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1) To authorise the surrender of the lease
between the council & St John Ambulance.
2) Grant a new lease to The Nautical Training Corps (NTC) to
include rights for the council to have access to use the workshop
area within the premises for storage.

Reasons for the decision

These decisions are in accordance with our
policy, as documented within ADC Asset Management Strategy.

The building is vacant and unoccupied following the restructure of
St Johns Ambulance (SJA). SJA have asked to surrender their lease.
This will provide the council with possession and control of the
building.

Food waste collection has been added to the waste contract which
relies upon the waste contractor expanding their use of the Harwood
Depot which means the council’s Facilities team’s
stored materials will need to be vacated from their and re-provided
for elsewhere.

The workshop space within the former ambulance station premises
provides the Facilities Team with a suitable storage
solution.

This option will require some capital expenditure in the form of
sub-dividing the electricity, installing a motorised roller shutter
door and installing a new secure fire escape door. Budget costs
expected to be in the region of £10,000. This is a relatively
modest cost when compared with the cost of renting a similar
storage facility. For the council to rent a storage facility would
cost in the region of £5,000pa (580 sqft @ £8.50psf).
This would be subject to availability of suitable space in the
market and having undertaken a search there is nothing suitable
(November 2025).

The letting to NTC provides the council with a modest rental income
of £1,000pa, however, the agreement is for the building to be
let on Full Repairing and insuring terms which means there will be
no ongoing liability for the council to repair and maintain the
premises. The agreement with NTC also includes the right for the
council to use the workshop space at nil rent. The council will be
expected to pay for any utilities used.

The NTC have a been a dominant user of the premises via a direct
hire from SJA for many years and formalising their occupation via a
lease benefits both the council & NTC.

Alternative options considered

1) Surrender the lease with SJA and take back
full possession and utilise as an ADC asset. This will have a
negative impact on budgets as there will be an ongoing need to
allocate budget for repairs and maintenance as well as additional
utilities, business rates and would forego the £1,000pa
rental income. This option would still lend itself to the
Facilities team occupying the workshop space, however, there is no
current demand by the council for the remaining space which is more
akin to offices & meeting spaces.

2) As per the above i.e. complete the surrender and take back
possession, however, rather than retaining the building as an
operational asset we consider taking the premises to open marketing
via an agent. The risk with this approach is that it is likely to
only be of interest to other community groups or third sector
organisations and we estimate would only be able to pay a modest
rent, circa £1-2,000 whilst factoring in the full repairing
nature of the lease. Commercial interest in the premises may come
from leisure type users i.e. gym or children’s day nursery
operators, however, consideration has been given to the lack of
planning permission for this type of use and the risks associated
with entering into a letting conditional on a change of use. The
estimated rental would be significantly greater in the region of
£8,000pax is considered achievable, but this would be for the
entire building. This option would potentially offset the cost to
the council of renting a storage facility at an estimated
£5,000pax (subject to availability this figure could be far
greater), however, this option does come with far greater legal
risk and a marketing void period which could be in the region of 6
months. If a subject to planning deal was agreed, then the total
void period could be circa 12 months.