£800k windfall: Where has all the money gone?

This is the question on many people’s lips after learning that of the £825,268 given to the town by Tesco and Sainsbury’s, just over a third remains.

Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information request, the Helston Packet can reveal exactly how the money has been spent – including £14,000 on office equipment and an astonishing £24,500 on marketing, branding and PR.

Before going in depth, however, let’s recap. It was back in 2010 that the two major supermarket chains awarded the money to Helston, as a planning condition of them building new outlets. The idea was to offset the potential loss of trade in the town centre that could result from having two large out-of-town stores.

Cornwall Council decided that of the original sum, £573,916 should be allocated for employing a town centre manager and funding the resulting projects.

The remaining £251,352 they set aside for ‘public realm works’ – physical changes to the town.

Now, however, just £75,659 remains from town centre management budget – a mere 13 per cent of the initial sum.

So let’s look at where it’s been spent.

With only a small amount of the 2010/11 financial year remaining, year one’s expenditure was minimal – the majority of the £6,662 going on recruiting a town centre manager and initial wages.

The start of the 2011/12 financial year saw the proper arrival of first post holder Richard Dennery and with him £7,527 spent on carpets, furniture, computers and phone lines for his new office.

His appointment proved costly however; beginning work in March 2011 he stayed only until September.

It meant that after just six months the council was forced to pay out a further £3,655 in finding his replacement, through job adverts and interview expenses.

The arrival of Jonathan Birkett, and subsequently a part-time assistant for him in the form of Tanya Allen, meant more money paid out in office alterations and equipment – a further £6,488 to be exact, bringing the total to more than £14,000.

That year did see some projects get off the ground: a £650 footfall survey to see who was coming to Helston, £218 spent on flags and £2,586 on town guides.

Another £1,160 was spent on leaflets and plaques for a town trail, with £3,210 going on buying and installing new town bins.

A total of £31,343 was spent in salaries that year.

It was 2012 that saw the formation of the Helston Business Improvement Partnership, although it would not be until the following year that the group would take control of its own finances.

It was a costly financial year, with £154,000 spent by March 2013 – not least because £10,000 was paid out to one Helston company on ‘marketing’, with the same firm receiving a further £5,100 for ‘marketing and branding’.

Salaries made up £42,565 of the money spent.

Projects this year included a £500 Diamond Jubilee event, the first Helston Celebrates Christmas event for £2,440 and £6,794 hanging baskets.

An independent business guide, which gave a free page to the businesses who were members of HBIP, was produced at a cost of £6,587, although these are now largely out of date due to the number of shops opening and closing since then.

One of the most costly projects was reinvigorating Helston’s markets, both in the form of a series of special ‘Midsummer Markets’ and on a standard weekly basis. Overall this cost the town £20,431.

A grant of £84,650 was also transferred to HBIP for various projects.

In the 2013/14 financial year HBIP took on its accounts, requesting money from the town council for projects.

These included the development of a website at a cost of £14,892, with a further £5,420 paid out on it the following year.

Just under £2,000 was spent on creating a town map and £855 on a defibrillator for the town.

In a bid to improve the look of the town centre HBIP gave out £6,205 in grants to update shop fronts, with another £2,125 the following year, while £1,449 has been spent on plastic wrap to cover empty shop windows.

Hanging baskets have continued to adorn the town, costing £5,419 in 2014 and £4,566 in 2015.

The group also hired a PR consultant at a total cost of £9,405 over two years.

A Christmas skating rink cost £3,660 in 2014 and £3,440 in 2015.

A total of £46,521 was spent on salaries, which included the arrival of new town manager project assistant Amanda Boxer in June 2013 and Martin Searle as town centre regeneration officer.

This figure rose to £57,093 on salaries in 2014/15, to take into account full years of both positions.

HBIP projects in this financial year included providing free parking on four Saturdays in the run up to Christmas at a cost of £3,013.

Smaller outlays went on installing cameras to stream Flora Day around the world and creating Visit Helston stickers, both for just over £1,300 each.

Most money this year went on investigating whether Helston should become a business improvement district, although ultimately it never went to a vote following a poor reception from business owners.

Shirley Moralee had arrived in January 2014 as BID development manager, an employee of HBIP, following the departure of Mr Birkett the previous June.

For this project the council had given HBIP £90,000 to cover costs and Ms Moralee’s wages, which were £29, 985 in 2014/15.

Following the collapse of the BID project, however, HBIP is now due to be wound down, most likely in the next few weeks, and is due to return the £41,221 still held in its accounts.

Of the total £75,659 that now remains from this budget, £21,000 has now been earmarked for jointly employing an events officer with Helston Museum, for three years.

The £251,352 for ‘public realm’ projects remains largely untapped, although it is expected to be fully taken up by the Grylls Monument rejuvenation project that began last week.

If everything goes ahead, estimated costs include £47,180 granite paving to the front of the monument and £131,030 spent on Monument Walk.

A further £35,860 is anticipated to be spent on improving Castle Hill steps and £47,300 on the Castle Green car park.