We need proper financial control

In last week’s Gazette, the leader into the dark, Ben Fitter-harding, tells us of the financial problems of the city council.

So, he says it is wrong for the public to pay for meetings that benefit the public.

He adds that we should rely on councillor contact but when I email him with a simple question he does not reply.

On page 9 of the same Gazette the council tells us about a proposal to have shops in”kiosks” next to the expensive multi-storey car park that he backed. A planning application has been made for these, taking up valuable council time and money. Surely the city council is over heavily invested in the retail sector already with the unwise Whitefriars purchase.

Council taxpayers are given no figures for that investment, other than the comment that its decrease in value does not matter as the council has no intention of selling it. Values of commercial property go down when the expected rent goes down. Capital value is about 14 to 17 times the annual rent depending upon the nature of the property in question.

With yet another lockdown, shops will be even harder to rent and yet this blinkered council wants to build more, again with no figures given for cost or financial yield.

We are told that they would have a life of 30 years so that’s an annual cost of over 3% for a start. At the end of that period the future council taxpayer has no asset value.

Surely with sustainability at the top of the agenda we should not be building short life structures. You would not know from their design, that this is a Conservation Area but of course they match that other short life structure, the car park. Conservation officers at the council have obviously not been consulted regarding these unfit Harming units.

Please can we have some proper financial control at the city council and rid it of expenses that aren’t needed and the people that promote them.

Nick Blake

Leycroft Close, Canterbury