Community group shocked as council tries to hike rent by 5,000%

A COMMUNITY group in South Bristol was shocked after Bristol City Council tried to hike up their rent by more than 5,000%. The Friends of Redcatch Park group, in Knowle, currently pays the council £300 a year in rent, but were asked to increase this to £16,000 a year.

Five years ago the volunteer group began transforming a derelict bowling green in Redcatch Park into a community garden. They are asking the council for a ‘community asset transfer’, which would help them refurbish an old pavilion for use as changing rooms for sports clubs.

Initially the council appeared keen to carry out the community asset transfer, but almost three years later no deal has been signed off. Now the latest obstacle is a row about how much the community group should pay the council each year in rent.

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees faced questions from the community group during a full council meeting. Councillor Ellie King, cabinet member for public health and communities, promised to meet with the group next week to discuss options for the rent increase.

Lesley Powell, from the Friends group, said: “Five years ago we took over the derelict bowling green and turned it into a successful socially valuable community space with personal funds and crowdfunding. The same space stood empty and barren is now hugely valuable in the community yet costs the council nothing.

“We cover overheads with income from events and the cafe so that we can subsidise projects which the public sector struggles to deliver. We are also subsidised by around 250 volunteer hours per week.

“So here we have a not-for-profit organisation that has little in reserves, has created 16 jobs, provides an estimated £1 million per year in social value to the community, and is now being asked to increase its rents from £300 a year to £16,000.

“Our current licence runs out in December as the council failed to renew it last summer, which means that some funders will not consider us further. We have no draft lease and time is running out. 16 people could lose their jobs in the next few months because of the council’s greed and inability to respond timely to support such a valuable asset.”

Council chiefs have since halved their offer from £16,000 a year to £8,000 — but that’s still 26 times what the not-forprofit group is paying for rent now. The cabinet member said she regretted that the