Ventnor Winter Gardens Trust Bid Revealed

As VB readers following the sale of the Ventnor Winter Gardens will be aware, a Delegated Decision could be made by Cllr George Brown as early as Friday this week, choosing whether the venue is passed into the hands of preferred bidder, The Hambrough Group.

As was commented yesterday evening by Julia Damrow (who worked on one of the bid), both of the second and third place shortlisted bidders have agreed to VentnorBlog publishing the proposals that were submitted to the council.

They both felt that it was important for the public and other Isle of Wight councillors to be able to make comparisons between what they are prepared to offer and that of the preferred bidder.

Proposal shared with the public
The first bid we’re publishing is that put forward by the Ventnor Winter Gardens Trust.

This community group, formed following the news of the venue’s closure in January, has managed to gather significant local support in terms of pledges of time, money and professional experience.

Although the document below does not contain the financial details, members of the committee told VB that they, “had enough money to make the building safe and usable, and to do enough smartening up to give a flavour of things to come.”

Adding, “We can confirm to you that there were no cash flow deficits that we didn’t anticipate having the cash to cover, and the first two years both showed a profit on modest assumptions.”

Rather than go into the detail of either bids, we’re making them available for you to read on VentnorBlog.

Unable to make comparison with Hambrough Group Bid
Unfortunately, they cannot be compared with the proposal by The Hambrough Group, because as VB has already mentioned, neither they or the Isle of Wight Council would release the proposal to VentnorBlog.

Click on the fullscreen icon below to see a larger version.

Ventnor Winter Gardens Trust Application -Non Financial