11 thoughts on “Cost of selling Knowle: a useful graphic”
Is this based on current facts i.e. that to achieve the move to SkyPark they will have to:
a. Sell the Knowle
b. Borrow £4.8m
c. Sell the Manstone Depot
d. Sell the East Devon Business Centre (and presumably lose the rents from East Devon Business Centre tenants)
e. Sell the SITA site (and lose the SITA rent)
This number of transactions will not be possible to achieve simultaneously, so there might also need to be some temporary finance needed (with associated costs).
To be cost neutral, the business case will need to balance on both capital and revenue bases i.e.
1. The capital receipts from all these sales plus the £4.8m will need to match the capital costs of SkyPark plus the one-time costs for the project (inc. compensation to staff and EDBC tenants); and
2. The revenue savings from not having to maintain the Knowle will need to be less than the loss of rents plus the interest and capital repayments on the £4.8m loan plus any other ongoing costs associated with the project (like maintenance on SkyPark, additional costs associated with travelling to a more distant depot etc.)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see a budgetary business case that shows this is the case?
Also to be added: the cost of the Skypark site, loss of local jobs, costs to local economy, increase in travel, loss of the best part of Knowle’s public park, possible closure of public access to the park, etc.
Here’s a start: The expenses paid to relocated staff for extra mileage, mileage of officers to “hubs” and associated expenses (lunches, etc), cost of renting/buying hub space in each town or village, loss of revenue from occupiers of East Devon Business Centre (offset by its costs, of course), costs associated with relocation of vehicles, storage facilities etc at Manstone depot …. oh, and interest charges on loans, etc if not already factored in at expected higher interest rates.
Maybe not, as fares from places in the west of the district will be lower and we all surely recall that when increased journey times were mooted, Councillor Diviani was pleased to inform us that his journey will be cut by 15 minutes each way!
However, can add: cost of officer time doing packing, labelling, inventory lists, etc, phone and internet service relocation, physical moving costs (including insurance), legal fees, stamp duty land tax, updating stationery, etc, legal fees, But I did cheat and got these off the internet!
As mentioned above relocation will be very costly for Sidmouth!
This centrally located employment land will be lost and there are plans for locating it in Sidford – while Manstone depot could be used for school expansion. Need to factor in increase cost and time for EDDC residents travelling over to the skypark. What about staff redundancies for those who do not want the daily commute and the increased expense of travel. Will Cllr Diviani’s cabinet members and the senior officers pick up the bill when EDDC is dissolved?
As Graham has suggested, if staff do not wish to relocate to SkyPark because of the increased commute, they will presumably have to be made redundant, with associated redundancy costs.
But let’s not forget the costs of recruiting replacements (most of whom will come either from Cranbrook (East Devon residents) or Exeter (a different local council area).
And the cost of training these new recruits.
And the cost of lost efficiency from less experienced staff.
And of course the unquantified costs associated with members of the public travelling to SkyPark instead of Sidmouth, and the unquantified costs to the public of the disruption caused by the change over of staff and (presumably) the dip between staff being made redundant and the new staff being recruited.
(I feel we are still barely scratching the surface, however. So please keep those insights into costs of moving to SkyPark coming.)
Oh, yes, and the loss of almost 200 FREE weekend parking places for visitors, “not to mention” the loss of public confidence in the workings of local government.
oh, yes and the loss of income to Sidmouth visitors for those motorists who will not visit at weekends because trying to park in the town puts them off. One cannot see businesses in Cranbrook (of which there are currently none) suffering from lack of tourists and walkers!
Friends also point out the loss of revenue to Sidmouth’s economy and the damaging effect on tourism of a superstore and industrial-retail park on an AONB.
And what about the cost of the new offices etc at Skypark?
