Transport written question – answered at on 15 December 2004.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his estimate is of the (a) annual cost and (b) total value of the empty properties owned by (i) his Department, (ii) agencies and (iii) other public bodies for which he has had responsibility in each of the last two years.
The DfT units or associated bodies that currently have responsibility for vacant property are as follows.
The Highways Agency holds property in relation to the Government's Targeted Programme of Investment (TPI) in the strategic road network but the assets change year-on-year as the requirements of the TPI dictate. Properties identified as empty were either surplus property for sale, empty property awaiting refurbishment/letting and/or empty property awaiting demolition for road schemes or empty beyond economic repair. The annual cost of these properties in 2002–03 and 2003–04 were £545,000 and £582,000 respectively. These costs included utility costs, security, management fees and the annual repair costs to bring the properties into a lettable or saleable condition. The value of the properties was £7.159 million in 2002–03 and £17.821 million in 2003–04.
The Driving Standards Agency has only one empty property, which is valued at £320,000 and has running costs of approximately £3,000 per annum.
The General Lighthouse Authorities comprising the Trinity Lighthouse Service and Northern Lighthouse Board spent £18,000 in 2002–03 and £13,000 in 2003–04 on empty properties. The properties are mainly former lighthouse keepers' living accommodation and have not been valued. The properties have been retained because it is not possible to effectively separate the properties whilst maintaining the security of the operational lighthouses or it is difficult to sell or lease the properties due to their remote locations.
The British Railways Board (Residuary) Ltd. (BRBR) are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority and is responsible for managing the majority of the remaining property, rights and liabilities of the British Railways Board. BRBR own a number property with values of £137.1 million at the end of 2002–03 and £132.5 million as at the end of 2003–04. BRBR are unable to provide the value of the empty properties as their records are not kept in this way and some sites are part rented which makes it particularly difficult to determine the value. The cost of managing freehold vacant office space was £689,000 in 2002–03 and £583,000 in 2003–04.
The Department has acquired properties adjacent to the route of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link which have become empty because of the impact of construction work. These are generally sold on the open market as soon as construction is complete but to obtain the value of these would involve disproportionate cost.
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