I am sure you will have heard that at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the parish council on the 28th November, it was decided not to proceed with the transfer of Millennium House to the Pensilva Community Association. I know that those who supported the proposed transfer and gave their time to putting some of preliminary arrangements in place will be disappointed by this decision.

Prior to the EGM the parish council sought a legal opinion on the proposed transfer and the subsequent payment of a substantial amount of the parish tax precept to PCA to assist with running Millennium House. The legal opinion was that without certain preconditions having been met, the lease to PCA and the offer of money was extremely likely to be unlawful. In order to demonstrate that the council had obtained good value for money and met the requirement of its own standing orders, it was believed that the parish council should undertake a valuation and public marketing exercise. In effect this would involve inviting tenders from other bidders, this would be both expensive and offer no guarantee that other bidders would have the same community interests as PCA. Moreover, it seems very unlikely that this formal process could be completed before the election of a new parish council in May 2017.

The parish council believed it would be unwise to enter into an expensive tendering exercise that could extend beyond the life of the present council. In the meantime the income of Millennium House had shown some improvement and hopefully this would continue. The parish council with the help of staff and volunteers will now continue to manage Millennium House and work to improve its financial position. In May a new parish council must be elected, at that time and if they so wish parishioners will have an opportunity to elect a new council with a mandate to pursue a different course of action. We would urge all those who have an interest in the future of Millennium House to consider standing for election in May.

Signed,

St Ive Parish Council

21st December 2016