The deal with ASDA for the land just outside Newport is expected to bring a huge amount of money to the Isle of Wight council.
It’s money that’s desperately needed due to the Government cutting back their funding so hard, forcing them to dip into the reserves.
The figure was buried in the paperwork for last night’s Executive meeting.
On page E-36 of Appendix H of Paper E (told you it was buried), next to ‘ASDA Receipt investment’, the amount is revealed – £20,000,000 (yes, that’s £20m).
Was revelation mistake?
It’s unclear if this amount should have been revealed.
OnTheWight put a request into the council earlier yesterday for the figure, after we’d spotted “substantial capital receipt once it enters into a lease with ASDA” elsewhere in the paperwork.
After a bit of back and forth we were told, “the amount will remain confidential until the lease is complete.”
What’s understood is the money will only come to the council if the planning application decision for ASDA, given in December 2014, is not challenged.
Update 13.17:
Since publishing this article, the council say the £20m figure is an estimate of the council’s expected proceeds after all of the costs associated with the transaction have been met. They also say the £20m figure was not included in the budget paper by mistake.
In the news
The owners of the land adjacent to where the new ASDA store is planned – South Coast Leisure (SCL) – were in the news last week, as they are requesting an option to buy redundant council land surrounding the site, the budget papers also reveal an anticipated “substantial capital receipt once it enters into a lease with ASDA”.
The paper
Article edits: Clarification on funding affecting reserves and update from council.
Image: togawanderings under CC BY 2.0
