Uppingham Town Council could sell bowls club

A deal by Uppingham Town Council to sell off a building to the town’s bowls club could be agreed next week.

Councillors are being asked to approve the deal in which the council is offering a 50 year mortgage to the bowls club for a sum of £1,500 a year.

The sale has been in discussion for some time and council chairman David Ainslie says the deal is being done ‘to correct a historic wrong’.

He said when the club was originally built by the bowls club committee 40 years ago on council land, the town councillors at the time had thought they were signing a ground lease, but the agreement instead gave ownership of the club to the town council, which owns the land.

In 2010 the council’s auditors said the council should charge a commercial rent to the club at Tod’s Piece, Gainsborough Road, and a £1,500 annual rent was charged. The town council then gave the bowls club an annual £500 grant to lessen the rental impact.

In 2023 it said both parties wanted a ‘simpler arrangement’ with a mortgage option from the council, or the sports club borrowing money elsewhere being considered.

The value of the club in 2010 was £75,000 and the papers say the town council would consider a discretionary discount due to the building being a community asset.

The amount being suggested is a purchase price of £51,000.

Coin Ainslie said: “The discount is because we have got the bowls club to agree it is not just going to be used as a club for bowls but also as a community asset.”

On Wednesday (February 5) the council will be asked to agree the sale as well as taking the 2024 rent as the first payment.