Act now or regret it for 40 years

Macclesfield residents are being asked to approve a 40 year mortgage for £1.25 million.

South Park pavilion had been used as a booking office for tennis and golf then a cafe for many years – sadly, all the previous businesses struggled before completely failing.

What the members of Macclesfield Town Council know about property development or business could probably be written on the back of a fag packet but that’s not stopped them risking our money on a project that can only be described as financial insanity.

Having secured ownership and responsibility for South Park pavilion, Macclesfield Town Council are intent on replacing it – at a cost of around £2 million.

The council have around £500,000 of our money stashed away for a rainy day but now plan to borrow a further £1,250,000 – you read that right – £1.25 million!

To facilitate this project Macclesfield Town Council are seeking approval to secure a loan of £1,250,000 over a period of 40 years.

To pay for this your – and my council tax precept will have to be increased initially by 24.5%.

What happens next, when the project fails – and it will – is anyone’s guess. The council will have to come back to all Macclesfield Town council tax-payers seeking further funding!

The Council believes that once the pavilion is built and up and running the loan payments will be paid through contributions from income generated by the pavilion.

Anyone having any experience in starting up and running a business you’ll realise that is nothing short of ludicrous. 

We only have until 23rd February to reject this proposal.

Consider then:

1/ the building won’t last 40 years without a programme of repair, renewal and regular refurb. We can’t predict what will happen to the local economy within the next five years so to consider borrowing over a 40-year period is financial profligacy.

2/ have they built any sort of contingency for budget overrun into their costings? Look at any construction project and you’ll see at least a 20% overrun.

3/ Have they considered the maintenance and ongoing costs?

4/ If any number of prior businesses couldn’t make the cafe work how in heaven’s name are the new tenants supposed to?

5/ At even a modest 5.5% annual interest, a loan on £1.25 million comes in at £68,750 per annum – plus capital repayments of £31,250 =  £100,000 a year. Divide that by 12 and you get a monthly rent required of nearly £8,500. On top of that the tenant will have their own costs for refit, maintenance, energy and staffing. What tenant is going to be in a position to afford £12,000 a month or £3,000 a week in rent?

6/ A catering-based business would need a refurb every 5 years – has anyone costed that?

7/ To generate sufficient profits to sustain such a high rent would need sales of a minimum £15,000 a week. A catering business would be looking for in excess of £20,000 a week. The only catering-based business capable of sustaining these sort of figures is Macdonalds, and they wouldn’t be building a £2 million building in a Macclesfield park.

8/ The marketing research conclusions don’t hold water – they claim that there’s an increasing demand for vegan products. But consider that three Macclesfield town centre vegan outlets have gone under in the last couple of years. The remaining one has had to start selling meat dishes to survive. The council’s market research is a joke and worthy of a primary school.

9/ Has anyone spoken to town centre business owners to establish how they’re doing? I speak to many and I can tell them – they’re nearly all struggling – badly. Businesses are going under across the country – Body Shop this week – yet another victim of declining demand.

9/ What, if any, business experience do any of the councillors have?

10/ One final question, just where are all these visitors going to park? And please don’t tell me it’s a sustainable development – and everyone will walk or cycle there. If just half the existing small car park is allocated to disabled parking that’ll leave space for around a dozen cars.

If the Town Council is intending to run the business themselves God help us.

Have any one of the councillors ventured into Macclesfield during the day and taken a look at our town centre? Why do councillors believe there are so many empty properties.

Why do councillors think Marks & Spencers pulled out of Macclesfield? Even M&S’s busy cafe was unable to sustain the business.

Why are so many Macclesfield businesses struggling and why do they think a new pavilion will buck the trend?

If ‘our’ half a million quid is burning a hole in the town council’s pockets might it be more practical to spend it on improving the town centre?

This is an incredible sum of our money that the council is playing with.

Think on, if this ludicrous project gets the green light all our town councillors will be having their photographs taken for the celebratory press releases, but when the whole project fails, which it will, we won’t see those councillors for dust.

Don’t just ignore this – you need to act NOW.

It’s critical you take a look at the consultation and make your views known now – the consultation ends on 23rd February. Simply hoping it will not happen doesn’t work – you need to ensure your voice is heard.

Every year Cheshire Police is supposed to survey the views of every one of Cheshire’s 1.1 million residents seeking approval for their precept increase. Most people aren’t even aware of this as all the information is on-line and has to be found. Last year just 3,000 residents (out of that 1.1 million) responded – and only 2,000 were in favour. But, as more voted for than against, the result was seen as approval – and the increase was passed.

You only have until February 23rd to make your thoughts known – and it’s a very simple consultation

If you’re in favour of it that’s your call – that’s democracy for you. But if you’re not – make sure your voice is heard.

Our council is looking to put every single one of us into debt – but it’s you that will pick up the tab!

ilovemacc original item is here.

The consultation is here