Horton Water Tower to be Sold at Auction

3.02.00pm GMT Sun 14th Feb 2010

Will Horton Water Tower be sold at auction?

Horton Water Tower will be auctioned with a guide price of £100,000 at Allsop's sale in London on Wednesday 17th February at The Cumberland Hotel.

London & Quadrant Housing Association, who bought the Tower for £1, failed in their bid to gain planning permission late last year and now appear to want to capitalise on the building. A planning permission given some years ago is about to expire, but these proposals cannot be built anyway because of the more recent development around the Tower.

The Water Tower Action Group were horrified to learn at five days' notice that the building will be auctioned. The Tower has become somewhat of a white elephant : some residents want it tidied up and converted into flats but without the huge extension and land-take proposed in the recent planning application, whilst others want it demolished entirely.

Cllr David Buxton not only represents the area but lives near the Tower as well, said "I must congratulate the hard work and campaigning from Water Tower Action Group which has helped to stop inappropriate development of the building but I believe selling at auction will strike most people as somewhat dishonest at worst, deceitful at best. L&Q are trying to sell a Water Tower which has become a white elephant, with one failed planning application and a planning permission due to expire : many people loathe the sight of it to the extent that they want it demolished."