Felixstowe: Anger over Bartlet �600,000 sale price

CAMPAIGNERS today claimed Felixstowe’s Bartlet Hospital – up for sale for conversion into luxury apartments – was being sold at a bargain price.

NHS Suffolk is inviting bids starting at �600,000, though it is expecting the listed building, with panoramic seascape views, to go for more than the guide price.

Roy Gray, chairman of the Felixstowe Save Our Hospital Action Group, said: “It’s unbelievable. It’s a scandal.

“It was only a few years ago the Bartlet was valued at around �2million – property prices cannot have dropped that much.

“There are houses costing nearly as much as that in Felixstowe. It sounds as if they are just trying to get rid of it quickly.”

The former convalescent unit on Bath Hill has permission to be converted into 19 apartments, its annexe to nine town houses and flats, plus a terrace of three new town houses in the grounds.

NHS Suffolk told councillors margins were extremely tight for the development of the listed building and there would be “no spare cash” – persuading Suffolk Coastal planners to forego play space contributions or any affordable homes.

Campaigners say an average price of �300,000 for the new properties would earn a developer �9.3m.

The Bartlet is being marketed by Boshier and Co, of King’s Lynn, who are seeking a bidder with experience in the development of redundant specialist use buildings.

A spokesman for NHS Suffolk said the trust was in “competitive dialogue with several interested parties”.