No to Mansion Tax

This is actually no to yet another tax and not a commentary on whether owners of properties worth more than £2 million should be paying more tax.

We already have a system of tax based on property values – the Council Tax. We don’t need to go through all that’s involved in implementing a new tax and complicating our taxes even more.

If it is decided that the mansion tax is a good idea just bring in a further council tax band at £2 million.

Can we Cut the Cost of Activity Centres

I understand the Council owns and runs 2 Activity Centres in Colchester. One in the Lion Walk Centre and the other at Abbotts Road. The last I heard they were costing the council £87,000 per year to run.

I obviously do not know the full operational or financial details of these centres, but would suggest that both venues are sold and new premises sought on a rental basis. For instance, what about transferring the Lion Walk Centre to Gala Bingo. I know from dealing with them they are quite helpful on Community Projects. Perhaps they would provide a free venue on the basis that they would make a bit from food and drink sales and perhaps offering cheap bingo for the clients.

This would make use of their facilities when they would not normally be used during the day.

Potentially the Clients would continue to benefit from a Town Centre based facility, the Council could save money and the host (Gala Bingo) would receive a small income.

If Gala Bingo were not interested there are plenty of other venues.

With regard to Abbots Road, sell the existing premises and move the Activity Centre to St Margaret's Church Hall or Old Heath Community Centre for instance. Again its a three way win. If it was moved to the Community Centre it would help to justify the large costs of setting up and running these centres which are struggling financially and to which they have struggled to find a need.

Can the Council Save a Fortune on Layer Road?

A couple of years ago just after Colchester United moved to the new Community Stadium, it was reported that the old Layer Road Ground was still costing the council $600,000 per year.

Apparently, these costs were made up of business rates and security costs. Due to the current recession the old ground cannot be sold to housebuilders for the forseeable future.

If this is the case the costs could be dramatically reduced by leasing the ground out to a Charitable Organisation who can claim a rates discount of up to 90%.

It would obviously be ideal to lease the ground to a Sports Charity, perhaps the Colchester United Trust, but if sports groups are not interested the area can be used for anything charitable.such as allotments. Obviously whoever took over the lease would have to do so on a temporary basis as the land would need to be sold at some time in the future.

The same principle holds true for other Commercial Buildings the council owns, particularly retail premises in the Town Centre. I understand for instance the council owns the large premises near the old Shoe World pending eventual redevelopment.

If the Council have trouble finding suitable Charity Groups they should contact me and I will find a suitable Charity and use for them.

Even if the Council does not save large amounts of money they should be allowing the Local Community to make use of these resources on a temporary basis.