To: Bourton Parish Council
XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX,
XXXX, Bourton
24th November 2015
Dear Sirs,
I refer to the matter of the site selection for the New Village Hall. I have set out below a
number of points which I hope clarify what I was trying to put across at the meeting on the
23rd November. I also make a suggestion which I trust you will consider.
1. Whichever site is selected, the New Village Hall will have to go out into the funding
market and raise a very substantial amount. The funding community will wish to see
that costs and risks have been minimised by proper, professional commercial action.
They will not wish to pay for costs that should have been avoided.
2. The NDDC planners have indicated the way in which a degree of competition can be
maintained between the two sites without compromising work to-date or activity to
come. I would comment that they do not appear to comprehend why Bourton is not
taking up this approach and is, rather, driving to the earliest selection.
3. The benefit of maintaining a degree of competition is that by inviting each
landowner to enter a partnered approach to the overall development on the basis of
some form of Heads of Terms* to govern the overall project, costs and risks to the
Hall can be minimised. Funders will thereby see that the parish is helping itself as far
it possibly can.
4. By contrast, selection of one site to the absolute exclusion of the other (absolute in
the sense that the whole NP process might need to re-run if a change were required
as a result of the referendum) does not provide a strong basis on which to drive
action forwards in firming up design/definition, commercial terms or timescales
other than on the basis of trust and goodwill.
5. The areas that could benefit from an integrated/partnered approach could include:
a. The demolition and removal of any existing buildings and foundations and
the management of any liabilities/issues therein (e.g. asbestos, bats, water,
thick clay.). It should be noted that in the one case, the landowner will have
to incur a level of such costs in due course in any event. With the standards
required today, demolition and removal will have to be done professionally.
b. Undertaking all landscaping once with consequent savings on contractor setup costs. Potentially, by close inter-working, other logistic/material sourcing
savings may also be made.
c. The design, engineering, approval and implementation of a common roadway
access, noting that Highways typically do not like to see two such in very
close proximity giving on to a 40mph road.
d. The backbones of other shared infrastructure elements including water,
sewage, drainage, power, telephony.
6. Industry benchmarks show that the external works of a typical Community Building
average 12% of the total project cost, ranging from 8 to over 20% depending on
complexity. Taking the average and taking a probable overall cost of the new hall at
£650,000, that comes to some £78,000 – more than has thus far been raised by the
community. Targetting a saving of half of that would be a substantial boon to the
Village Hall project and a big fillip to the continuing endeavours of the community in
this regard.
I do suggest that if the Parish presses ahead with the single source selection in December,
the opportunity is taken ahead of that decision to invite both of the landowners to identify
areas in which they are prepared to adopt a partnered approach by committing to do what
can be done jointly and either offer a contribution or share the potential savings. The
responses may also serve to further illuminate factors in the decision facing the Council.
I note that the landowners have met the requirement asked of them in their indicative
apportioning of land and have been constrained in the quantity of housing they are seeking
but, as these projects move into an active phase, these positions can and typically do
move/erode as professional developers (typically retained by the landowners to execute
their plans) move in and seek to maximise returns. There is no doubt that they do stand to
make very significant profits which only arise as a consequence of the parish’s search for a
new village hall site.
I trust that these points will be received on the basis on which they are written which is
solely to minimise the amount of money the New Village Hall will need to raise and to
maximise the chances of raising it.
Yours faithfully,
[signed]
XXXXXXXXXXXX
*Heads of Terms here means “an agreement to agree” or a set of agreed principles which
precede the signing of a negotiated contract, and which the parties intend to be reflected in
a written contract. They set out the basis of the deal in broad terms. At the simplest level an
exchange of letters might be appropriate. In short, “something rather than nothing” but
which can still be embarrassing to move away from.