© AFP / Adrian DennisThe house of Sergei Skripal, covered by tarpaulin and scaffolding, is seen guarded by the by police on March 4, 2019.
A local authority is considering buying the Skripal's home in Salisbury to prevent it from being turned into a business. The house has undergone decontamination, which supposedly cleared it from the so-called Novichok nerve agent.
The plans to purchase the property were confirmed by officials with Wiltshire county council to the British media on Sunday. The idea to buy the house from the former double agent Sergei Skripal emerged after his neighbors expressed fears that it might be turned into a busy - and rather grim - business, like a B&B hotel.
"The council has committed to ensuring that the property is not used to trade on its history ... and is prepared to purchase it should the owner wish to sell," the director of the council, Alistair Cunningham said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
Such a purchase by the council would ensure that the property would be used solely for residential purposes, the official added. It remains unclear whether anyone has sought to purchase the property, said to be worth at least £200,000, and actually live in it, given all the Novichok scare surrounding it.
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