Free to go to this today? 12.45 @ New Morrisons Dalkeith. 1pm March round corner to Council Buildings. Stop the demolition. A Hub for Everyone. 100% Inclusive. 100% community run. The final hour of a one year campaign. https://www.facebook.com/events/477603242383290/
0 Comments
Chief Executives Report: The Chief Executive took the review panels report and added a third option that would involve demolishing the main building and leaving the back hall: "Representation Received from Bright Sparks Special Needs Playgroup" “A letter was received by me from the Bright Sparks Management Committee. The proposal by Bright Sparks is to relocate from its current base at the Cockpen Centre to the back part (gym hall, kitchen, three storage rooms, toilet block, and new foyer) of the former Leisure Centre building..." "(The proposal is)..Midlothian Council funds Bright Sparks to provide play group support for children 0-5 with complex additional needs and their families in Midlothian. In addition the group fund raises to provide a range of activities after school and during holiday periods for children 0 -11.” “A ...petition with 1040 signatures in support of Bright Sparks moving to the Bonnyrigg Leisure Centre was submitted on 20 June 2014. + 2673...online ... with 11 letters of support from locally based organisations. It had not been possible to scrutinise these in any detail at the time of writing this report.” “The Bright Sparks proposal has not been subject to the same degree of scrutiny or consideration as the Community Asset Transfer bids submitted to the panel. Taking that into account, if Members are minded to support this proposal, it would clearly be necessary for relevant officers to undertake a detailed analysis of the proposal, the associated costings and the budgetary implications for the Council.” “As an alternative to the community asset transfer, consideration be given to the approach received from Bright Sparks, and that officers are tasked with undertaking a detailed analysis of the proposal the associated costing and budgetary implications, prior to this being taken forward, reporting back to the Council if this cannot be successfully implemented, and or will require the approval of provision in the budget.” Therefore, in laymans terms, the Chief Executive has put the following choices before the Councilors:
The Full report is below. We submitted our revised bid on 12 May 2014. The Review Panel assessed it. Their conclusion was "the only bidder worthy of further consideration is Bonnyrigg Centre Trust Limited". These are some of the key positive and negative quotes from the report. Key comments from Midlothian Councils Review Panel about Bonnyrigg Centre Trust’s (BCT) Community Hub bid. "(The)...phased approach to provide for a more confident and manageable approach; including a modest Phase 1 during which BCT, as occupier of the building, would be able to bid for external funding." "BCT would not seek any financial or in-kind support from the Council." “We will set up and run the building independently of Midlothian Council’s support and ensure the community understand that it stands or falls on its own two feet..” "the bid by BCTL demonstrates a significant level of community consultation and a genuine attempt to take an inclusive approach ...the two phase proposal gives a greater degree of confidence in a more manageable and sustainable approach to achieving overall success." "The Panel’s most serious concerns remain centred around the financial business model... fragile in the face of any unforeseen changes... " "The submission from Bonnyrigg Centre Trust Limited is ... the only one of the three submissions to wholly demonstrate substantive engagement with the wider local community and to commit to genuine ongoing community engagement in the operation of the venture." "...The Panel considers that the only bidder worthy of further consideration is Bonnyrigg Centre Trust Limited." RISKS "...potential risks.... weaknesses in the Trust’s financial model ...(mean). There is the distinct possibility that the venture could fail in its first six months of operation due to the inadequacies of the financial business model. " "...such failure would, significantly, not be at any financial cost to the Council." "... the loss of newly instigated community facilities ...creates a further risk, that in the event of failure of the venture, and notwithstanding the assurances of the Trust, there would be pressure upon the Council to commit resources, either financial, in kind or both, to keep the venture operating." Recommendations: "iii. consideration be given to identifying Bonnyrigg Centre Trust Limited as preferred bidders, to be granted a let of the premises for an initial six month period which is subject to review at the end of that period, and on the strict understanding that the Council shall not incur any costs before, during, or after that period other than costs of demolition should the premises be returned to the Council at any time, and subject to all other normal terms and conditions which apply in the letting of Council owned premises;" There were two other bids. The panel concluded it could not recommend them because: “The submission from LO-GY Limited...was considered by the Panel to have a number of significant flaws... the essential commercial nature of the venture, and the limited engagement with the local community. Accordingly, the Panel cannot recommend this bid.” “The submission from the Bonnyrigg and Sherwood Community Development Trust adds very little to the previous bid by Midlothian Fitness Academy, of which the Trust were a part. The bid remains essentially that of a commercial venture with limited demonstrable added value to the local community. Accordingly, the Panel cannot recommend this bid.” Full report is here: In Case you are wondering just how much support the Bonnyrigg Hub actually has:
Bonnyrigg Centre Trust comprises 6 Directors, 12 Hub Team, 60 Activists, 508 signed up members, 1630 online supporters. Has been actively supported by the following by the following 23 user groups:
Local and National organizations:
Over the last 3 months Councillors have had over 66 different individuals write to them supporting the Bonnyrigg Hub campaign and proposals. After quite a bit of phoning around we have found the big picture. Midlothian Council re-advertised the building for let 3-4 weeks ago. The closing date was last week. Three bids were submitted. We called around to work out who the bids were from.
