The Conservatives want to know how much Cheshire East has spent on maintaining three empty buildings since costed plans to re-purpose them for social care failed to materialise.

Mountview, a care home and respite facility in Congleton which closed in 2019; Bexton Court, a former Knutsford day care centre which closed in 2010; and Stanley House in Knutsford, which closed in 2018, have all stood empty for years.

Cllr Janet Clowes (Wybunbury, Con) told the full council this week, that in 2019 the Conservative group had put forward proposals for the buildings to provide alternative supported living options for adults with learning difficulties and young people with additional needs entering adult social care.

"These proposals were fully costed with oversight by the S151 (finance) team, approved by cabinet and approved for inclusion in the MTFS (medium term financial strategy) by full council in February 2020," she said.

"They offered a return on expenditure within five years and associated social care savings thereafter."

Mountview in Congleton closed in 2019 (Credit: Google Maps)

Cllr Clowes said even after Covid and inflated construction costs, the corresponding rise in this area of care cost meant the proposals are still valid in principle.

But she said, despite repeated requests for information about the future of these assets, no definitive information has yet been provided.

She asked: "How much has Cheshire East council had to spend on maintenance and security costs for each of these empty assets since the MTFS decision was made in February 2020?

"When will councillors be provided with a definitive timeline for the effective disposal of or re-use of these assets?"

Cllr Jill Rhodes, chair of the adults and health committee, said councillors would be provided with a written response.

Bexton Court is known to have cost the council more than £100,000 to maintain over the 15 years it has stood empty.

A response to a freedom of information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) last year revealed it was now costing the cash-strapped council about £20,000 a year to maintain the empty building.

But all questions asked by the LDRS about future proposals for the site have met with responses such as 'the site is being considered as part of a wider redevelopment project'.

And as long ago as 2021, the council was saying the former Mountview site at Congleton was to be developed for mixed tenure housing which would include specialist extra care.

The then-director of commissioning told a meeting of the adults and health committee in November 2021: "Whilst there is no activity on site at the moment, we can assure residents the site will not be left and there are plans to progress this as soon as possible."

In July of this year, the council did decide to dispose of Mountview and enter into a development agreement but no details of this have yet been made public.