Colne Town Council seeks £250,000 Capital Funding – Have your say

Colne Town Council to seek Borrowing to fund Capital Investment – Consultation Period

Colne Town Council have taken on a number of services from Pendle Borough Council. These services include Alkincoates Park, the Grade 2 listed Town Hall and a number of playground sites.

The day to day cost of running all the services by Colne Town Council, without a very large increase in Precept charge, means that there are insufficient funds available to deal with some of the assets that now need substantial further investment and are of a longer- term nature. To deliver such improvements, and keep their finances on a proper footing to, also deliver further investment into Alkincoates Park, Town Councillors have agreed to borrow funds to enable them to continue to deliver improvements for the residents of Colne.

The Town Hall has benefited by around £90,000 of investment, costs that the Town Council has had to incur already from out of its revenue budget, but now the works have been completed, it is now in a position to capitalise these funds by way of replacement borrowing.

Colne Town Council’s portfolio of playgrounds is currently being reviewed, but already it has emerged that around £160,000 will require to be invested in order to replace surfaces as well as equipment, where replacement is needed and or, play value needs to be improved.

Overall it is anticipated that a total borrowing requirement of £250,000 will be needed at the moment, and as part of good governance arrangements the Town Council, wishes to seek the views of its Precept Payers regarding the support for this to enable improvements to continue to be delivered. Repayment of this loan is already factored into the three-year budget the Council has set. This is part of longer-term plans that may also require some additional Capital Investment in the Town Hall in order to lever in grant funds.

As part of this consultation two open sessions are being held for any Precept Payer to attend. These will be held at the Colne Town Hall and are scheduled for Thursday 13^th February 6pm to 9pm and Sunday 16^th February 1pm to 4pm where Councillors and Officers will be available to answer any queries you may have.

In addition information will be available on the Colne Town Council website here: www.colnetowncouncil.org.uk/capital-investment from the 10^th February 2020 until 10^th March 2020, together with a short survey which all Precept Payers are encouraged  to respond to.

More information
Colne Town Council Web Site: www.colnetowncouncil.org.uk
Colne Town Council, Colne Town Hall, Albert Road, Colne, Lancashire, BB8 0AQ.