Public Meeting - Loan for 2-4 Market Place redevelopment

Please come along to this public meeting 23rd November 7pm at the Methodist Chapel

Caistor Town Council has been asked to provide a loan of £750,000 to Caistor and District Community Trust Ltd to support the redevelopment of 2-4 Market Place. As a small town council with an income of around £120,000 a year, we would need to borrow the money to loan to the project group. The annual repayments would be £60,000 a year over 50 years totalling over £1.89million. The proposal is for CDCT Ltd to make the loan repayments to us to enable us to pay back our loan. Taking out a loan of this size complex and Government guidelines dictate that we need to follow a due process, including assessing the impact of the loan on residents council tax, due diligence to ensure the loan will be repaid and setting up safety nets in the event that CDCT fails to make repayments. Our proposed safety nets are: securing a sole first charge on the property so that in the event CDCT cannot pay their loan to us, we will at least receive some money from the sale of the property; secondly an independent financial viability review of the project; thirdly, implementing a legal loan agreement between the town council and CDCT; and finally, consulting with residents. All of this takes time and costs money but we remain committed to making the right decision for all of the residents of Caistor and for the future of the town, and will keep resident updated as progress regarding the loan is made. On 02/11/23 CTC have been advised by our solicitors that we have secured a sole first charge over the property. This means that CTC would be in strong position to recover funds if the project fails and the property is sold, thereby helping to protect the interests of Caistor residents. The next 2 stages in our due diligence are the financial review of the project business plan and Public consultation. The public consultation will take place on the 23rd of November starting at 7pm at the Caistor Methodist Chapel, when CTC will engage with the residents of Caistor to advise on the implications of taking up the loan on behalf of CDT.

 

 

Tuesday, 14th November 2023