The proposed quick sale of Moulton Park could provide a “golden opportunity” to enable the village to finally get a play area.
Moulton Parish Council is interested in buying the park but does not have the funds – the guide price for the 23-acre site is around £250,000.
The parish council has long wanted to provide a play area for Moulton and the park, which belongs to Holbeach businessman Ashley King, would be an ideal location.
The land was put up for sale last week, with tenders needing to be submitted by Friday, December 18.
The parish council hurriedly called a public meeting held in the village hall on Tuesday (December 8). The room was packed with about 70 people despite the short notice and lack of publicity.
The meeting heard from several residents who said an appeal should be made to Mr King for more time so that a “golden opportunity” and the best and only chance for decades could be taken to secure a play area for Moulton.
Coun Eddy Poll said that if the parish council could raise the funds in time, it would need to arrange a loan, which would add about £10 a year to the parish precept for every household throughout the parish. This would include Moulton Chapel, Moulton Seas End and Moulton Eaugate as well as the main Moulton village.
Coun Lawrence Wakefield and chairman Coun Jim Scarsbrook said there might be resistance from council tax payers in the other villages to fund a play area for Moulton. But then Coun Scarsbrook admitted that for years council tax payers in Moulton have been funding the play areas at Moulton Chapel and Moulton Seas End.
Former parish councillor John Butterworth said the parish council had turned down an opportunity to buy the park years ago and that had been a regretful mistake. Because of the difficulties in raising sufficient funds in the timescale now set he suggested negotiating for a smaller area for a play area with whoever the successful purchaser turned out to be.
All those interested in forming a purchasing consortium were asked to email their details and how much they would be prepared to invest to [email protected] within the next two days.
Speaking after the meeting, council clerk Helen Worth told The Voice: “There was a lot of concern from residents on what will happen to the park.
“Ideally, they want the parish council to buy it but the parish council are not in the financial position to do that.
“We didn’t know until very short notice that it was on the market and our hands are tied for finding any money.
“We haven’t got the money or the time to raise funds.”
“There were a few people there that might be interested in getting a consortium together. That would be fantastic and the parish council would be supportive of that.”
A follow-up parish council meeting has been arranged for Monday (December 14) (7pm) in the village hall.
