The Transport Department has agreed an #18.2 million deal to sell a 250-acre site research site to an insurance company, junior transport minister John Bowis announced last night.
He said in a Commons written reply that contracts were exchanged yesterday for the sale of the site, which includes a test track, at Crowthorne, Berkshire, to Legal and General Assurance Society Ltd.
The site’s main tenant is the Transport Research Laboratory, which was sold separately last year to a research foundation but which will stay on at Crowthorne.
Mr Bowis said: “The disposal represents a good deal for taxpayers and the local community at Crowthorne, which will have the benefit of a respected financial institution as the new landlord.
“The Transport Research Laboratory has a long lease for the main part of the site which has 14 years to run.
The minister said the deal included a “clawback” provision on 200 acres on the site which are not developed. His department said this meant that Legal and General would pay back part of the site’s increased value if planning consent was granted.
PA (Parliamentary) News 05/03/97
