NHS 'sitting on £2m site' (From Stourbridge News)

NHS 'sitting on £2m site'

9:46am Thursday 17th June 2010 in News By Bev Holder

NEW Dudley South MP Chris Kelly has slammed supposedly cash-strapped NHS bosses for leaving up to £2m worth of property to rot in Wordsley.

Twelve derelict homes - owned by the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - have been left “empty and decaying” in Ashdown Drive.

The1960s style semi-detached properties were once used by doctors at Wordsley Hospital - but they have lain empty since it closed in 2005, attracting vandals and devaluing neighbouring homes according to residents in the street.

An outraged Mr Kelly said: “When all departments of the public sector are tightening their belts and preparing for the toughest budgets in living memory it is absurd that up to £2m of property is empty and decaying.

“These properties should be released onto the open market. It is not the role of the NHS to have property portfolios that they do not maintain.

“I want local NHS bosses to sort this issue out. They are crying out for more funding and yet a substantial amount could be available from the disposal of these properties, which are in one of the most desirable parts of Wordsley.

“They could have got £2m for these houses at the height of the property market but now, due to market conditions and the poor state of them, they could be worth a lot less. This is public money that the NHS is sitting on.”

Residents Carole Smith and Marion Griffiths, both of Ashdown Drive, say they have repeatedly tried to contact the Trust calling for the properties to be tidied up or sold off, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Mrs Smith said: “Some of us have tried to sell our properties but when viewers come they see grass six foot high opposite and windows falling out of the rookeries and then lose interest. No one wants to move opposite such an eyesore.”

Marion Griffiths added: “It was such a nice street when I came here 35 years ago, but now my visitors are absolutely horrified - they can’t believe I’m living opposite these.”

Resident Sheila Taylor said her daughter wanted to buy one of the houses a few years ago to stay close to family, but she gave up due to the bureaucracy surrounding it.

Paula Clark, chief executive of the Dudley Group of Hospitals, this week told the News the Trust was about to undertake remedial works to the properties - after which they will be sold.