Land over loan

Public money could be used to buy more land in Southwell instead of paying off debt.

The town council owes £146,727 to the Public Works Loan Board over the purchase of the Old Court House, now the council offices.

It could pay off £50,000 — reducing the annual repayment from £14,816 to £9,767.

However, the money that would be used for the repayment is earmarked to buy more land for the town.

The money was given to the council as part of planning permission for the Moorfield Court development on Nottingham Road. It can be spent only on capital projects such as buying land or property.

If the council paid off the lump sum, the £5,000 annual saving would go into the general reserves where there is no restrictions on spending.

The council recently bought Froggatt’s Field off Church Street.

It wants to buy Minster Fields, the former Minster School playing fields, which it leases from Nottinghamshire County Council, if it becomes available.

It is also looking to buy another piece of land, the location of which remains confidential.

Mr Malcolm Rose, vice-chairman of the finance and policy committee, said the council should consider paying off a lump sum on the loan to save money.

However, he said if it was paid, there may not be enough money to buy the land.

The county council has told the town that it would not sell Minster Fields, but Mr Rose said that policy could change.

Mr Brendan Haigh said it would save the council money if they acquired the freehold of Minster Fields because they would not have to pay the annual £4,000 rent.

He said although it would benefit the town to buy Minster Fields and the second piece of land, he thought the council had honoured the promise, made ten years ago when they released land for Moorfield Court, to put money aside to buy community land.

Mr Haigh said: “A year ago I was very unhappy about letting go of any of this money because if we had we wouldn’t have purchased Froggatt’s Field and that would have been a lost opportunity.”

He suggested the committee look into if it would be possible to buy Minster Fields and the second piece of land and discuss the issue at the next finance and policy meeting.

Mr Andy Gregory said he was pleased the town had bought land for the town.

He said: “It was right and proper we did it because now we have important areas in the town centre under the control of the town council.”