Basic Rental Of £2600 For Hall Car Park

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30846, 3 September 1965, Page 16

Basic Rental Of £2600 For Hall Car Park

The basic rental being received by the Christchurch City Council from the operator of the town hall site parking area (the former Limes Hospital site) is £2600, and Cr. H. G. Hay, chairman of the council’s town hall committee, believes this and possible excess profits are a good return.

Cr. Hay said this when he was commenting yesterday on a letter to the editor of “The Press” from “What Shall It Profit?”, who wrote:—

“As a contributor to the town hall fund I object to the fund's not operating the car park and receiving only rent, a fraction of the turn-over that is going into private pockets. I also object to the advertisements of businesses attempting to cash in on the car-park asset provided by the cash of the fund’s contributors.” Cr. Hay replied:— “In deciding to lease the car park on the town hall site to a private operator, the City Council adopted the same procedure as with the councilowned car park in Lichfield street. The rent payable is substantially greater than from both the Limes Hospital building and the per-

manent car parking sites previously operated by the council.

“It is extremely doubtful whether the council would earn as much after allowing for overhead expenses if it were to operate the car park itself. “It is nonsense to suggest that the rental now accruing to the town hall fund is ‘a

fraction of the turn-over going into private pockets.’ The lease with the car park proprietor requires a percentage of all takings in excess of a reasonable basic figure to be paid. to the council in addition to a basic rental of £2600 a year.

“The fact that various business houses have seen fit to advertise the existence of this new amenity is just plain : common sense and achieves ’ the desirable objective of encouraging more cars off our already-crowded streets, ensues an income to augment the town hall fund, and assists in a modest way in keeping the central business area from losing further ground to the suburbs. “In view of the possible misapprehension of your correspondent, it is perhaps relevant to point out that the Limes site has not been purchased from funds contributed to Town Hall Promotion but from amounts funded from various sources by the City Council over a number of years.”