A Letter to the Editor from the increasingly popular BRIAN MATHEWS (who can be relied upon to pose the penetrating questions) in search of a cool £3million.
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Dear Editor,
There seems to me to be a massive discrepancy between the numbers and the reality regarding the Travelodge £3.8 million deficit mentioned in Mr Thorne’s article:
The Council bought the St Nicholas Hotel in October 2018. From that date to May 2020 is 19 months. Assuming nothing has been received at all in terms of rent (£350,000 per annum over a 19 month period), then £554,000 or so (plus I presume a small % turnover rent) is outstanding.
Add in the Business Rates payable of about £60,000 per annum (over the same 19 months period), then the shortfall could be around £660,000, plus the turnover rent element. This, of course, is all assuming that not a penny has been paid since the Council bought the building. Travelodge may have been granted a rent free period – but not for this length of time.
Where is the £3 million difference?
Councillors and the public need to know how the £3.8m has been calculated. Has another unsecured loan of around £3,000,000 been been granted on a similar basis to the £9,000,000 Benchmark loan?
Yours sincerely,
Brian Matthews
Scarborough.
7th July 2020
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