Spark container village – payments to Council revealed

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the York Council has revealed that it has received £13,333 in rent from the Spark container village on Piccadilly since they first arrived in September 2017.
Spark April 2018

This amounts to little more than £700 a month since the organisation took over the prime site.

No payments have been received by the Council from the “profit sharing” scheme agreed as part of the deal to allow shipping containers to be installed on the site. The council says it is still awaiting receipt of accounts for last year. The last accounts filed by Spark were for the year ending March 2018.

£19,856 is owed by Spark and its tenants for Business Rates. The Council says that it is taking recovery action.

The original Spark business pitch to the Council talked about a £71,000 profit each year. Part of this was to be used to repay the Council’s initial investment (which cost over £40,000) in new utility infrastructure,

The container village has been controversial from the start with long delays in meeting some planning conditions. An instruction to replace graffiti style street art with cladding on the Piccadilly frontage is still outstanding (click for background)

The contract allows for the Council to take back the site if, after 21 days, the tenants have failed to pay the rent or complied with their obligations under the Lease.

Many of the individual units have been empty over recent months.

Although warmer weather may give the containers a temporary boost in customer numbers, it is surely long overdue for the Council to test the market by advertising the site for permanent redevelopment.

York Council response to Freedom of Information request 29th April 2019

York Council election round up

Council elections are taking place on Thursday. Each of the four main parties are contesting all the 47 seats. There are also some Independent candidates.

In most of the City, the campaigns have been low key. Little interest has been generated and there remains a fear that turn out will be low even by Council election standards.

This is at least partly due to the national situation which has seen a meltdown in public confidence.

Locally all the parties seem to be concentrating their efforts in “target” seats. So elsewhere some electors may not hear anything from some of the parties.

This is a shame as there was a lively debate to be had about a range of issues. Everyone is affected by the standards of public services provided in the City. Examples are rubbish collection (generally regarded as good in York), road repairs (pretty bad), litter on the streets (bad in some areas) and transport (buses getting better, parking not so good).

A copy of our analysis of voting prospects in each ward, together  with a comparison of the policies on offer from each party, can be downloaded from this link (click)

Our analysis suggests that the York Council will remain in “no overall control” but with a re-balancing of the parties which could see the LibDems and Labour increasing their representation at the expense of the Tories. In two or three of the rural villages Independents may be elected.

Or the electorate may produce a big surprise. We’ll know on Friday.

NB. Councillors from the Conservative, Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat groups will take part in a debate on Tuesday night, April 30. The hustings will be held at St Peter’s School from 7pm and residents will have a chance to question candidates ahead of the local elections, which take place on Thursday, May 2. Cllr Stuart Rawlings, Cllr Dave Taylor, Cllr Kallum Taylor and Cllr Ashley Mason will take part. Contact 01904 527315 or events@stpetersyork.org.uk for tickets.