In an article on the new Brent Property Strategy on September 2nd LINK I predicted that some community and voluntary groups would not be able to afford the new rent and leases that Brent Council were going to charge as these will be based on open market rates.
Now the East Lane Theatre Club in North Wembley has felt the icy blast of thet policy. The increase demanded by Brent Council is such that the theatre may have to close. The lease would be £75,000 per annum rather tthan the £1,500 currenly paid.
Previous property strategy has taken into account the social value of community and volunary groups but that seems to have gone out the window. A precursor of the current market led policy was seen at Stonebridge Adventure playground and Bridge Park, and more recently in plans for the commercialisation of Barham Park buildings.
Respected local resident Zerine Tata wrote to Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt about the threat to East Lane Theatre Club.
This is the correspondence:
Dear
Muhammed,
Re: East
Lane Theatre
I was not
aware that the Council was the landlord and you are increasing their rent to a
ridiculous level.
This
little theatre has been there for decades and one of the few icons left
in Wembley.
The
Council should be subsidising this theatre, not charging them rent!
This
theatre gives so much pleasure to local residents, it's like bringing the West
End to us.
Many
residents cannot afford West End prices and have been going to this theatre for
many years.
I look
forward to hearing from you.
Zerine
Muhammed Butt's response:
Dear Zerine
Thank you for your email. I have
attached the email I sent to you earlier as reference.
As you will see that the council has
been subsidising the theatre for 32 years now, and your assumption below that
we have not is incorrect.
We charge rent to residents who have
council properties, the council officers have been tasked to look at every property
we have to see what we can realise and from that work we think that we can
obtain a much better rent for the property if it was let out, the officers have
been in touch with the theatre about the way forward,
The council get many requests from many
organisations that they require a space, we are not able to work with them to
provide a space for them. There are organisations past and present that would
love to have a building for £1500 pa for the past 32 years, sadly we cannot
continue to rent out that level in todays financial and economic climate.
The theatre has been in the fortunate
position to have been able to benefit from being able to have use for the last
32 years at the subsidised rate of £1500 pa.
We cannot say its ok for one organisation
to continue to have sole use for perpetuity, the council does not have
unlimited spaces that we can provide to every organisation in Brent, we would
also look to see who else can utilise that space and what value they bring and
add to the priorities set out in the councils borough plan.
Any decision we make, we will always
get some people who will be happy and some who will be upset with us.
We have just launched the council's new
property strategy which I have attached for yourself, which details the way
forward as to how we will be managing the councils assets , namely the
properties we have and those that are leased to organisations or individuals.
I wish I had properties to give to
everyone who comes to myself, sadly that is not the case.
I
know from officers that there was a meeting arranged with the theatre. I have
been saying that the dialogue needs to continue with the officers, I have been
open wth everyone that we are reviewing every lease we have in place and that
process will continue with everyone.
As I said in my email to you earlier,
the theatre needs to work with the officer, sometimes we cannot agree, that is
life, and we will sadly then have to agree to disagree, and we will then need
to go our separate ways.
Regards
Muhammed
Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council.
Earlier email
Dear Zerine
Thank you for the email and for raising
the concerns about ELTC,
I would love to be able to provide
spaces to every organisation in Brent with a space they can call their own, but
sadly that is not the case as the demand for spaces and for people asking us to
provide those spaces at reduced prices or peppercorn rent, it’s just not
feasible for us to accommodate all these types of requests and it's not
financially sustainable for the council to continue in this manner.
The council officers are reviewing all
properties that the council has and are looking at the terms of all those
leases and what value and returns there are not just for Brent but for the
wider community in Brent.
The last 14 years have been the most
challenging for local government with councils like Brent being stripped bare
of the finances that we need to be able to provide even the most basic of
services to our residents.
We have lost over £200m in funding that
has impacted severely on how and what services we can provide.
ELTC has been in the fortunate position
of being able to have had a space since 1992 for the sum of £1500 pa and Brent
is proud to have supported the club in that time and I can assure you that
there many organisations past and present that would love to have been in that
position of having had that space.
As you may know the lease was for 30
years, and this makes it 32 years to date. The council has been quite
accommodating for that period, but today the council is in a very different
situation to when the lease started, and we are reviewing all policies across
the council.
The ending of a lease is no different
to any other lease and as a responsible landlord we would need to look at what
other options may be open to us, I appreciate that you may say that we need to
look at helping community organisations, but this lease has been there now for
over 30 years, I think we have demonstrated that we have helped this
organisation over the 30 plus years they have had use of the space.
We have to be honest with ourselves and
with organisations that want to utilise the assets that we have, we must make
sure that we are trying to achieve the best that we can from everything that we
have, the officers have been tasked with looking at all the councils assets and
to look at how we can maximise the opportunities and that means that we must
look at rental income from all the spaces that we have, this is a duty that is
on local government.
I am being honest with yourself, we
must start at open market rents, so that the rents contribute to the council's
borough priorities so that we can provide the services that so many residents
need and depend upon.
We are being forced to look at
redundancies, closing and reducing services, increasing fees and charges, if we
are doing this to residents , then I have to be honest with you, the club, and
others, we must look at the assets and whether we are attaining the best value
and outcomes for the council and the residents that we serve and also look at
whether the charges / rents are realistic or attain the outcomes in relation to
finance and measurable outcomes that deliver for Brent.
We have just launched a new housing
campaign as we have a projected £16m overspend and we are now saying openly to
residents that we must move them to Slough, High Wycombe, Birmingham and even
further as we cannot find a place in Brent and we now know that many people
will not be able to afford a property in Brent or even London.
https://www.brent.gov.uk/news-in-brent/2024/august/find-a-place-you-can-afford,
I cannot with my hand on my heart say
to residents to move out of London unless I can say to myself that I
have done everything possible before asking them to move out of Brent.
The rental income could help us to
continue to provide the services people need, keep people employed or help
towards us being able to secure homes that our residents need.
Virtually every day and
even today , I have had residents begging me to help them to find a
safe, secure, space for them and their families as they have been made homeless
and have been evicted by their landlords.
I have to make some really difficult
choices and decisions and whatever decisions I make there will be someone who
will disagree with myself.
The rent that was being paid of £1500
pa for the last 32 years would have come to about £48000 over that 32-year
period , the officers have looked to see what rent can be realised if we went
to the open market, and that is the reason for the new rent levels of £75000
pa.
Accepting the rent of £1500 pa is
something that we just cannot continue with that low level of rent, the
financial loss to the council is too great, and it would be remiss of ourselves
if we did not review the situation.
I appreciate that this new proposed
rent level may seem high, but we also have a duty to make sure that we are
realising the best value for the council as well.
I know that people would want me to
look at what they are delivering how it has helped them, but that would need to
be measured against the council's borough plan priorities and how we can
safeguard and support the most vulnerable and needy in our society and
community.
I have copied in the two senior
officers Tanveer and Denish who manage the councils' assets, they have been
tasked to review the assets we have and to look at every lease with every
organisation that has a lease with us, they are all going through the same
process of rent revaluation.
I urge ELTC to keep on working with the
officers and we can look to see what we can do to help assist.
Thank you for your email and for making
the case to support ELTC.
Regards
Muhammed
Cllr Muhammed Butt
Leader of Brent Council.