East Devon Watch 
Is this based on current facts i.e. that to achieve the move to SkyPark they will have to:
a. Sell the Knowle
b. Borrow £4.8m
c. Sell the Manstone Depot
d. Sell the East Devon Business Centre (and presumably lose the rents from East Devon Business Centre tenants)
e. Sell the SITA site (and lose the SITA rent)
This number of transactions will not be possible to achieve simultaneously, so there might also need to be some temporary finance needed (with associated costs).
To be cost neutral, the business case will need to balance on both capital and revenue bases i.e.
1. The capital receipts from all these sales plus the £4.8m will need to match the capital costs of SkyPark plus the one-time costs for the project (inc. compensation to staff and EDBC tenants); and
2. The revenue savings from not having to maintain the Knowle will need to be less than the loss of rents plus the interest and capital repayments on the £4.8m loan plus any other ongoing costs associated with the project (like maintenance on SkyPark, additional costs associated with travelling to a more distant depot etc.)
Wouldn’t it be nice to see a budgetary business case that shows this is the case?
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Also to be added: the cost of the Skypark site, loss of local jobs, costs to local economy, increase in travel, loss of the best part of Knowle’s public park, possible closure of public access to the park, etc.
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What other costs have we missed??
I will donate a prize (don’t get too excited, it won’t be worth much) to the last person who adds a cost to the list in this blog.
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Here’s a start: The expenses paid to relocated staff for extra mileage, mileage of officers to “hubs” and associated expenses (lunches, etc), cost of renting/buying hub space in each town or village, loss of revenue from occupiers of East Devon Business Centre (offset by its costs, of course), costs associated with relocation of vehicles, storage facilities etc at Manstone depot …. oh, and interest charges on loans, etc if not already factored in at expected higher interest rates.
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Increased Councillor expenses because having to take taxis from districts because of no public bus service e.g. Seaton to Skypark
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Maybe not, as fares from places in the west of the district will be lower and we all surely recall that when increased journey times were mooted, Councillor Diviani was pleased to inform us that his journey will be cut by 15 minutes each way!
However, can add: cost of officer time doing packing, labelling, inventory lists, etc, phone and internet service relocation, physical moving costs (including insurance), legal fees, stamp duty land tax, updating stationery, etc, legal fees, But I did cheat and got these off the internet!
LikeLike
As mentioned above relocation will be very costly for Sidmouth!
This centrally located employment land will be lost and there are plans for locating it in Sidford – while Manstone depot could be used for school expansion. Need to factor in increase cost and time for EDDC residents travelling over to the skypark. What about staff redundancies for those who do not want the daily commute and the increased expense of travel. Will Cllr Diviani’s cabinet members and the senior officers pick up the bill when EDDC is dissolved?
LikeLike
As Graham has suggested, if staff do not wish to relocate to SkyPark because of the increased commute, they will presumably have to be made redundant, with associated redundancy costs.
But let’s not forget the costs of recruiting replacements (most of whom will come either from Cranbrook (East Devon residents) or Exeter (a different local council area).
And the cost of training these new recruits.
And the cost of lost efficiency from less experienced staff.
And of course the unquantified costs associated with members of the public travelling to SkyPark instead of Sidmouth, and the unquantified costs to the public of the disruption caused by the change over of staff and (presumably) the dip between staff being made redundant and the new staff being recruited.
(I feel we are still barely scratching the surface, however. So please keep those insights into costs of moving to SkyPark coming.)
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Oh, yes, and the loss of almost 200 FREE weekend parking places for visitors, “not to mention” the loss of public confidence in the workings of local government.
LikeLike
oh, yes and the loss of income to Sidmouth visitors for those motorists who will not visit at weekends because trying to park in the town puts them off. One cannot see businesses in Cranbrook (of which there are currently none) suffering from lack of tourists and walkers!
LikeLike
Friends also point out the loss of revenue to Sidmouth’s economy and the damaging effect on tourism of a superstore and industrial-retail park on an AONB.
And what about the cost of the new offices etc at Skypark?
LikeLike