Company that signed heads of terms deal for Groves ceased to exist six months ago
Earlier this month the entity that Wrexham Council had had hoped would redevelop the old Groves school pulled out of the deal, with it now emerging the company that signed the heads of terms ceased to exist several months earlier.
The Groves building famously was subject to a listing hokey-cokey, with it being listed / challenged / relisted after court action and a final decision by a Welsh Government Minister (who is now First Minister) after the council expressed a desire to knock it down and put one or two new schools on the site.
Updated: Wed 12th May
Back to square one for Groves building after interested party pulls out
Plans to turn the derelict Groves secondary school into a medical training facility have been scrapped after the company interested have pulled out.
Wrexham Council had signed heads of terms with international healthcare company Apollo to allow it to take on the listed building in February last year, with work progressing until recently towards that aim, before it was put on hold with the pandemic blamed.
The firm already has a site in Crewe, known as the Apollo Buckingham Health Sciences Campus, and it is believed a training facility was planned for the former school site.
No Welsh government has faced a challenge like Covid-19, which has highlighted the realities – and limitations – of devolution, writes Marialuisa Taddia. If the crisis does pave the way for further governance reforms, will Cardiff finally take control of justice and policing?
The low down
Covid-19 and Brexit have pushed the UK’s devolved governments further into the spotlight. That has created new tensions between Cardiff and London, while familiarising millions in England with the name of Wales’ first minister. Many in Wales hope the crisis will act as a spur to further divergence and decentralisation – with the next parliamentary term in Wales seen as a pivotal period for the devolution project. This is notably true in the spheres of justice and policing. The radical report of the Commission on Justice in Wales in 2019 was a landmark development, but there are ‘many, many barriers’ still to overcome if its 78 recommendations are to be realised.