Charitable Trust refuse to pay rent on Doctor’s Surgery

The row between the Parish Council and the Stradbroke (Charitable) Trust was re-ignited last night by an intemperate letter from the Trust which they end with this threat:

“If the Parish Council is serious about wanting a closer working relationship in the future, we hope to receive a more positive response this time. In the meantime, we will withhold payment of the latest rent demand”

The disagreement is well documented on this site and people hoped that calmer heads had prevailed.

The letter also reveals that the Trust appear to want to borrow money using the lease on the surgery as security although quite what they need the money for is far from clear. It does not appear to be related to the surgery:

“The lack of clarity in the lease will also limit our ability to raise finance from banks — in the past Trustees have provided personal guarantees for the original mortgage and more recently, for the loan to purchase the Village Gardens and Allotments.”

Councillors expressed concern about this and several suggested that maybe the time has come for the Council to take on responsibility for the surgery — and the £13,632 rent that this brings from the doctors.

After some discussion the council agreed to write to the Trust once again but it was clear that unless payment is received this matter would soon be in the hand of lawyers — with Stradbroke council tax payers left to pick up the bill.

You can read the letter in full below:

Originally published at www.stradbroke.org.uk.