Beaversbrook Sports Fields

Peter Dolman · Beaversbrook Sports Fields

The following information was part of a report by the town clerk to the councils Amenities committee meeting in June 2009.

Beaversbrook Sports Field Income projection

Mini soccer pitches (£150.00 week) £8,100.00
Adult pitches 18+ (£140.00 week) £4,200.00
Adult pitches 15-18 (£84.00 week) £2,520.00
Junior pitches (£120.00 week) £3,600.00
Hard Court Mon-Fri (£187.50 week) £8,437.50
Meeting room £1,500.00
Cricket income £1,500.00
Tournaments & competitions £500.00
Courses £1,000.00
Total £31,357.50

Other Income
Grants & Donations £3,000.00
Summer Camps £700.00
(£35.00 per person per week X20)
Sponsorship £16,500.00
(£1,500.00 per pitch)
Total £20,200.00

Grand Total £51,557.50

The report states that while this is a conservative estimate it is hoped that income will exceed the amount shown. It also states that the facility will be a loss making resource.

The report does not give any expenditure figures so it is impossible to report the net cost to the residents of the town.

I personally believe that the Beaversbrook Sports complex is an asset to the town and has to be supported. I do on a cursary glance have some concerns over some of the the estimate figures eg the sponsorship income in todays world looks very optimistic.
The expenditure figure will include the cost of staffing, maintenance and depreciation of equipment purchased for the complex as well as other costs.

Local lass

like you peter i would agree that the project is a good one for the town.although some of the figures area bit off

estest

don't agree with the size of the place at all what a waste of my tax money especially as the town council raised the tax by 33% this year on top of the percentage raised by wiltshire council to pay for the upkeep of a 96 acre beversbrook...96 acres!!!!...what a con!! and on top of that they used the money that was put aside for a community centre in the lansdowne estate to go towards the building of beverbrook!!!...(oh on the basis that an extra room would be added as a community centre usage..that is not even in the community! i wouldn't allow my kids to wander down there on an evening crossing that road in the middle of nowhere.....what a waste of my money i would prefer that extra 33% tax to be used in maintaining our streets and green areas that we already have, which are a disgrace at the moment as the council have not supplied any bins except just two small ones at the tesco, or dog fouling bins or notices, when the garden areas are overgrown and not cared for by the council. when there is vegatation growing in the gutters everywhere. oh i have written to them and mark my word will write and write and write againa nd to the MP if nothing gets done. So beverbrook in my opinion is not worth it i don't live on it or use it but i do live in calne where there needs to be more done for cleaning up and caring for our streets. areas that the majority of the town actually use.

Peter Dolman

the 33% increase was not warranted but cannot now be overturned.
while the whole of the beaversbrook site is 96 acres almost half has not been developed as it is the site of a scheduled ancient monument (medievil village).

I agree that the proposed extention to the pavillion at beaversbrook is not ideal but it is better than building it on a playing field. The other issue being that the money had to be spent with in a set time or it would have to be repaid to Persimmon. In any event the money (£315,000) was never going to be enough to build a stand alone hall and is not enough to build the extention and the council are going to borrow to complete it.

The issue of dog bins and grass cutting is not a town council issue you should contact Tony Trotman your Wiltshire Council councillor to resolve.

estest

£315,000 is not enough to build a one room extension are you kidding? i could build 2, 4 bedroom houses with that amount of money. what an earth was the council planning this one room extension to be..must have been for 20 toilets a pub and gamming facilites all the mod cons....

Oh and wiltshire council have been informed a week ago not that any reply has been forth coming from them...as usual its the thinking of " if we don't reply then perhaps they will go away and not bother us again"...

tut,tut i can honestly say that Leeds council were sooo much better than Wiltshire council which is very, very surprising considering how big in area and population and services leeds and West yorkshire is compared to Little old Wiltshire. you would think that the smaller county would be able to do a lot etter than a big county.

estest

PS...Peter as you agree that the 33% tax increase was not warrented then that would suggest that you are also saying that the Beversbrook is not warrented either, after all that is what the 33% increase is be used for.... As you have said in your first point that it is unlikely that the Beversbrook will make the amount of money that is needed to run it. I don't want to be forced into paying for something that is making a loss, that is not good business sense. But i'm sure that as usual it will be left to us tax payers to bail out a mistake made by the council.

rosco

Peter Dolman

All I am doing is reporting details of a report given to the Amenities committee of the town. I should remind new contributors, I was a town councillor from 2003 to 2007, over 2 years ago!
If residents are unhappy with the increase in the town precept/the extention to the Beaversbrook sports pavilion or any other issue covered by the town council should contact their town councillor. there details are available from www.calne.gov.uk or by ringing 01249 814000.
Roads, pavements grass cutting, dog bins refuse collection, traffic wardens, police, schools, street lighting and many more are the responsibility of the Wiltshire Council not the town council.

The council discussed tenders for the proposed extention on Monday evening under confidential matters, so we may never know how much it will cost.

estest

(quote) "Why are you talking about Wiltshire CC? The Beaversbrook complex is a Town Council thing, not at CC level at all"

Rosco - as a side line to the beversbrook issue Peter and i were also discussing the state of the roads and pavements and green space areas around calne which is a wcc issue.

(Quote) "By definition, all council services will run at a 'loss' as in they will cost money and not make money, that's why they are called a service not a business, right?"

Oh dear not very good at spending our money then Rosco??!
That would mean another massive hike next year. Surely no council would want to be running a "loss" every year regardless of it being a "service" Thats why they have set out their plans of what recoperation they intend to get back in the hire of the beversbrook so that it will in itself cover the costs of it and not make a "loss".

estest

ps....peter and i were talking about an extension to the beversbrook not a stand alone community centre.

estest

Thanks Peter for the contact name of Mr Trotman at WCC. I have forwarded to him the email i sent WCC complaints department.

Peter Dolman

so there is no confusion the beaversbrook sport complex will "lose" money in that the costs (expenditure) will exceed the income received.

rosco