Derbyshire council transfers land to church to back £700,000 hall revamp and community garden scheme

Bolsover District Council’s Executive has agreed to approve the freehold transfer of its land valued at £10,000 at the rear of St Helen’s Church, on Park Lane, in Pinxton, to the Diocese of Derby for no financial benefit to the council to help deliver a community regeneration project which has already been awarded funding.

A council spokesman stated: “It is considered that the disposal of the site for less than best consideration will result in the promotion of the social wellbeing of Pinxton residents by facilitating the re-development of the [church] hall for the benefit of the whole community.

“Further, the council’s land will be used as a community garden area which will promote the environmental wellbeing of the area.”

The council has previously secured £15m of Government Levelling Up Regeneration Funding for improvement plans to the public realm around the district, enhancing shop fronts and the establishment of community and creative hubs with eight projects across the district including Bolsover, Shirebrook and Pinxton.

One of the projects within the Investment Plan is the refurbishment of Pinxton Church Hall with £700,000 awarded from the Regeneration Fund together with £53,333 from the East Midlands Combined County Authority as part of Rural Economic Prosperity Funding.

The Government has consented to the disposal of any interest in the land which the authority considers will help it to promote or improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of an area, according to the council.

Bolsover District Council has also stated that if the diocese was to pay for the land there would be additional VAT implications for the regeneration project which would negatively impact on the budget which would be likely to substantially reduce the possibilities of both the refurbishment and rebuild options on the site.

In addition, the council stated selling its land to adjacent neighbours could have been considered but this may not have attracted interest and such a sale would have resulted in the loss of potential amenity space for hall users and it would have reduced the scope of the hall and its connection to the proposed community garden.

A council spokesperson added: “Should the land be formally transferred by the council to the diocese it will promote the social and environmental wellbeing of Pinxton. It will do this by allocating amenity space to be used in connection with a community facility, in accordance with the Local Government Act.”

The council’s land has already been used by the Church Hall for over two decades for no financial benefit to the council and the council’s legal department has advised that by transferring the land to the diocese this would mean that the VAT on the project would be fully recoverable allowing for the full budget allocated by the funders to be spent on the scheme.

Disposal of the asset will promote the social wellbeing of Pinxton, according to the authority, which allows the council to dispose of its asset for less than best consideration in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972.

The council also explained the diocese has stated that it does not have the budget to purchase the site anyway and the authority confirmed that if the council sold the land to the diocese it would result in the VAT not being recoverable on the project which would reduce its scope.

Its Executive approved the freehold transfer of the land to the diocese at a recent meeting for no financial benefit with the terms to be agreed by the council’s Monitoring Officer and it formally acknowledged that the transfer will contribute to the promotion of the area’s economic, social or environmental wellbeing.