Cullompton Council Tax Payers Against a New Town Hall

Cullompton Town Council have already INCREASED your COUNCIL TAX for next year just to pay for any costs associated with the purchase of the old Magistrates’ Court site, even though their offer is still waiting for approval from the Home Office. Cullompton Town Council intend to purchase the old Magistrates’ Court site in order to refurbish it or rebuild to accommodate a new Town Hall. Do YOU think we need a new Town Hall?

Cullompton Town Council want to SELL St. Andrews Road Car Park to help pay for this venture. This FREE car park is not only invaluable to shoppers but to parents trying to deliver small children safely to the Primary School, Pre-School and Children’s Centre in the vicinity. It also benefits all the school children who walk by reducing the traffic around the school, keeping their environment safer. This car park cost each household in Cullompton £2 last year - outstanding value for money considering the benefits this brings to the community, let’s try and keep it!

The Council’s justification for going ahead and making an offer on the Court site is their view that the location of the site would be a vital asset for the community. That’s true, which is why Mid Devon District Council planners have already allocated the site for redevelopment for community facilities and short stay car parking. So WHOEVER buys the site it is subject to those planning restrictions. Why do our Town Council feel they need to develop the site ... at our expense?

And it could prove to be VERY EXPENSIVE for Cullompton. There is a Clawback Provision on the sale which stipulates that the Ministry of Justice will benefit from 50% of any increase in value should the purchaser obtain planning consent on the site. If that happens, Cullompton Council Tax payers could end up with a potentially huge bill.

There’s much more you should know about this – visit www.cullompton.org to see what the Council say and visit www.sites.google.com/site/cullycourtyoursay/ to find out more and have your say by completing the survey. We will pass results to the Council.

LATEST UPDATE 11.3.11
Town Council have stated they may now raise the capital required via a Public Works Loan. Ashley Wilce (a Town Councillor) posted the following on Facebook - Under the provisions of the Public Works Loan Acts of 1965 and 1967, loans from the Board are secured by an automatic charge on the revenues of the council and not on the council’s property, i.e. the Council Tax will go up and up as needed. It makes no difference what the council sells off to pay it off early:- The PWLB site goes on to say: Repayments amounts are calculated on the assumption that the loan will run to maturity and normally a loan is repayable only by the regular payments due under the agreed terms.

Also, the Board cannot renegotiate a loan and, while it will usually accept a premature repayment in whole or in part, in all instances the terms will not favour the borrower over the National Loans Fund ; i.e. it can't be paid off early without incurring costs. In addition, under the Public Works Loans (Fees) Regulations 1991 (as amended) the fees payable by councils in respect of advances from the Commissioners are: Fixed rate loans - 35p for every £1,000 or part of £1,000 Variable rate loans - 45p for every £1,000 or part of £1,000 To get an idea of how much this will cost, put how much you think the site is going to cost into this web page: http://www.facebook.com/l/843ea/www.dmo.gov.uk/rpt_parameters.aspx?rptCode=D9A&page=Lending I geustimate that this could end up costing almost £1 Million - for a building that is arguably already in a worse state than the current Town Hall - who knows what state it will be in by the time it is paid for - then the Council will no doubt want another £Million for a new building. These are my own personal views. If you want to make yours known, write to the Council and attend its' Meetings."

LATEST UPDATE 12.3.11
See Farmers Market thread in Forum

UPDATE 22.3.11
Questions asked of Council and their answers - you will be SHOCKED by some of the Council's statements
https://sites.google.com/site/cullycourtyoursay/home/blog-and-updates