An historic country house on Northampton’s Eastern District is to be sold by the council.
Billing Arbours House in Heather Lane, Lumbertubs, is a grade II listed building, which was built as a large country home in the 1800s.
In recent years, the house has been split up and rented out as offices by Northampton Borough Council, which owns the property.
But last year, the authority reported that many businesses had moved out and despite ‘sustained marketing efforts’ it could not find new tenants.
So this week, the council’s cabinet agreed to sell the building on the open market.
The authority’s cabinet member for planning, Councillor Tim Hadland (Con, Old Duston) said: “The house has become almost empty and despite efforts over a number of years to let it out, it just doesn’t function as a reasonable asset for the council. So with regret, we’re putting it up for sale. “It’s a most attractive building and an asset to the local area, so it’s important that we make sure it’s preserved.”
Last year, it was hoped the house could be converted into a ‘social enterprise hub’ for small businesses.
However the council has said that idea “failed to come to fruition”.
The councillor for the area, Councillor Lee Mason (Lab, Brookside) expressed regret the social enterprise plan had not come off.
She said: “I support the idea of selling the building, but I regret very much that the idea of creating a social enterprise business centre has not worked out.
“It’s a great disappointment to me that has not happened.”
The council has not yet revealed how much it will market the historic building for, but it has said that once it is sold, it expects it either to be converted into flats or back into a single home.
The sale does not include a depot close to the house which is currently used by Enterprise, the company which collects Northampton’s rubbish bins.