The Brimsdown plot saw a 674% hike in value within just six years as it became a target for developers, reports James Cracknell

A site next to a railway station sold by Enfield Council for £890,000 a decade ago is now valued at £11million – raising questions over a recent civic centre decision to flog a long list of property assets.

The site at 241 Green Street in Brimsdown was sold in January 2013 to the site’s then-occupiers, model plane manufacturers Ripmax, which then went on to sell the plot to a developer for £6m in 2019 – representing a 674% rise in value in just six years.

New owners Stonegate Homes subsequently won planning permission to build 148 homes on the site in 2020, and in 2022 put it up for sale again – this time valued at £11m – although it has since been taken off the market.

Last year, the council’s planning committee granted permission for revised plans by Stonegate to remove all of the social-rent housing that had previously been proposed at the site.

The Dispatch understands there was no ‘overage clause’ included by the council as part of the 2013 sale. An overage agreement is a type of contract where the seller is paid extra by the buyer if certain things happen after the sale, such as redevelopment or planning permission, which raise the value of the land.

The significant hike in value of the Brimsdown site within a few a years of it being sold by the council has raised questions about a long list of properties the local authority agreed to sell off last month, and whether something similar could happen.

In a bid to raise much-needed cash for the council, sites including an industrial estate, three car parks and buildings at two farms are being put on the market after being deemed either no longer necessary for “operational requirements”, not “fit for purpose” or because they are “underperforming”.

The lost value on the Brimsdown site was discovered by Matt Burn, from campaign group Better Homes Enfield. He warns: “Some local authorities are turning to ‘municipal entrepreneurialism’ as a strategy to address budget shortfalls, for example by developing land or selling off assets. However, the lack of accountability is concerning; when councils make poor decisions and lose public money, it can slip under the radar, and those responsible left unchecked.”

The Dispatch has asked the council whether or not it was foreseen in 2013 that the Green Street site – adjacent to Brimsdown Railway Station – had significant development potential and would likely become a target for housebuilders, therefore hiking its value.

The Dispatch has also asked whether work has been done to ensure similar value is not lost in the sales of property assets the council agreed to put on the market last month, and whether any of these sites are considered to have development potential.

The council has not provided any response.

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