One bid was from us, Bonnyrigg Centre Trust, the original campaign for the whole buildings reuse as a Hub, which is a community owned and run home for the whole community and various groups to find a permanent home and base. Our rebid, addressed the officers concerns about staffing levels and adjusted our income projections. Our goal is to get ownership so we can future proof the building with lottery money, which can only be secured if you can demonstrate broad community involvement and multiple groups. Midlothian Fitness academy has resubmitted the same bid as before, which is to use the main building as a company run fitness gym and rent the back hall out to Bonnyrigg and Sherwood Community Development Trust to run as a soft play and cafe. A surprise last minute bid was made by the gymnastics club in Loanhead called Lo-Gy to take over the whole building. They want to use the pool as a gymnastics centre and put a soft play where it used to be. (They heard about it because one of the parents attended one of our demos 5 weeks ago). Its great news that none of the bids advocate demolishing any of the building, which is what the Council hoped for. Our campaign has inspired these two other bids for the building. It shows that there is need of it and it can pay its way. Its a shame Midlothian Council are making community groups compete rather than cooperate by making a competitive bid. Hopefully the Trust gets it and everyone can collaborate in Phase 2. Our campaign is to see the whole building used for the whole community. That's why we designed the business plan to be flexible enough to accommodate the needs of all the groups who have shown an interest, and others. It only uses 41% of the building to cover the basic needs: Soft Play, Park Cafe, Youth club, Community hall. It leaves the rest for many other interested groups to have a home: Afterschool clubs, Clubs, Trampoline, Cheerleading, Bonnyrigg Bowling, Gymnastics, Dancing, fitness, sensory room, you name it, with good design, there's enough space for everyone. On behalf of the Trust. Darius 4 weeks ago Midlothian Councillors were strongly advised to demolish Bonnyrigg Leisure Centre ASAP by their staff advisors in an official report released 6 days before the decision. Because of your unprecedented local and regional public response in those 6 days, it meant that Councillors voted to reopen bids for the building and give the community another 10 weeks to resubmit offers for the reuse of all or part of the building. The advert above was their way of informing the community.
What this means for Bonnyrigg Centre Trust is that the business plan will be strengthened with professional assistance to address the sticking points that the Council staff brought up. And start to raise funds for Phase 1 of the project. While this is done behind the scenes the main focus is to now organise together individuals and user groups to show how much it would be used. The next Council decision is 24th April. (We've stopped calling them final decisions. Because we are on our fourth now.) ***FAQ on the advert*** They are advertising a 25 yr lease. We are pressing for full ownership because grant funders give more to communities who own the building. This would future proof the building and stop the threat of demolition for the next 20 years. We will be making an offer for ownership. (The Council have it listed on their books as being worth £1 because it can't be sold or rented commercially.) "RV £130,250" Is the Ratable value of the building. A commercial firm would have to pay £65,125 p.a. in rates for the building. A community charity would pay nothing. We are wanting the whole building for the whole community. If it was donated, the community would get a decent building mortgage free and rates free. This gives it a huge head start and cuts out alot of the operating costs. The Council Meeting on the 25th March decided NOT to follow the council officers' recommendation to demolish the building.
Instead they accepted an alternate motion: "Midlothian Council welcomes the report by [the] assessment panel on bids for [the] former Bonnyrigg Leisure Centre; accepts the recommendations of the assessment panel not to accept either the bid from Bonnyrigg Centre Trust or Midlothian Fitness Academy; considers that in order to support recommendation iv, demolition of the former Leisure Centre be postponed to allow consideration to be given to use all or part of the building; requests a report to the June meeting of Midlothian Council to present outcome of these considerations; and instructs the Chief Executive to write to each of the two bidders to inform and explain the reasons for the decision of the council". This give us the opportunity to have 3 months to strengthen our business plan and take into account their practical recommendations. The absolute final decision will be made in June's meeting. A massive thank you to everyone who emailed Councillors. Today's decision has been directly influenced by your level of support for the reuse of this building. Lots of work to do between now and June but the fight is not over yet!
The quick way to email Councillors Here |
Archives
June 2015
AuthorDarius Namdaran Categories |