Shopping centre set to make £1 million profit for council

It will be invested into the town centre

A Barnstaple shopping centre bought by North Devon Council four years ago to help protect the high street is expected to make £1 million in profit by April, a report to the council reveals.

Green Lanes was purchased with a £8.2 million loan from a government body called the Public Works Loan Board in 2021.

North Devon Council is paying back the loan over what is thought to be 25 years.with cash generated from the centre.

The council has previously stated that buying Green Lanes would have no impact on taxpayers and the income from it was considered to be greater than borrowing costs.

In a report for the council, lead member for regeneration Cllr Malcolm Prowse (Ind, Bratton Fleming) said by the end of this financial year in April, Green Lanes will have contributed over £1 million profit to the council’s coffers which will be invested in town centre improvements.

Cllr Prowse said it was a brave decision by the council to buy the shopping centre, especially during the covid years, but it did get “a lot of property” for £8 million. The previous owners had bought it for £36 million in 2015.

He said it underlined the council’s confidence in Barnstaple’s future and it proved to be the right decision, as it is doing “really well”.

The council also has £300,000 in reserves to spend on any upgrades.

There are 35 retail units in Green Lanes, with only two presently empty.

Cllr Prowse said the council is focused on the wellbeing of the town and therefore has flexible deals with tenants: “A lot of people have been on short-term arrangements and that has been a solution for new businesses starting out,” he said.

Last year the council announced it would have a new town hub in Green Lanes, to give the council more visibility.

The hub, which was funded from the council’s ‘transformation reserve’ to the tune of £220,000, is set to open soon.

Working areas will enable staff to help residents and Devon and Cornwall Police will also have a presence there every day, including officers from Barnstaple’s Neighbourhood Policing Team.

In his report, Cllr Prowse highlighted the success of the revamped Barnstaple Pannier Market, which he said contained “the best loos in Devon” and that when scaffolding comes down shortly at 36 Boutport Street it will show off “one of the finest listed buildings in town”.

The latter will become a culture hub while next door a new build will incorporate housing and employment units around a central arcade walkway from the Queen Street car park to the town centre.

These schemes come under the Market Quarter transformation which received £6.5 million from the previous government’s Future High Street Programme in 2021.