Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance and Assets

As petition organiser, Councillor Fifield thanked all who had signed it, Prestbury ward Councillors Bassett-Smith and Smith, and everyone in the public gallery.  He said the car park is crucial to Prestbury local community and its likely sale price of £100k represents a very small percentage of the council’s overall budget. The petition requests that the sale be put on hold, pending a review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

In response to Members’ questions, officers confirmed that an extensive survey was carried  out in summer and autumn 2022, at various times throughout the day and across weekdays and weekends. Councillor Fifield confirmed that his reference to the LibDem administration being strapped for cash yet increasing allowances to its own party concerned the two Cabinet posts over and above the average for comparable councils.  

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets said the sale of the car park was complete, and necessitated by the council having to be proactive in its management of the town’s assets as a result of government cuts in local authority funding.  The sale has been on the agenda for three years, but neither Councillor Fifield nor Prestbury parish councillors had communicated with him about it for many months. He said the democratic process has been followed to the letter, and the parish council has declined the council’s offer to sell the car park at a much-reduced rate on several occasions.

For clarity, the Monitoring Officer pointed out that contracts have been exchanged but the sale is not complete.

In debate, Members made the following points:

-       the car park is an important and well-used part of the village, for residents, business-owners and visitors;

-       the government has been reducing funding to local councils since 2016; the decision to monetise assets is a direct result; 

-       the petition only asks for Overview and Scrutiny Committee, chaired by an opposition party member, to look at the matter more closely;

-       it appears that contracts were exchanged after the petition was presented, riding roughshod over the process – this is disgraceful, and shows that the administration doesn’t care about the voices of communities.  It is clearly a fait accompli, and a bad day for Cheltenham and Prestbury.

As a point of clarification, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Assets said that an offer had already been accepted when the petition was formally submitted to Council on 23 February. 

The debate continued:

-       in an ideal world, the council would never consider selling off any of its assets but tough decisions such as this one have to be made.  Process has been followed, and the council is looking to realise its assets and reduce ongoing liabilities;

-       the petition was submitted very late in the day - there have been many opportunities for this since 2020;

-       CBC is a well-run local authority, managing its assets in best possible way;

-       Prestbury Parish Council declined to buy the car park, and neither of the councillors supporting the petition, both members of Overview and Scrutiny, asked for it to be considered by that committee at any point;

-       the petition was sent to Democratic Services on 01 February, and the 750 signatures verified by 06 February, before bidding ended on 09 February; the administration chose to ignore the petition;

-       Prestbury could have used the County Council’s Build Back Better funding towards the purchase of the car park - Swindon Village is a less wealthy ward than Prestbury, but used the funding to purchase its car park; 

-       the Parish Council was offered the site for £40k – 60% below the market rate - and  the offer now accepted is over three times that, demonstrating that the council went above and beyond the democratic process;

-       a recent report to council regarding Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) showed that Prestbury held £118,514k at the beginning and end of the period – it didn’t spend any money when the car park negotiations were taking place;

-       to present the sale as a LibDem plot to undermine democracy and deny local feeling is wrong; Prestbury Parish Council represents the local community, and the decision to sell was not a last-minute fait accompli foisted on the people of Prestbury.   

The Mayor invited Members to vote on the recommendations, which were approved.

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    the detail of the petition presented to Full Council on 23 February 2024 to stop the Council’s sale of Idsall Drive car park is noted;

2.    the activities outlined in Section 4 of this report undertaken by the Council between 2020/21 and 2023/24 which have led to the decision to dispose of the car park are noted;

3.    the recommendations 1-4 outlined in the petition are rejected and disposal of the site on the open market is continued.

26 in support

9 in objection