Last week’s Hereford Times front page announced Herefordshire Council is buying Maylord shopping centre for £4.5m sending alarm bells ringing amongst county ratepayers. There has been no previous report of a full council debate on such a costly purchase with a dubious outcome. What is the Tory opposition view?
Maylord is virtually half empty. Two of its top name shops are leaving. Laura Ashley is bankrupt and will not be re-opening and Sports Direct is moving into an empty shop in Commercial Street, leaving a dozen units not paying rent, but the council having to pay itself business rates on the empty property.
The mixed council administration should publicly explain the rationale for buying a business without a viable future. What’s the anticipated annual profit. Does the council have an unrevealed strategy to redevelop the city centre economy?
If not, they should. Perhaps they see an opportunity to convert the empty units into accommodation or the university students due to arrive next year.
There must be a reason why the county council want to own shops and the ratepayers, as money lenders, would like to share it with them.
George Thomas Hereford
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