A community leader says taxpayers have not had value for money after £1m was spent on improving a North Staffordshire building now being put up for sale by the county council.

Kniveden Hall in Leek was earmarked for a new dementia centre.

But earlier this month Staffordshire County Council announced that the Kniveden and nearby Springhill sites would be marketed to developers this year.

Leek councillor Charlotte Atkins, leader of the county council opposition group, raised the issue at a scrutiny meeting this month.

She said: "This is an issue that I have focused on for many years.

"Councillor (Mark) Deaville has just announced that the site that was going to be the site for a dementia centre just outside Leek, in the north of the county, is going to be sold. This is after it's been under guardianship for well over 10 years, after £1m was spent on Kniveden Hall.

"This was going to be the site for a dementia centre but the commercial provider felt they couldn't make a profit out of it so they walked away. This particular site could have been used – or has been used in some way for community health projects – but this is an area where buildings have been in guardianship for a very long time.

"I don't feel taxpayers have had value for money, as Councillor Deville put in his press release, because having spent £1m on upgrading Kniveden Hall it seems to me the community hasn't had value for money at all."

Council leader Alan White said: "Dementia centres of excellence was a long term ambition that we've not been able to deliver to the extent we would have liked but certainly we've got a couple, one in Stafford and one in Burton.

"The dementia centres of excellence, as Charlotte knows, were a promise I inherited from a previous occupant of the health and care portfolio which was going to be a challenge to deliver.

"I know that Councillor Atkins has lobbied hard for many years around Kniveden Hall. The relationship with the commercial provider meant that they made it clear to us at the time that they were unable to provide a commercial dementia centre of excellence in that area.

"So we are left where we are left unfortunately."

Part of the Springhill site is currently being used by North Staffordshire Combined Mental Health Care Foundation Trust for one of its services. And the former care home at Kniveden is currently occupied by tenants on short term leases.

Councillor Mark Deaville, cabinet member for commercial, said: "These sites have always been earmarked for disposal since they were no longer needed for their original use.

"It's important that we review use of our properties to ensure best value for money for taxpayers and having considered various options, these were identified in the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council Local Plan for new housing within Leek's town boundaries and we intend marketing them in 2022."