An example of the recent poor financial decisions which have led to am overspend by the All-New-Yet-Unimproved Somerset Cuonty Council concerns the White Elephant Hexagon Enclosure (WEHE) in the Somerset Town of Weevil.
The functioning WEHE was closed in April this year to allow a full building survey to be undertaken, after ANYUSCC Councillors agreed to approve funding for a major upgrade to turn the venue into ‘a flagship centre for the creative arts that will provide amazing opportunities for our residents and bring world class artists to Somerset’.
The plan for redevelopment of the WEHE was initially approved on the basis of borrowing £16 million which would be repaid, by users of the venue through imagined tickets sales. A further £10 million of funding was received from the Department for Spending Money We Haven’t Got, making a project cost of £26 million. Coincidentally the same amount of the current projected ANYUSSC budget shortfall.
In early October, and after interest rates had increased four-fold, ANYUSCC Councillors agreed to suspend the project in order to explore other funding options.
Having failed to heed the abject failure of the Smalltown and Dullbridge (SaD) Town Council owned White Elephant Enclosure (WEE), Weevil Town Council then stepped up to offer a potential way forward and offering to financially support the project.
Leader of Weevil Town Council and BeFuddled Party Councillor Gordon Folkes said “The WEHE is 50 years old and is really showing its age. It needs these improvements to be able to compete with other Elephant Enclosure to attract the big names and shows to Weevil.
At the moment I have to go to Brizzle when I want to see those shows.”
Not all Weevil Town Councillors felt the project deserved backing with two voting against the proposal citing the immense drain on Council funds and that the business case for the WEHE was yet to be tested. Independent Councillor Trevor Suitcase said “There is nothing to justify the level of debt. Many families are already priced out from attending the theatre.”
Residents in Weevil were also not slow in coming forward with their opinions, declaring the project to be ‘nothing but a ridiculous vanity project in the current climate’ and claiming that the ‘Town Council has been blinded by the fact that the government will give the project £10 million, but will still need to find the remaining money. There is no real realistic plan, no contractor and they don’t really have a clue how much it wil really cost or the time line. Council Tax payers will be paying for at least 25 years’.
Residents also said that the “So called investment of our cash reserves is nothing but a sham. The WEE is a white elephant now like the old cattle market. Somebody external should be auditing these decisions.We have no infrastructure to make the WEHE theatre bigger, no hotels to accommodate people and no attractions”
A sensible resident also pointed out that “This will involve council tax increases which I know personally I could not afford.”
Sound familiar?