Gloucester car boot not expected to make taxpayers any money this year
Gloucester’s car boot sale has not generated any income for taxpayers since it was leased out last year.
Capital Car Boots was awarded the lease of the Hempsted Meadows site last year after Gloucester City Council agreed to undertake a competitive lease for the site for 15 years.
However, council chiefs said in the latest financial monitoring report that the car boot sale has suffered a series of incidents and delays that have led to their being no expected income during the current financial year.
The car boot was initially expected to re-open on July 20 last year but it was postponed for a week due to vandalism the cleanup operation to remove thousands of nails from the site and extra security cost around £25,000.
The formal lease was ultimately signed by both parties on August 1.
And City Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) revealed last week that Capital Car Boots were given a rent free period because of the “sabotage”.
Councillor Alastair Chambers (C, Matson, Robinswood and White City) raised the issue at the budget meeting on February 26 that he was concerned about income generation at the council.
He said the latest financial monitoring report said there was no income from the car boot and there was a deficit of £25,000.
“Income should be one of the main things on the agenda,” he said.
“The car boot sale has suffered a series of incidents and delays that have led to here being no expected income during the year.
“That’s really concerning. We’ve got a council that can’t even generate income from a lease.”
Cllr Chambers also claimed there was a plan B for the council to take the running of car boot in-house.
“The car boot needs to be looked at,” he said.
Cllr Hilton said the “fuss over the car boot” was “frustrating”.
He also said “there’s always a plan B”.
“Let’s get it right,” he said. “This is a 15 year lease given to a new company, a new business, a rent free period because we suffered from a load of sabotage.
“Remember the spreading of the nails just before the new one opened?
“We had problems with the current operator getting cold feet because there were sabotage attempts.
“There was viciousness on Facebook and things like that.”