Press Release

28 February 2025

Council responds to petition for Council to buy Wates House

Fareham Borough Council is aware that there are concerns in the community about a proposal by the Home Office to use Wates House in Fareham as dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers. Suella Braverman MP has launched a petition urging the Council to buy Wates House so that the property cannot be used in that way.   This statement sets out to clarify the facts amid a swirl of misinformation.

Wates House contains 27 apartments (9 x 1-bed, 18 x 2-bed). The property is privately owned and was previously subject to office to residential conversion works which included extensions and an additional storey added to the building.

Fareham Borough Council was initially approached in November 2023 with a proposal to house 72 asylum seekers at Wates House, Fareham.  Both the Council and the Police objected to the proposal and, following discussions with the Council Leader, Suella Braverman MP wrote to formally object to the Minister of State at the Home Office.

In January 2024 the Home Office appeared to have dropped Wates House from its consideration.

In March 2024, the Council was housing people in temporary accommodation at a considerable and unsustainable expense and felt that Wates House could potentially provide a cost-effective alternative.  The owner of Wates House met former Council Leader, Cllr Sean Woodward, on site with the Executive Member for Housing, Cllr David Foot, and the Council’s Director of Housing. Subsequently, the owner agreed a sale price with the Council, subject to survey and the agreement of the Council’s Executive to the deal.  The Executive agreed to the purchase subject to survey.

The following month the Council received the survey from its technical advisors which stated: ‘The building is not currently safe to occupy in our opinion, and we do not recommend FBC to proceed with the purchase until matters detailed in this report and the valuation are resolved.’

The survey was shared with the owner in order that identified defects could be rectified and, in September 2024, a separate report was supplied to the Council by the owner, along with a defects’ tracker.    The Council takes its own due diligence relating to fire and safety very seriously and cannot comment on the extent of due diligence that other parties choose to take. 

In the meantime, over the last year the context of housing need in the Borough has changed significantly.  At the time the Council was seeking to purchase Wates House, there were over 70 households placed in B&Bs.  Many of those placements had been long-term and at considerable, unsustainable expense.  Given that situation, Wates House would have provided a viable alternative, demonstrating a strong business case to justify the potential purchase. There were also 600 households on the Council’s Waiting List at that time.

During 2024 the Council has taken a multi-pronged approach to successfully reduce the number of B&B placements from 70+ households to less than 15.  There are already plans in motion to reduce this further following various acquisitions including the purchase of the Birks site in the town centre. 

Consequently, taking all of these factors into account, the Council withdrew from the purchase.

Since early 2024 the Council has allocated 2-bedroom properties for 79 households across the Borough with general needs.  Two-bedroom homes are generally in higher supply than other property sizes and the new VIVID development on Southampton Road has additional 2-bed homes for occupation later this year. The number of households on the Council’s Waiting List has also reduced from 600 to approximately 300 (February 2025).

If the Council was to purchase Wates House, it would only be suitable to meet the needs of two households on the ‘higher’ band Waiting List.  The 2-bedroom flats would potentially be difficult to match to households on the Housing Waiting List as the small size of the flats limits them to a maximum of three occupants. Fareham Housing needs larger family homes, and homes that are suitable for disabled occupants, to have a real impact on the urgent and high need on the Housing Waiting List and Wates House is not suitable for either.  

The Council also does not hold sufficient capital funds within the Housing Revenue Account to secure the purchase and would likely have to rely on extensive debt to purchase the site that would likely take in excess of 40 years to repay. 

In conclusion, the purchase of Wates House by the Council would neither support the households most in need in Fareham nor represent good value for money.  The Council is therefore continuing to focus the use of its limited housing funds and borrowing capacity on providing the right social housing in the right places.

There is a significant shortage of properties available in the private rented sector, and the Council considers Wates House as a positive addition in the town centre to address that shortage.  Clearly that would be a decision for the owner.

ENDS

For further information contact:

Customer Enquiries

Tel: 01329 236100
Email: customerservicecentre@fareham.gov.uk

Media Enquiries

The Communications Team
Tel: 01329 824310
Email: publicity@fareham.gov.uk
Fax: 01329 550576

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