What’s going on ???
They say …a government grant covered the extra expenditure and the lost income from the pandemic
They say…..the £764,000 will be added to the general reserve which will bring the reserves up to £14+ million ( but this is well below the required risk assessment of £15.8million that they should have)
They say…..they did have a planned £18.7million of savings before the pandemic
They say …..there was a government fund of £184 million given to them because of the pandemic.
What on earth is going on?
Well. Let’s start with that wonderful bargain bought by the Conservative run council in 2017/18. That bargain of Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres plus Riverside at a cost of £51 million. This was bought in some kind of rush when the vendors – eager to offload this piece of architectural wonder and desperate to sell, promised a sweetener of some guaranteed £2.7million income in the first year.
Mmmm….the income from the shopping complex for 2019-2021 was £434,000.
The value of Darwin, Pride Hill shopping centres and Riverside dropped by
£33.5 million
Yes, I know there was a global pandemic – a lockdown- but £33.5 million!!!!
(The properties were bought in 2017 as Jersey Property Unit trust and the shopping centre finances were only moved back to the UK in February 2021)
Andy Boddington the Lib Dem Councillor for Ludlow North on his webpage said that the then Leader of the Council Peter Nutting told councillors that there was no money for investment in market towns . That’s us folks. Bridgnorth people.
In November 2019 £10 million was cut from the annual highways budget, although this was promised to be reversed when the shopping centres generated enough income. The Conservatives before the election in May of this year (2021) promised to restore The £10 million cut in the new administration. Don’t hold your breath then .
Their other great ideas: – the Shirehall to be moved to Pride Hill at a cost of £11 million
– a North West Relief Road at a cost of £87.2 million
BTC ideas : – spend more money on the market towns of Shropshire .
spend more money on sorting out the potholes of the county
sort out the parking problems in Bridgnorth
build a Multi story car park in Bridgnorth
more visible police in the town
any development affecting our town should involve the town from the beginning not
the end
The council to buy back the Old Smithfield car park to be used as a car park in
perpetuity for the people of Bridgnorth
and sort out those ********** potholes
