Last year I blogged profusely about the first major phase of our Regeneration Project, which was the restoration of the Parish Church at Stony Stratford in preparation for the building of a new hall and vestry wing. Over the past year a lot of preparation/desk bound work has taken place to bring this to fruition. At times this has been very frustrating and the last year's work has only been made possible by the ten years that preceded it. The palaver one has to go through to get Planning Consent, Faculties and Building Regulations has to be seen to be believed. However, all those consents are now in place and we have now reached the stage of having received Informal Tenders on our former hall, and of having appointed contractors for the building of the new hall/vestry. Once the monies have been received we will be ready to start demolition and building.
Below is the Report published in this week's Mass Sheet:
At 12:00 noon on Monday the Informal Tenders received on the former Parish Hall will be opened by our agent in the presence of independent witnesses. At some point in the afternoon Fr Ross will be contacted and will be informed fully of the offers that have been received. He will be advised as to which is the “best offer.” He will not be allowed to divulge any information other than to discuss the situation with the Churchwardens in the strictest confidence.
The reason for this apparent cloak of secrecy is that various checks have to be made as to the identity of the person making the “best offer” and those which bring independent assurances that the monies are available and that it is a genuine offer. Furthermore, this prevents “horse-trading” where the person making the “best offer” discovers the difference between him/herself and the one immediately below and then tries to lower the offer to just over the second highest.
Under normal conditions the person making the “best offer” would be expected to exchange contracts within six weeks of the offer being formally accepted and to complete the sale two weeks afterwards. If, however, the best offer is from a cash buyer then matters can proceed faster. I must therefore beg your patience during this period. As soon as I am able to say something publicly I will, but only at the Parish Mass so that all hear the news at the same time.
At the PCC Meeting on Thursday evening the tenders for the new hall adjoining the church were considered and I am pleased to be able to announce that Messrs Rattee and Kett’s tender has been accepted. This is the company that completed the Restoration works in side the Parish Church in January of last year. When I announce the amount we have received for the former Parish Hall I will also announce the amount we are paying for the new hall. This is also because we don’t want someone reducing their offer in line with how much we need to spend on the new hall.
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