Decision - Disposal of Connaught Annex

Brighton and Hove Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee Decided 25 Apr 2024 approved GET /api/coverage

Decision maker

Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee

Report author

Russell Hallowes-Smith

Published

25 Apr 2024

Reference

7218

As published

the council's own words, unedited

The proposed disposal of Connaught Annex to The Penny Gobby House Charity to facilitate their relocation.

RESOLVED: 2.1 That Committee agrees to the disposal of the freehold of the Connaught Annex to the Charity and that delegated powers be given to the Corporate Director City Services in consultation with the Assistant Director Legal and Democratic Services to negotiate and approve the terms for the disposal of the property and its subsequent occupation by the Council's SEND service and to take all necessary steps to complete the transactions.

Parsed from the document

gpt-5.6-luna-2026-07-09 · 3389/1481 tokens · 11363ms · parsed 9 Sep 2026 15:24

Everything below was read out of a PDF by a model It is useful and it is not authoritative. The document it came from is linked in the rail, and where the two disagree the document is right.

The report proposes selling the surplus Connaught Annex to the Jeanne Saunders Centre (Penny Gobby House) Charity for £800,000. The move would allow the Charity to relocate its SEND nursery and enable the Council’s SEND service to occupy the building, while generating a net capital receipt for Brighton & Hove City Council.

Recommendation

Approve the disposal of the freehold of the Connaught Annex to the Jeanne Saunders Centre (Penny Gobby House) Charity, with delegated powers for the Corporate Director City Services, in consultation with the Assistant Director Legal and Democratic Services, to negotiate and approve the disposal terms, arrangements for the Council’s SEND service to occupy the property, and all steps needed to complete the transactions.

Financial impact

The proposed sale price is £800,000, based on an independent joint valuation at market value. The disposal will generate a net capital receipt for Brighton & Hove City Council, with disposal costs deducted from the final receipt.

Ward affected

Central Hove

Decision maker

Strategy, Finance & City Regeneration Committee

Date in document

25 Apr 2024

Stakeholders named

parsed

Jeanne Saunders Centre (Penny Gobby House) Charitychildren and young people with Special Educational Needs and DisabilityBrighton & Hove City Council’s SEND servicelocal communityBrighton Metropolitan College

Next steps

parsed

The Corporate Director City Services will negotiate and approve the disposal terms in consultation with the Assistant Director Legal and Democratic Services.
The Council will agree the terms for the Council’s SEND service to occupy the Connaught Annex after completion.
The Council will obtain Secretary of State consent if required for the disposal of education land.
Brighton & Hove City Council will continue to engage Orbis for legal counsel and contract preparation.
External solicitors will be selected through a formal tendering process to handle the Charity’s disposal of Penny Gobby House and acquisition of the Connaught Annex.
Any works required to make the building suitable will be undertaken before formal occupation.
The transactions will be completed and the Charity will relocate from Penny Gobby House to the Connaught Annex.

Precedents

not built

"Decided elsewhere" is not built Finding the same decision in other councils needs semantic matching over decision text, which is part of the search rewrite. Until then, the council's own decisions list is the way through.