Rugby Central's owner and the council have very different views of its value, leaders say. They want ministers to underwrite a purchase, with Rugby as pilot.

Rugby Borough Council has explored four ways of taking over Rugby Central, and still cannot agree on what the site is worth with its owner. Its leaders put that in writing on Friday, in a letter to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

“We have explored acquisition, a joint venture, High Street Rental Auctions and compulsory purchase,” the letter says. “However, the private owner and council have very different views of the site’s value.”

It is the plainest public statement yet of why the shopping centre has not changed hands. In August the council’s ten-year town centre plan said it would buy the site within two years, by compulsory purchase if it had to.

What the council is asking for

The letter is signed by the council leader, Cllr Louise Robinson, and her deputy, Cllr Jerry Roodhouse. It asks the Government to set up a National Town Centre Investment Guarantee, starting as a pilot with a small number of councils.

The idea works in three steps:

  • a council would first need an independently assessed business case showing that buying a site creates more long-term public value than leaving it as it is
  • the Government would then give a “contingent guarantee against defined, unforeseen losses or costs”
  • the council would still have to show the purchase was affordable, prudent and sustainable, with set outcomes, review points and independent appraisal

“This would not be a blank cheque,” the letter says.

It also asks ministers to confirm that long-term economic, social, housing, health and environmental outcomes can count in a council’s Best Value assessment for this kind of purchase. They want the whole value to the town counted, “rather than focusing only on the immediate financial position of an individual property”. The leaders argue that “the cost of doing nothing is dispersed, cumulative and often becomes clear only when regeneration is more difficult and expensive.”

The council’s announcement proposes Rugby as a pilot location.

Why the owner may be in no hurry

The letter is candid about the stand-off. “For the owner, holding it may be commercially rational; for the town, prolonged vacancy carries a wider cost,” it says.

It does not name the owner or give either side’s valuation. Neither does the council’s press release.

For Rugby Central, the letter lists the benefits it says a purchase could bring:

  • new homes and council housing
  • health and care provision
  • employment and skills
  • more footfall and business rate income
  • fewer empty units and better property values
  • cultural and community facilities
  • private investment

The August plan put more detail on that. It proposed 220 homes across the site’s two malls, a new public square and an NHS health hub, the hub depending on the council securing control of the site.

The reorganisation clock

The council is not expected to exist for long. The Government paused and put under review the plan to replace Warwickshire’s councils with unitary authorities on 7 September.

The letter says the assumption remains that Rugby Borough Council “will exist for a limited period”. It argues that is a reason to act now. It proposes a pilot “run and evaluated over the next 24 months”, so that the new council inherits “a tested mechanism and a track record”. Otherwise, it says, a live regeneration priority would be “picked up cold by a new authority still establishing itself.”

The leaders ask for a meeting with the Secretary of State and officials. The letter says Rugby’s MP, John Slinger, has backed the council’s town centre proposals, including a cultural quarter around Brotherhood House.

What it means for you

Nothing changes inside Rugby Central yet. The letter is a request, and the Government has not replied in public.

What it does tell you is where things stand. Two months after the council said it would buy the centre, it is telling ministers it cannot close the gap on price without help. Compulsory purchase remains in the plan, but the council lists it among the options it has already explored.

If you trade in or own a unit in the town centre, the council has also adopted High Street Rental Auction powers, the letter confirms. Those let it auction leases on shops that have been empty for long periods. That is the tool most likely to show up first.

We will report the Government’s response, and any Cabinet paper on Rugby Central, when they are published. Planning applications in the town centre are tracked on our Rugby planning news page.