The Oakhaven elderly persons home on York Road has remained largely unused for over 5 years.

The closure of the home was controversial with the relatives of those resident there told that the site was needed for immediate redevelopment.

That proved not to be the case,

The Council finally agreed in November 2020 to a recommendation which said  

 “That approval be given to dispose of Oakhaven for the consideration set out in Annex 1 to the report in an off market sale with a backstop date for completion of 12 weeks and, should this backstop date not be achieved, to bring a further report back to Executive”.  

As no further report was forthcoming it was assumed that the sale had gone through?

Apparently that isn’t the case.

We are led to understand that discussions with the prospective purchaser (Burlington Care Limited) are still continuing. A legal sale contract has been drawn up but completion could be delayed further pending a determination of a planning application for the redevelopment the site.

There are several outstanding questions..

• When can residents expect to see work on site start?
• When will it be completed?
• Will there be a sale condition which requires development within a specified timeframe?

York taxpayers will be keen to see this saga brought to a conclusion. Any income from the sale can be used to reduce the Councils huge mountain of debt.

Those seeking a new home will reflect that, had the site been put on the market 3 or 4 years ago, then a development could have been completed by now.