July 28, 2024 in Rayleigh Town Council
Local residents in Rayleigh have been questioning the closure of the snack bar in King George V Playing Field and so I thought it was worth writing about what's been going on (and what hasn't).
The last lease holders decided not to renew their lease which seemily caught the Council out as it has now spent months (Since October 2023) thinking about what to do next.
All Council decisions are minuted on the Rayleigh Council website here so it's worth look back through them to see just whats been going on!
In the minutes from the open spaces committee held on the 25th March 2024 the committee agreed to refer the matter to the policy and finance committee to discuss how much the Council should be asking for the rent. Looking at the minutes of the policy and finance committee on 16th April 2024, the committee did make the recommendation to full council (all leases have to be agree by Full Council). However, there was no recommendation to agree the quote to deal with the actual lease!
Following the policy and finance meeting of 16th April 2024 there have been two full council meetings, one on 13th May 2024 and one on 24th June 2024. Neither have had the item on the agenda to agree the rent (although we don't know what the terms of the lease would be either as we don't have a draft lease!)
Despite the Council knowing that the snackbar is empty, it doesn't appear to have made efforts to see if there is any interest from business owners in operating the snackbar at the rent of £7500pa. A simple advert can not be found anywhere.
So what next? - I have made my views known to the clerk at the Council, that perhaps the town council should explore offering a licence to mobile vendor whilst all the governance around the lease for the snackbar is dealt with.
The committee chairs also need to be on top of progressing this issue, working with the clerk to bring it to the Council as well.
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