Burton Bradstock Parish Council
Post Office & Village Shop
Progress report
Liaison with the Tenants
See email string attached. It is apparent that the proposed way forward of developing the Òbusiness termsÓ of the lease before involving legal advisers has been rejected. I propose submitting a report on the development of new lease terms and the cost of the TenantÕs legal advice to the December PC meeting.
It is however apparent that the tenant would prefer an 8-year to a 7-year term. If we agree to pursue this we shall need a report on the costs and benefits to a future PC meeting, once the ÒundervalueÓ has been determined.
Discussions with Valuers
At the time of drafting a brief has not been finalised. I shall report further at the meeting.
Liaison with Village Society Trustees
Councillor Delves & I met with the 4 Village Society Trustees on 19 October. The minutes of the meeting are still in draft and will be circulated once agreed with the Trustees.
The meeting was positive in terms of the future involvement of the Trustees in the management of the Post Office, with broad agreement that this should centre on the condition of the property with an annual meeting to discuss the next yearÕs work programme.
Further investigations and discussions are needed to resolve the nature of the PCÕs previous investment in the property and from that current equity split on future sale.
Councillor Graham Moody
Burton Bradstock Parish Council
26 October 2010
From: Graham Moody
[mailto:Moodys@btinternet.com]
Sent:
25 October 2010 19:21
To:
'gwen holdcroft'
Subject: RE: Post Office & Village Shop
Thanks for your comments, Gwen.
The Òmarket rentÓ clause in the current lease is in Schedule 5 at clause 2.c).
I shall discuss your comments including re legal costs with colleagues and get back to you.
Regards
Graham
Office: 01308 897817
Mobile: 07939 588054
From: gwen holdcroft
[mailto:gwenholdcroft@hotmail.com]
Sent:
22 October 2010 15:22
To:
moodys@btinternet.com
Cc:
dydixon@mac.com; ahillmackie@aol.com
Subject: RE: Post Office & Village Shop
Graham
Thanks for forwarding the attachments. A couple of points:
1. Please can you specify which clauses in the current lease refer to
"setting a market rent".
2. We clearly agreed to explore the possibility of a new
lease, rather than agreeing to accept a new lease, as you have inferred.
3. You have not mentioned any legal costs that we might
incurr. We did discuss the PC meeting our costs in our
last meeting with you. With all due respect, we would not be able to
take the legal advice given to the PC and would need to obtain our own
legal opinion. We still do not fully understand why suddenly our lease,
which is virtually identical to the previous leases granted, needs to be
changed. We signed our lease in all good faith, invested a
great deal of capital in the building which we did on the basis of
spreading the capital repayment over the duration of the lease ie 10
years. At no stage at all were large rent hikes mentioned
and we certainly do not expect to have to fund further legal
costs.
If you are going to get an independant valuation done in respect of the market
rent it should be noted that under our current lease it should not take
into account any added value that we have made in renovations to the property.
The valuation should also be based on the fact that this is
a village shop and P O and an essential part of the
community. As per our current lease requirements we must sell
tickets for local events etc. Therefore the possibility of achieving
a higher rent for say an Art Gallery or other would not be a true
valuation.
I think the best way forward is for you to draft the new proposed lease
which we can then get advice on. We will most
definately want the same business terms as in our current lease.
Finally, your comment about the probability of SPAR taking over the Post
Office is offensive to the say the least. I would have thought that
it was vital for the elderly villagers in Burton Bradstock to have a local
shop, Post Office and community asset within easy walking distance as we are in
the center of the village. This should be looked at as a
possibility of satisfying condition A ii.
Regards
Gwen
From: Moodys@btinternet.com
To: gwenholdcroft@hotmail.com
CC: dydixon@mac.com; Ahillmackie@aol.com
Subject: Post Office & Village Shop
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2010 18:47:37 +0100
Please see attached reports that were considered by the Parish Council last week. The ÒaddendumÓ report includes the legal advice we have been waiting for.
The Council approved the recommendations and Dave Dixon and I should like to see you and Simon to discuss the attached and to look at how we can move matters forward. IÕll give you a ring to see what time suits, but if thereÕs anything you want to discuss in advance please donÕt hesitate to contact me.
Regards
Graham
Office: 01308 897817
Mobile: 07939 588054