Star Fen Sold

A statement from Heckington Parish Council to the people of Heckington

We are pleased to announce that the field on Star Fen bought in April 2024 has been sold.

The total cost to the Parish Council of this purchase, which did not follow proper process, was as follows:

Prior to offering the land for sale, the council commissioned valuation surveys from three different land agents.  Those valuations ranged from £47,500.00 to £71,500.00.  The land was offered for sale through a sealed bid process handled by the land agent, for bids in excess of £72,500.00.

The final sale price the Parish Council negotiated was £85,493.00 after sales and legal costs. While higher than the amount paid to buy, it was not enough to cover the impact on the Parish Council’s finances – the net loss to the Council was £3,712.97.  The Star Fen purchase resulted in other costs not included in the table above such as the cost of the by-election caused by the resignations of the Chair, Vice-Chair and a Councillor or the costs associated with the resignation of the former Clerk, both of which happened after the purchase of the field.

In addition, the money to buy the field was inappropriately moved from other budgets.  The Pavilion and Cemetery in particular have been neglected and as a result, emergency repairs to both have been more costly than they could have been.

While we welcome this sale, the Heckington Parish Council is acutely aware of the hole left in our finances.  Every week we find costs that could have been avoided with better use of council resources.

The external auditor found that the former Chair and Vice-Chair broke the rules that govern Parish Councils.  The purchase of the field was engineered without the proper level of transparency and scrutiny.  The current Councillors will never allow this to happen again and promise to take much better care of your money in the future.