The "Preston Library" charity makes its financial details available via the Charity Commission. For the year up to 1 April 2018 there appears to be an income of £10,600 and an expenditure of £8,500 for the year. The grants of CIL money to this group seems to be vastly out of proportion to its ability to spend it.
I highlighted previously, that the Council appears to be willing to give this group more than £250,000 as a one off grant. This reportedly includes £18,000 for a reception desk.
A Long Lease
The proposal for a 49 year lease also looks very odd. A previous Council report estimated the potential rent of the building to a market level would amount to about £50,000 per year. If peppercorn means zero, that means the Council is considering giving this group the equivalent of almost £2.5 million over 49 years. That is a lot, and for a very long time. I would expect most leases on buildings to be for say seven to ten years, why should this group be given such a long lease?
The group itself claims to be a temporary organisation, telling the Brent Times that:
"All of us at Preston Community Library agree that public
libraries should be publicly funded, and run by paid professional staff. But, as custodians - for the time being - of
Preston Library we are extremely proud of what we've achieved.”
I wonder if some one at the CLG has noticed all this and is wondering just what is going on between this group and Brent Council? It certainly is a striking difference with the way that other public services in Brent Council are being savagely cut back.
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