HARD-UP Cheshire East Council is understood to still be paying out an estimated £20k a year on one of its boarded-up buildings which has been empty since 2010.

Bexton Court in Knutsford is a former day care centre which was used to provide dementia services.

With the council's finances in such a precarious state, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has been asking for the past three years what the plans are for the prime site – especially when a freedom of information request revealed the building is costing council taxpayers about £20k a year to mothball.

Last year, in response to the freedom of information request, the council said: "The site is being considered as part of a wider redevelopment project.

"The council is awaiting a decision on the wider redevelopment project."

The LDRS has asked three times for an update in the past month and is still waiting for a response.

But as Cheshire East remains tight-lipped over a building which has been empty for 15 years, council taxpayers are footing the bill.

The FOI we submitted in the summer of last year, revealed the cash-strapped council has spent £98,800 since 2020 mothballing the building.

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Our FOI did ask how much the total cost was since 2010, but only the figures dating back four years were given.

The same question was asked again this year, to no avail.

The cash spent on the building over the past few years has gone towards business rates, council tax and security charges.