A banking giant which controversially shut its long-standing base in Sefton, with the ‘devastating’ loss of over 2,000 local jobs, has made a cheeky request to be excused over £117,000 in Rates owed on its crumbling former building.
Santander UK, whose profits leaped from £751 million to £993 million over the first six months of last year, made an application for discretionary part-occupation rate relief to Sefton Council.
The local authority had approved ambitious £75 million proposals by the bank in 2019 to demolish the crumbling ‘Giro’ building in Bootle and to replace it with a state-of-the-art office, along with three pavilions, a public park with opportunities for sporting facilities and sites for new businesses to open.
But in March 2021 Santander made the shock announcement that it was scraping its plans and axing 2,100 local jobs, in what was described as a “massive blow” for Sefton.
Instead, the corporation moved its headquarters to Milton Keynes in the South of England.
Sefton Council said at the time that the decision to close the site was devastating as the borough had already seen an 87% jump in people claiming benefits since March 2020.
“This is our worst position for 24 years,” they said.
Now Santander has asked Sefton Council to be exempted from part-occupation relief would amount to £117,382.25, which would have left Sefton with the choice of impacting local services or taking it from higher Council Tax payments from hard-working local families.
A Sefton Council report said: “Santander Uk PLC have decided not to reinvest in the site, and instead consider an application to obtain pre-planning permission for the site enabling them to market it for potential investors. The potential award of relief, together with the current vacant status of the site, is not considered to represent value to the Council Tax payers of Sefton.”
A report by Sefton Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services Stephan Van Arendsen, who has recommended councillors should reject the plea, said: “Santander UK PLC phased the vacation of their premises over a couple of periods with the first period commencing on 1 January 2022 and have now fully vacated as of 1 June 2022.
“The Computer Centre and Premises has been occupied by Santander Uk PLC since 2008 but was first occupied by Girobank from 1969. Since its first occupation, the building has not been refurbished and has fallen into significant disrepair.
“Due to the building being at the end of its economic life, Santander Uk PLC had unveiled plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art campus on the site; however these plans have since been abandoned. Instead, Santander Uk PLC have now sought pre-planning advice with a view to putting the site on the market for sale.”
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