Forum topic: Palmers Green Library: Basement to be used by a gym, not a health centre

Residents hoping that the vacant space in the refurbished Palmers Green Library would be used as a health centre, GP surgery or dental surgery will be disappointed by the news that a ten year lease is to be granted to a commercial fitness club operator.  The decision could be subject to a Councillor Call In but this would have to be done before this Friday.

Index of Published Decisions

The news that Enfield Council has decided to let the space to Fit4Less (a brand of Energie Fitness Clubs) was uncovered by Donald Smith, writing on the Bowes & Bounds Connected website.  Mr Smith's sources are the Index of Published Decisions dated 27 November 2015 and a document entitled Asset Management - New Letting of Vacant Space at Palmers Green Library.

£90,000 annual rent

In order to refurbish the library the Council needed to borrow a large sum of money.  This cost was partially offset by the sale of the former Southgate Town Hall, but a net capital requirement of £2.4 million remained.  The library project therefore required the creation of an income stream that would contribute to or completely cover the cost of the borrowing requirement.  However, the annual rent paid by Fit4Less will be £90,000 per annum - not enough to cover the  £113,000 per annum required to gradually pay off the borrowings and make interest payments.

The library project envisaged that the income stream would come from rent paid by the occupier of the vacant space in the basement.  At the time the project was launched a Planning Committee Document dated February 2014 referred only to the potential use of the basement for a "health centre/doctor's surgery", but at some stage the definition was widened to "community-facing occupier".

Finding a suitable occupier

The impression at the time was that the Council was hoping to attract a completely new GP surgery to Palmers Green, to cater for the increase in population.  However, at the Palmers Green Ward Forum in September 2015 it was reported that negotiations had been under way with a view to moving an existing GP practice into the library building, but had been unsuccessful.

The document identified by Donald Smith reveals that the council had in fact commissioned a consultancy to market the space to "a wide variety of potential occupiers within the Town Planning Use Classes Order D1 Non-Residential Institution or D2 Assembly and Leisure".  At the end of the 8-week marketing campaign five bids were received - two from children's nursery operators and three from health-and-fitness operators.  The eventual recommendation to let to Fit4Less was presumably based on the amount bid and an assessment of the bid's viability.

Is this a done deal?

According to Donald Smith, the decision to let the basement as a gym could be overturned if it is subject of a "Councillor Call-In" (explained on this page on the Council website), but this would have to happen before 4th December.

However, the question remains whether a new health centre/GP surgery is a realistic proposition given the predictions that have been made about a likely shortage of new GPs and the impending retirement of many current doctors.

It is questionable whether a commercial gym really fits the category of "community-facing occupier", but perhaps there is simply no-one at the moment who could fit that description and pay a high enough rent.  In which case, might it not be preferable to let the basement to the gym for a shorter period in the hope that in four or five years time the situation will have changed?