Council’s £5m BeWILDerwood promise (From Knutsford Guardian)
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Council’s £5m BeWILDerwood promise
12:30pm Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News
By James Wilson
Council’s £5m BeWILDerwood promise
A NORFOLK-based company will be handed a £5 million loan from Cheshire East Council to create an adventure playground in Tatton Park if planners approve the scheme.
The financial details were revealed in a previously private cabinet report after the council was told by the Information Commissioner to disclose the details of the proposed financial deal with Bure Valley Adventure following a Freedom of Information request by a resident.
The published cabinet report states the council would lend £5 million to Bure Valley to build BeWILDerwood, which would be repayable over 12 years.
It would also spend £1.5m of its own money on the infrastructure, including a car park, which will be repaid through park entry charges over 20 years.
The report added the new attraction would generate net returns of up to £400,000 a year to the authority during the loan repayment period, rising to £700,000 a year after repayment of the loan.
Clr Jamie Macrae said BeWILDerwood was a perfect fit for Tatton.
“Due to its unique character in the market place the option of open procurement tendering would not have brought suitable alternatives likely to be acceptable in the area or to the landowner,” he added.
“The part 2 cabinet report was kept confidential initially, so that the council could negotiate the best possible contractual terms.
“This is perfectly normal practice for local councils throughout the country when dealing with potential developers or investors in their area.
“Although its commercially sensitive aspects were kept confidential, the report was never secret. It was subjected to all the usual internal procedures.
“It was discussed by Cabinet, and all councillors had access to it through the normal channels as part of this decision-making.
“There are two important stages yet to come before any negotiations are completed and any formal contracts agreed.
“The first is the consideration of the BeWILDerwood proposal by the Strategic Planning Board.
“Secondly, even if planning permission is granted, the final approval of the National Trust – as the landowner at Tatton – is still required before proceeding with such development.
“The National Trust has been fully supportive of these proposals.”
Kim Ryley, interim chief executive, said: “We understand the public interest in this matter, and so we decided not to appeal against the Information Commissioner’s decision that we should release the previously confidential council report.
“Before doing so, we had to seek the approval of all the third party groups involved in giving expert advice on this matter, in confidence to the council.”
Save Tatton Action Group (STAG) – which has queried why the report was not released straight away – said if the development went wrong, Cheshire East would have to pick up the pieces.
A group spokesman said: “People must cut through Cheshire East’s flim-flam over conversations and transparency and focus on the fact that our elected representatives are backing a ‘theme park’ development which will be underwritten by Cheshire East residents to the tune of £6.5 million.
“Thanks to the way the planned deal is structured, Cheshire East residents will be footing the bill for the next 20 years if it all goes wrong while Tom Blofeld and his family estate will walk away unaffected.”
The planning application is currently being revised by Bure Valley, and the council said it expects to reach its planning officers in the next two months.
What do you think? Email yourviews@guardiangrp.co.uk
Comments(3)
Deep Throat II
says...
8:27am Thu 21 Feb 13
There is a concept in procurement known as a "call for ideas" or "call for competition". This allows a marketplace to give their views on the best way a public body can achieve a desired aim but without the public body having to clearly specify exactly what they want to deliver. The marketplace then suggests ways the body can meet its objectives, and the best idea or ideas are turned into detailed specifications for a formal procurement process to be undertaken. The idea that the council can simply rule out a tender process because it has unilaterally decided that there are no suitable alternatives is wrong both in law and also in terms of value for money. Have they learned nothing from Lyme Green, where a single contractor was chosen without proper competition? No wonder the people responsible for legal and procurement advice have both left the council if this is the standard of advice the council has received.
There are literally dozens of ways that Tatton could be made a more attractive visitor destination. It is little different to other large country houses that have had to reinvigorate their leisure and tourist offering over the last 30 years. To claim that only Bewilderwood offers the solution is completely wrong.
A single idea - a theme park - was chosen in advance. Crucially, though, the officers have decided that only the Bewilderwood theme park is suitable for Tatton, with no clear options appraisal of why this is the case. In addition, the idea that a set of treehouses is somehow the intellectual property of a single company is patently untrue (anyone been to the Alnwick Garden treehouse?) - and to claim that there is somehow a unique character to the proposal is nonsense.
I am pleased to see the council concede that secret reports with confidential information in them are now to be released, and that there is huge public interest in the previously secret corners of Cheshire East. Perhaps the same principles will apply to the Lyme Green report - which the council is still keeping secret. Jamie Macrae and Michael Jones have shown that when it suits them the councillors want to keep things just as secret as the officers, and only the intervention of the ICO has led to this point
rodthesod
says...
8:05am Sun 24 Feb 13
AND WHERES MY MONEY GOING?
I SUPPORT NORFOLK AND THE JOBS THERE.
Not that I want to.
Edward Hunter says...
2:49pm Wed 20 Feb 13
There was another offer on the table to open a Mr Blobby world but that would have meant they would have contributed some money as well so why let them take the risk. All in favour. Aye!