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Snow Hill Station

A Sparks said:
Again - great set of photos!
It's surprising the amount of spare ground that we can't normally see around the area, another world really.
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Thought the same thing!
I also wondered why the ground like this and other sites stay idle for so long before being built on or productively utilized.
Here in TN (not putting on a pedestal) when a building or site gets knocked down and cleared, almost the next day new construction starts.
Thinking about the speedway being idle since 2016. Somewhere someone is paying for that which in turn increases cost!
 
Vivienne14 said:
Could it be something to do with land ownership ?
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It could be but even at that it is an unemployed asset that has a cost associated with it that will be passed along in price or taxes depending upon ownership. In industry we have a metric "asset utilization" be it money, plant & equipment etc., if they are idle someone pays, they have to work. It's not easy I might add when you have something like the speedway, idle for 9 years?
 
I used to work across the road from a Council depot and when it closed down it was years before they built on it. The reason I heard was that they had to wait in case there was any ground pollution. I think it was the same reason that it took over 10 years for them to build on the old Smith & Nephew site in Alum Rock.
 
MWS said:
I used to work across the road from a Council depot and when it closed down it was years before they built on it. The reason I heard was that they had to wait in case there was any ground pollution. I think it was the same reason that it took over 10 years for them to build on the old Smith & Nephew site in Alum Rock.
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I don’t know when that was but here back in early 90’s we were required to conduct what is called a phase 1 environmental ground study. I’m sure you have something similar. If you passed and they were/very strict you were good to go, fail and you had to more work and develop a remediation plan including time and ££££. In the Smith & Nephew (almost went to work for them in the US) case it sounds like a delaying or negotiating tactic. If the land is contaminated it needs to be remediated at the cost of the current owner. I have personally been an expert witness and rectifier on three sites, all successfully concluded!
 
MWS said:
I used to work across the road from a Council depot and when it closed down it was years before they built on it. The reason I heard was that they had to wait in case there was any ground pollution. I think it was the same reason that it took over 10 years for them to build on the old Smith & Nephew site in Alum Rock.
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Yes, it's the same with any area that's had a petrol station on it but I think maybe that's just 7 years?
 
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