Council ‘squanders’ millions in rent over 10 years on unusable building

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

A north Wales council has been accused of “squandering millions” in rent over a decade for an “unusable shed”.

Conwy County Council signed a contract in May 2016 for a purpose-built HGV depot at Mochdre Commerce Park at a cost of £240,000 a year.

But the site’s floor is unsuitable for heavy vehicles and has never been used for its intended purpose yet the council is locked into the 35-year lease until 2031 – when the agreement can be broken.

Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders called the situation a scandal. “It is absolutely disgusting. I have been calling this scandal into question now for many years,” she said.

“And the situation just doesn’t improve. The facts are they have a building that is not fit for purpose. Whoever signed the contract has a lot to answer for. It has left my taxpayers in Aberconwy paying out several hundreds of thousands of pounds annually on rent, business rates, maintenance.”

She added: “This is an absolute scandal, and council tax-payers are seeing nigh on 10% council tax increases in their council tax, yet money is being squandered on this building, millions.” The council, though, remains locked into the 35-year lease until 2031 – when the agreement can be broken.

Council Tax

If the authority continues to pay rent until that date, the total expenditure on the depot would reach around £3.6m for rent. In the meantime, the authority has raised council tax by around 30% in the last three years while slashing services – with more increases expected in 2026/27.

Initially leased from Conygar Investment Company PLC, R.R Sea Strand Limited now serves as the landlord. Whilst the building hasn’t been used to store HGVs, the depot was used during the pandemic to store equipment and was even readied as an emergency temporary morgue during the height of COVID. Conwy County Council was contacted for a comment.