Greenwich Council netted more than £1.4 million by selling a single car park on Plumstead High Street on Thursday – but there were mixed fortunes in the rest of its “fire sale” of assets.
The 22-space car park at Abery Street sold for £1,425,000 – more than three times the reserve price of £375,000 – being snapped up by a “Mrs Y” after 20 minutes of frenzied bidding at the auctioneer Strettons.
An 18-space car park at Torrance Close, behind Charlton Village, fetched £410,000, against a guide price of £230,000, with “Mrs T” holding firm against competition from an anonymous telephone bidder.
But the other section of the car park in Charlton, the 28 spaces next to the Assembly Rooms, did not go under the hammer after the auctioneer refused to accept a bid of £349,000. “Can’t let it go for that,” he said, directing buyers to talk to a colleague. The land had a guide price of £325,000.
What was the most valuable site was withdrawn because of its electric charger. The 30-space car park at Old Dover Road in Blackheath had a reserve price of £500,000, but was taken out of the auction because the council was uncertain about the status of the lease on the charger. It is likely to be sold in February instead.
The car parks are being offloaded as part of a £33 million package of cuts approved by the Labour council’s cabinet in October last year.
Councillors have claimed the car parks are little-used, but critics have disputed this, questioning how the council gathered the data and how rigorously it was checking if drivers were paying to use the spaces.
The two Charlton sites are likely to be difficult to develop, as they sit in a conservation area with an active local residents’ lobby, raising the prospect of the council ultimately spending sale proceeds on fighting planning appeals.
But there was huge interest in the Plumstead High Street car park. The land had been signed as a “temporary car park” for many years before being refurbished as part of a City Hall-funded programme to improve the local area. Now a private developer will profit from the site’s proximity to the Elizabeth Line at Woolwich.
“There are loads of you,” the auctioneer said as he began the phone and online action. “Phone bidders galore!”
At last week’s council meeting, one resident, Maria Freeman, said the council had not engaged with Plumstead businesses on the sale of the car park.
In response, Majid Rahman, the cabinet member for planning, said businesses could contact the council for support and he would be working with local ward councillors on the issue.
“The thing that is important here is not necessarily what happens to the car parks,” he said. “Obviously that is a key aspect for residents, but overall what we want to do is support the businesses around the changing times of how people shop locally. A lot of business has gone online so what we want to do is attract people back to our high streets.”
Matt Hartley, the Conservative leader, branded the auctions a “fire sale” when they were listed last month. He said only businesses in Blackheath had been contacted about the sale of their local car park.
Anthony Okereke, the council leader, accused Hartley of “creating Project Fear” over the issue.
“Project Fear started when his government made cuts to this council that have left this council with a deficit where we can’t close the budget,” he said.
“To the point that his government said that we need to sell assets just so we can keep libraries open. The work that we are doing to sell assets is not work that we want to do, it’s work to make sure we keep feeding children in this borough and we keep housing people. It’s the work to stop ourselves from going bankrupt.”
Hartley retorted: “It’s not Project Fear if you then go and do it.”
The council has been contacted for comment about Thursday’s sales.
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