You could trawl through Waverley Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Value for Money Committee Agenda for its meeting this week – however, you could lose the will to live! So here at the Waverley Web one of our blokes with nothing better to do trawled through until he got to page 190 where he found this? So there you have it – we, the ratepayers bought a supermarket on 1st December – just in time for Christmas. ‘ Your Waverley’ has won the Supermarket Sweep.
However, thankfully we have this information posted on the Waverley Web comments page from Deputy `Leader ~Paul Follows – who is as good as his word about being “transparent honest and open with us” – the voting fodder.
Here’s what he had to say:
‘So let’s try and answer some of the questions:’
1) We (WBC) own the freehold;
2) the tenant is M&S in West Wickham (specifically an M&S Food)
3) we have factored in their plans when the current lease is up for renewal.
More detail now available in the public domain, please see the VfM reports pack on the WBC website for the meeting of that committee next week.
So our sticking a pin in the map wasn’t far wrong – though our guys first thought the supermarket was in Hampshire, but then Kent.
Reading other reports of meetings to be held this week it is quite obvious that unless councils make investments like these to generate further income – in a few years time they will go BUST! It would appear this year it gets NO Government grant. So we’re home alone folks!
This is due to central government’s year by year plan, to strip local authorities (especially Borough and district councils) of proper funding.
There is no doubt that some councils – including several in Surrey – have overstepped the bounds of prudent housekeeping, but Waverley has restrained itself with the exception of Brighwells which is funded by circa £53m of Surrey County Council’s pension-fund money. A move which scared the previous conservative administration witless, but which, despite many warnings, it carried on regardless. Only time will tell if Farnham’s Brightwells is a big golden egg or a big white elephant? It hopes to open the development in July – with the Reel Cinema opening in August.
The new administration with Mark Merryweather at the helm as Portfolio Holder for Finance has struck a different tone completely with open and honest accounting. The supermarket investment mentioned is a four-year contract to generate funds to balance the books that have been stripped by the pandemic (HM Government is not keeping its promises to cover losses of revenue due to the lockdowns, despite pledges to the contrary) Communities Minister Robert Jenrick promises councils will not be out of pocket by Covid-19. But ‘ Your Waverley’ is not so sure.
Questions;
1. What is the return on investment.
2. The supermarket investment is a 4 year contract! What does this mean?
3. In investing out of borough is this at odds with WBC financial investment strategy/policy.
4. Has WBC been prudent with it’s finances like the private sector in the pandemic.
5. “Transparent open and honest” did not apply when increasing car park charges.
Will I actually get a reply this time(I won’t hold my breath!).
No – Please don’t hold your breath. We here at the WW don’t have all the answers. However, seems that investing is necessary as the Government has decided local authorities don’t actually require any money to run our services – unless it is through investments or the council taxpayers!
Does it really matter where the investment is – if it is a good one? As it appears food outlets are about the only retailers that appear to have flourished during the pandemic, seems like M & S Foods was a good bet – and we doubt however long the lease is, or isn’t, M & S will still be in business – because i’s no just food it is M & S Food – and very good it is too.
Perhaps you didn’t get the rationale around the few car park increases – however, here at the WW we did! Seemed pretty sensible to charge more in the overused car parks, and ensure those that were underused stayed the same.
No doubt we will hear as much about the return on the investment as we have heard from the other lot’s investments? Such as Brightwells in Farnham? So we aren’t holding our breath either.