South Ayrshire Council needs to ‘reduce the amount we have in the common good’ according to a senior councillor.
Labour councillor Philip Saxton made the admission during a discussion on the future management of common good assets in South Ayrshire on Tuesday.
The Leadership Panel agreed to include common good properties in a broader review of the council’s estate.
The council’s decision sell the Darlington Church to an arts group for £1 without seeking court approval, as had previously been advised, had raised the possibility that they would look to dispose of some of the 62 ‘investment assets’ in the common good accounts.
Now the council will look at the future of each property individually to determine how it manages the common good.
Current policy recommends that Common Good Fund land and property assets be retained if the rental exceeds that which could be achieved by investing the capital at the bank, or if the property is being held to support an adopted strategy.
SNP councillor Ian Cochrane described the work on the common good as ‘gargantuan’, asking asset manager Tom Burns whether each of the properties would have an individual business case assessed.
Mr Burns responded that while each would be looked at on its own merits, he ‘wouldn't go as far as to say it would be a business case’.
Troon Labour member councillor Philip Saxton said: “A lot of the assets don’t bring in an income. That’s what is a concern.
“There is no use keeping common good assets if it does not bring income into the common good.
“We have to reduce what we have got in the common good.”
Current policy means that repairs and maintenance of common good property is covered by these reserves.
The amount of capital and revenue reserves has been on the decline in recent years, with £400,000 work on Rozelle House, expected to take a large chunk of the remaining £939,000 capital balance of Ayr Common Good Fund.
The report to the Leadership Panel states that Ayr Common Good Fund has assets totalling £13.472m. The remaining funds in Prestwick, Troon, Maybole and Girvan bring this up to just over £14m.
Mr Burns stated: “The management and maintenance of Common Good Fund land and buildings assets is subject to the level of funding which is available within each Common Good Fund.
“This poses issues for future maintenance costs of Common Good in relation to the amount of money available in each of the Common Good Funds."
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