East Devon District Council will receive an extra £1.5m for the sale of its former HQ.

The final stage of the sale of East Devon District Council's former headquarters at Knowle in Sidmouth will take place on Wednesday, December 18.

Ownership of the site will be transferred to PegasusLife, who plan to and have permission for turning the building into a 113-apartment assisted living community, for an increased sum of £9,019,605.

A base sale price of £7.505m had been agreed, but a Freedom of Information Request to the council recently revealed that an additional capital sum of £1,514,605 that reflects indexation and a percentage of monies that PegasusLife had set aside for S106 commitments but which were uncommitted will also be paid.

The request had asked for information over the delay in PegasusLife taking possession of the building following the council's departure in February to its new Blackdown House HQ in Honiton and the additional costs that the delay had caused.

Almost £100,000 of costs relating to security, insurance, energy and business rates have already been met, with a further £40,000 set to be incurred by the time that PegasusLife officially take ownership of the building.

The response said that while the council is not obliged to give reasons or explanation when answering an FOI request, they understand the merit in doing so in this case, and added: "Since the council has vacated the Knowle, it has been involved in a variety of actions while retaining possession of the building.

"Making it safe for clearance, such as asbestos testing, has taken up some time, followed by a series of clearance phases. This included extensive disposal of 1,000s of items including to public and local charitable organisations while numerous items have also found their way to Sidmouth Museum.

"Rather than PegasusLife, the council took responsibility for the removal of fireplaces for Sidmouth Museum and this involved the commissioning of appropriately skilled technicians and further asbestos survey work.

"The council will be completing transfer of the Knowle to PegasusLife by negotiated agreement on December 18, 2019. At that time we will receive the total capital receipt for the sale of the Knowle which had risen from £7,505,000 to £9,019,605."

The FOI request also confirmed that a monthly cost of £13,813 has been incurred by the council since its departure from the Knowle.

Security costs of £1,046 per month have been incurred, along with energy costs of £1,118, insurance of £834 and £10,815 of business rates each month.

Costs of £96,691 have been already incurred by the council since its departure, but for the three month period from September 18 to December 18, they have agreed with PegasusLife to half the costs, with each party set to pay £20,719.50.

The council also confirmed that it has not taken out any additional borrowing for the relocation project, nor will it need to do so, and has used its own existing cash resources instead.

A spokesman for the council added: "The Knowle has now been cleared of thousands of items of furniture, equipment and memorabilia. At the request of Sidmouth Museum, historical artefacts, such as fireplaces and decorative tiles have been removed and either have been or will be delivered to the museum's premises.

"Until PegasusLife takes ownership, the council is continuing daily security patrols of the site and carrying out grounds maintenance, as well as monitoring the building's condition.

"The final stage of the sale of East Devon District Council's former headquarters at Knowle in Sidmouth will take place on Wednesday, December 18, 2019, when ownership of the site will be transferred to PegasusLife for an increased sum of £9,019,605 (a further £1,514,605 on top of the base sale price of £7,505,000)."

The new Honiton HQ, which replaces The Knowle, cost the council £8.7m, while an additional £1.5m was spent on upgrading Exmouth town hall where one third of the council staff are to be based.

The council's deputy chief executive and relocation project lead, Richard Cohen, added: "In different ways this is a new era for the council and our move to modern offices is key to the council's plans for cost effective and outstanding service delivery into the future. It is a credit to our staff that the move itself was seamless and their commitment and professionalism is a strong as ever in their new and much improved work space.

"To our customers, our council offices are now more accessible and easy to reach and we continue to improve our services and the different ways that people can contact us face to face, on-line or over the phone.

"On top of this operational success, the council has secured an additional £1.5m or 20 per cent uplift on the original agreed price for our former HQ site and the council has been able to fund the relocation project from existing cash resources rather than incur any external borrowing. This is a very positive outcome compared to what was originally agreed and will further benefit our residents of the whole district."

A previous freedom of information request had said that the Knowle site would be £50m with planning permission, for which Private Eye named the council as a 'rotten borough' because of it.

But a council spokesman said it was 'misinformed media speculation' as the £50m figure was the projected total sale receipts of all the residences in a completed new development on the council's former office site and wouldn't take account of any of the costs of development such as planning, design, surveys, professional fees, borrowing costs and the actual construction costs themselves.

They added: "The genuine market price valuation of the Sidmouth site was reached by independent property professionals in what is known as a 'Red Book' valuation, against a number of potential development scenarios. The offer from PegasusLife of £7,505,000 was well within the Red Book valuations and therefore represents a realistic and market tested price."