Read on Twitter
Interesting reading in the 2019 accounts of This Land, the property development company owned by @CambsCC - a loss of £11.8 million for the year, and plans to sell the Milton Road Library site. https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/yKVYxQT0gQy0Bp15UI1IUteXNUII6qlhQ5Dm07761CM/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Content-Sha256=UNSIGNED-PAYLOAD&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3IXD5VUVO%2F20200922%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20200922T192742Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEHsaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJIMEYCIQCWCQjFdTxuCR2XKCvtUDrNTwwbY1MpXut5UMjliovMtwIhAJ4Hv%2FXVbOiQUaGyt04QIi8fl7TtGoQ5GxgZmeLLzSU0Kr0DCJT%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEQAxoMNDQ5MjI5MDMyODIyIgx0G7PKDK%2BfAfJ0%2FYEqkQM1%2BEQdmv8PIB9mMBaEX2DdRQOMmJNrFwgj6ENDgn5cuqg0DJgFuARzMX%2FT%2FSndZ%2BYk9AerQU6XmVTIMpGiVLLwXOMHTV0JQpyKE1W0eC2jQOJsy75Mj%2FJin7OW%2FNz4OBqgIL78GkJPDs9AmJ0VdVNn2rVJ3l5WvwfJSlE3gRlWNgFqOIczWEx389yU11ewLI83CO8GMwP7pRE6GWkv3RExBI7Q%2FkEqt1qzy%2FGEceV8SIw6VnZbYBVoCt1WhVd4%2FSnTAaZW9q7sNXdLqc96vmoR6j5ZG7%2BjrFp6oQL5Aw%2FXiSfQUvrR5BP6evwUPIU4YaKCwba%2BbXoyhf9nAIAcYELCAMi1FJC20ouqpPhvaIkutObtpt5m73GBQ2CBiMl907N4R7tTaVgJoRkshkJScwQkDczGjAkWcmsMyy%2BPNBIDvTJIWXKbglDYUQU%2FIqWiFU%2FdtO%2BNVbcz2Vk4SXq4r9YIiCR9uc8pipZvIm7%2Flg%2BgkbLJ3RJS3rC%2BoPz0iiZ0t7CNzphivUUbw4jRdy5OaQ3tyTCfhKn7BTrqAdsCbZA4%2BKqZWh0e8GmkExwBe9sDqN%2FI%2B3A5GnVqFkdNYGlCNtCrEPBdUkYJxE2qKpiWqh4yMLppuX2RDwquwQyEgL2MKzM0c4AMH0A5y6k4F8AN0sAxPPAUezdbH4jVxJWnJo7d622YEwqrF5TLrIrDCqTaOzVW1prKNH5rRhtf1MmlrY4iVsalunC1couuG5NfR9oQtgGvc8SwMEIJWMtFJJ5sN%2BoJqdVl9ZsuVjG4S1xOGF6WLB5I19aeKP0ny%2BnrnDbyXe2vLQX6s8NoctiZWPfiwo%2F6nq%2BBIDVyg0wYuopn4JwRev3mQA%3D%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=c7ae8d30acc2872fd80c04a3ada85ebd10e679d12356d70478ac6bec5251d392
This Land operates by borrowing money from @CambsCC, then using that money to buy property from @CambsCC which it then develops. However, it now seems that they are planning to simply sell off some of the land to other developers once planning permission has been obtained...
...effectively privatising assets which were previously publicly owned by @CambsCC. It seems that the Milton Road Library site is also due to be sold - the Managing Director's statement says This Land "are looking to sell the property in the future at an appropriate time".
When the library was redeveloped, @CambsCC agreed a 25-year leaseback, which will continue even if This Land do sell the site, so the library could stay open at least that long. https://cambridgeshire.cmis.uk.com/CCC_live/Document.ashx?czJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=mG1%2bjbrH4TVshGj6PAUlmr%2bSUSeU1NmIeKwARAbz%2bI85WvL0bdyjtg%3d%3d&rUzwRPf%2bZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3d%3d=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2fLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3d%3d&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&kCx1AnS9%2fpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3d%3d=hFflUdN3100%3d&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2bAJvYtyA%3d%3d=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&FgPlIEJYlotS%2bYGoBi5olA%3d%3d=NHdURQburHA%3d&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3d&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3d
But you have to wonder what will happen in the longer term when the lease expires, with the freehold sold off to some unknown private company. Milton Road Library has been at its present site since 1936 - see @FriendsofMRL's website: https://www.friendsofmiltonroadlibrary.org.uk/?page_id=529
This Land's accounts also show a loss of £11.8m in 2019, up from a loss of £3.9m the previous year.
This Land will hope to improve the picture in future years - but is their objective of maximising shareholder value for @CambsCC really compatible with the stewardship of public assets in the long term interest of the people of Cambridgeshire?
