‘THE door is open’ for discussions for cancelling rent payments for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) groups providing Covid-19 support in Redditch until March 2021.
Council Leader Councillor Matt Dormer made the offer after the borough’s Labour opposition raised the issue.
They said that it wasn’t right or fair that the charity Support Redditch Emergency Network should be ‘gifted’ a council unit for four months when several groups providing similar support are paying rent on their council properties.
Support Redditch Emergency Network includes Conservative deputy leader Coun Mike Rouse among its trustees.
However he said the decision to offer the charity the premises rent free had been taken by council officers, that as a charity Support Redditch had to seek best value, and that this was the only benefit it had received from Redditch Borough Council.
On the issue of helping the VCS groups Coun Dormer said: “I think this is something we could possibly look at, however we would not be writing off bad debts.
“Everything is possible and the Council is already playing its part and then some. Money is tight, but I am sure this is a conversation we can have.”
