Otterpool Park update: Borrowing, hidden soft market testing and a Dodgy man in charge
To purchase Folkestone racecourse site from the Reuben Brothers for £25 million; which included Monk’s private fishing lake, the council borrowed the money, but they’ve never said who from, nor set out the terms and conditions.
Folkestone & Hythe District Council undertook borrowing away from the public eye to purchase the racecourse. Some district Cllrs repeatedly asked questions about, who the council were borrowing money from? – at what rate? – and how long? However, Council Officers believe it is better for a Cllr not to know, even if the borrowing amounts to £30 – 40 million.
Otterpool Park is moving on at a significant pace. Since it’s phase 1 consultation, which wasn’t a consultation, Otterpool Park LLP has hung out three job vacancy cards on its web window. They require a:
Finance Manager – c.£55,000 – £60,000
Community Services Delivery Manager – c.£45,000 – £50,000
Programme Quantity Surveyor – Competitive package
Back in Nov 2019, the Cabinet and full council gave themselves permission to draw down a maximum of £40 million, from the £100 million, in either 2019/20 or 2020/21. This was clearly set out in Cabinet report Report Number C/19/23, which on page 2 states:
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This report makes the case that cabinet should recommend to Council that additional capital funding of one hundred million pounds (£100M) be made available to enable the project, namely the development of Otterpool Park as a garden town to be delivered. However it should be appreciated that this money we will drawn down over a period of up to five years. A rough estimate is that a maximum of £40 million will be required in this or the next financial year, ~(2019/20 or 2020/21) with the remainder over the next four or five years. The amount actually drawn down may change and be dependent, amongst other factors, on contributions from third parties.
I remember a game we played at school when god was a boy..
It was called Top Trumps quiite lot like this lot from the 80s https://www.simplyeighties.com/top-trumps.php
Why not create a Top Trumps card set for SDC officials (and Councillors) with a Shepwayvox ratings for alleged dodginess, alleged incompetence, alleged lying or alleged ability to make money disappear etc etc?
Nice idea for Christmas ehhhh.
Making money disappear is the key in this case. How long will it take for it to become apparent that several million pounds has gone missing? With the apparently poor accounting and oversight practices of the Council officials, will they notice it in the overall total?
You say “not a sod has been turned”. You then contradict this statement throughout this article ……………….
The quid pro quo for the inter authority loans will be that these Councils have first dibs on any social housing, where they can send their problem tenants.