Anger at auction plan for Plymouth register office site -Plymouth Council has questions to answer

Land and property auctioneers Clive Emson have advertised the forthcoming sale of the former Plymouth register office site in Lockyer Street.

It’s raised more than a few eyebrows, not only due to the apparently very low guide price, but also due to the apparent snub to the Plymouth Hoe Neighbourhood Forum.

The auction listing, which ends in just a few weeks, describes the sale as “a rare opportunity to acquire a substantial lot comprising a former register office and surrounding grounds, with mixed use redevelopment potential in a prominent location.”

It goes on to say “the property is allocated in the Joint Local Plan under policy PLY27, for a mixed use development including a hotel and housing. Provision is made for in the order of 52 homes.”

In reality, the site is expected to be developed into a hotel and retail site.

That can only mean another large “tower” block, in a prominent position adjacent to the bowling club and green open space.

One might have turned to one of the three local councillors to help understand why the auction listing has happened so quickly - and without consulting the Neighbourhood Forum, which has worked for years on a collaborative scheme to deliver much needed affordable housing in the area.

However Councillor Chris Penberthy, one of the three councillors elected to represent St Peter’s and the Waterfront, also happens to be Plymouth Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities.

The Neighbourhood Forum has written to Councillor Penberthy expressing its disappointment.

Local residents will know the immediate vicinity of the register office has become a favoured haunt of people with addictions in recent times, and has also become “home” to some, with mattresses and tents in the grounds. The building itself is used occasionally by the local fire service, who fill it with smoke and practice using their breathing apparatus.

The building opened in the 1980s, and closed in 2020, with the Register Office moving to Derriford.