Estate clashes with council over rent fee (From Gazette & Herald)

Estate clashes with council over rent fee

A WAR of words has broken out between Ryedale District Council and the Fitzwilliam Estate, during which it has been revealed that Malton Market Place had originally been offered free of charge to the council by the estate - providing parking was free for motorists.

But the council says it has been asked to pay a 70 per cent rise in the rent for the use of car parking areas owned by the estate.

Coun Robert Wainwright, chairman of the authority's policy and resources committee, said it had been paying £28,500 a year since April 2001 for the parking areas in Malton Market Place and the nearby Chancery Lane.

The financial agreement was due to be reviewed in April this year, said Coun Wainwright, but in February, the estate sent a letter to Ryedale House advising the council that the rent would be increased to £48,500.

"We could not absorb such a hefty increase because it was not in our budget so we have had no alternative but to increase car parking charges," he said.

Coun Wainwright said: "The council put in a counter on June 30. Since then, we have heard nothing from the estate. Negotiations are on-going but at the moment we are still awaiting a response to our offer.

"The estate does not seem to have been entirely truthful in campaigning for parking charges to be reduced when it is seeking such a swingeing increase in rent from the council."

Roddy Bushell, the estate manager said: "The estate owns the Market Place, but rents the land and its use to Ryedale District Council (RDC).

"Four years ago, the estate offered to let RDC have the Market Place rent-free, providing that the council granted free car parking. This offer remains open. It should be remembered that RDC is receiving a substantial sum each year by selling the rights to hold a market. They are making a considerable profit from both car parking and the sale of market rights so it is only right that they should pay a commercial rate for the Market Place.

"If the rent increase goes ahead, the money raised by the estate will be reinvested in Malton for the benefit of the town. The debate about car parking charges is about a long-running council policy. It is a proper debate for the community to conduct openly, with each side of the debate argued genuinely from evidence and principles.

"Whilst the point about the Market Place rent rise and car parking charges sounds good superficially, it does not form a reasoned part of the genuine debate. If the council wants to act commercially by continuing to profit from ever-increasing car parking charges, then it should accept that it should pay a commercial rate for doing do."

Updated: 15:24 Wednesday, October 05, 2005