The row between Bradley Stoke Town Council and Northavon Bowls Club continues with the letters page of the Evening Post the latest battleground.
Last week, Councillor Caroline Charlton wrote to the publication to say “the efforts by the town council to negotiate with Northavon Bowls Club about setting a rent fair to both themselves and town taxpayers have been extensive”.
She went on to say: “The town council is doing its level best to draw up an arrangement that is fair and equitable to town taxpayers and the bowls club. We will be contacting the club once again in an effort to progress negotiations.”
Members of Northavon Bowls Club have written to the paper to have their say - The Evening Post has yet to publish the letter but we’ve published it in full below.
Councillor Caroline Charlton certainly does not put the record straight; once again Bradley Stoke Town Council cannot recognise the truth from its own propaganda. Northavon Bowling Club does not owe any rent for last year - the Council has banked our cheque in full and final settlement for the rent to March this year and has returned our cheque for the quarter’s rent to June.
The bowls club is not subsidised - we are prepared to pay in full the costs relating to the hours that we occupy the premises. However, we are being asked to subsidise the Town Council’s costs when the building is unoccupied.
Contrary to what Caroline Charlton says, it is other users who are heavily subsidised. The Council spent £775,000 on new rooms for which their only additional income is a peppercorn rent from the youth club – a scandalous waste of taxpayers’ money. The cricket club is being asked to pay less than £4,000 when the cost of maintaining the cricket field is about £20,000 per annum. In comparison for the last six years the bowls club has paid all of its green maintenance costs, currently £8,000 per annum.
One of the main contractual differences between us relates to their refusal to make available details of the running costs of the premises and allow them to be independently audited if required. Yet they want to see our accounts, which we consent to, as part of the agreement. There is no transparency on their part and the message that this sends is that they wish to be able to charge us whatever they want, while we have no right of challenge. We are not prepared to accept this.
South Gloucestershire Council has offered to provide an independent professional mediator to help resolve this dispute. The bowls club accepted this offer early last week, Bradley Stoke Council have NOT; yet having unlawfully locked us out of a green that we maintain, they still say they want to progress negotiations.
From executive committee of NABC.
Footnote: This letter appeared in Friday’s Evening Post.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Mark Wilson // May 1, 2008 at 12:25 am
I assume that as, yet again, NABC can’t seem to form an argument without refering to Cricket Club affairs (and the youth club again), in order to make their use of the comparison between the cricket field and the bowls green a fair one, NABC plan to campaign for the perimeter fence and locked gates that surround the bowls green to be removed and encourage the local people to use it for league and casual football matches, ride bikes on, hold BBQ’s, walk the dog etc in the same way that they are allowed and welcome to do on the cricket field when matches are not taking place.
Those at NABC who know me will be aware that I would be very happy to see you get your issues sorted out and to see you back at Baileys Court enjoying your sport. But I wish you’d try and achieve this without complaining about other clubs and organistions in the town and stop comparing the subsidy spent on an area open for all to enjoy at anytime to one thats kept behind locked gates.
This argument is between NABC and BSTC.
Bringing others into your arguments is not helping you win support.
2 Maggy Thatcher // May 1, 2008 at 10:40 am
Free prescriptions, good jobs for workers and kick free loading bosses out of the town. KICK THE COUNCIL OUT and THEIR COUNCIL TAX. ESTABLISH A SOCIALIST FREE STATE within Bradley Stoke.
They simply enjoy ripping you off for your money and don’t give a dam about the people who vote them in. Well next election hopefully we should see them all kicked out of their jobs and scrabbling for food in the dirt.
Remember the council don’t give a dam about you - lets send a message next election time - we don’t give a dam about you either!
3 Mark // May 1, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Maggy,
You can kick out the free loading bosses out of the Town if you like. As for the Councillors, they provide all their time and effort FREE of charge. No Bradley Stoke Town Councillor is paid for any work he does on behalf of the Town
4 Maggy Thatcher // May 1, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Aren’t you forgetting their generous expenses (if they are anything like Bristol). I gather the going rate is about 11k - the average wage of a cleaner or others but of course they don’t get the wineing and dinning their hard earned tax payments fund.
It’s strange how streets/areas where councillors live tend to get most attention. How many broken pavements in Easton do you see compared to those in Sadly Broke and Henleaze where the wine and dinning brigade all live. I hate the way they think their kids are worth more of a chance than working class kids .
5 Rob // May 1, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Maggy, you are mis informed again!
Town Councillors can only claim Expenses where incurred for attendance at official meetings outside the town and these are rarely, if ever, claimed.
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