The decision gives authority to Pippa Hack, the council’s director of regeneration, enterprise and skills, to sell the site, meaning any sale is unlikely to be announced to the public. Similar sales of council assets, such as East Greenwich Library and the Borough Hall, were only uncovered months after the event.
When the centre opened It included a hydrotherapy pool for horses, a cold-water spa, arenas and stabling for about 20 horses. Surface material from the Olympic and Paralympic course in Greenwich Park was used at the centre.
It cost £1.6 million, with the money coming from a number of bodies. The council was reported at the time to have contributed £250,000. Another £250,000 came from the British Equestrian Foundation.
Hadlow College took a 15-year lease on the site, paying a peppercorn rent to the council. The college went into administration in 2019, with North Kent College taking over its equestrian courses.
A petition to save the centre has so far gathered over 800 signatures.
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