Mr C Bouchard,
Torbay Development Agency,
3rd Floor,
Tor Hill House,
Union Street,
Torquay TQ2 5QW
21st December, 2014
Dear Mr Bouchard,
OBJECTION TO IMPOSITION OF COVENANT ON LAND AT CHURSTON GOLF CLUB.
I object to the imposition of the above Covenant by the Mayor of Torbay on the following grounds:
1.
Churston Golf Club Ltd is a private limited company and, if this Covenant is imposed, it will act as a
restraint of trade, placing the company in a position where it will be unable to influence its own future.
With the Covenant in place, the Directors will be unable to make commercial decisions involving its main
asset, the golf course, over which is has a 999-year lease.
2.
This Covenant hands the residents of the Churston/Galmpton Ward control over the commercial future of
a private limited company without those residents having any responsibilities for the company under the
Companies Act 2006.
3.
Churston Golf Club Ltd is a not for profit company limited by guarantee and the Directors have
responsibility under the Law for the continued success of the company. This Covenant takes away one of
the most important methods of exercising that responsibility.
4.
The freeholder of the golf course land is Torbay Council and the effect of the Covenant would be to reduce
the value of one of their prime assets (the golf course land) by a figure in excess of £5 million. This
Covenant, if applied, will be contrary to The Local Government Act 1972, Section 123 (1) which states: “A
council shall not dispose of land under this section, otherwise than by way of a short tenancy, for a
consideration less than the best that can reasonably be obtained.” The effect of this Covenant on land
where a portion has planning permission for houses clearly prevents the Council from ever obtaining the
best price that can reasonably be obtained.
5.
It is noted that the intention is to enforce the Covenant in perpetuity and that term is likely to be at least
125 years. It is unreasonable for Torbay Council and its ratepayers to tie up a large asset for that length of
time particularly as there is no monetary advantage attached to this Covenant for the Council
6.
The Mayor in seeking to impose the Covenant is seriously constraining the ability of future Torbay Council
administrations to make decisions
7.
The Mayor is supposed to represent all residents of Torbay but, for purely political reasons, is favouring a
small number of residents in one Ward over the remainder of the ratepayers in Torbay. This in turn means
he is in breach of the Council’s own Constitution.
8.
The Covenant only affects one Ward in Torbay but is bound to act as a precedent for all anti-development
activists in the Borough and even the rest of England.
9.
There is considerable doubt that this Covenant can be enforced as it is trying to give the residents of one
Ward a veto over commercial development in their area where the overwhelming majority of those
residents do not have any land touching the land covered by the Covenant. There is, therefore, no
commercial value in the Covenant for any of the residents of the Ward making the Covenant impossible to
enforce.
Yours sincerely,
Name:
Postal Code: