St Austell Town Council to make Mount Charles club its new home

St Austell Town Council is set to swap rented premises for a place of its own. The council has confirmed it has won its bid to buy the Mount Charles Social Club, with the aim of bringing its offices, its depot and its meetings together on a single site in the middle of the St Austell parish.

“St Austell Town Council can confirm that it has been successful in its bid to purchase the Mount Charles Social Club,” the council’s clerk said in a statement. “The intention is to secure the Council’s long-term office and depot accommodation requirements in the centre of the St Austell parish.”

One base in the centre of St Austell

The council currently works out of leased premises on Penwinnick Road, which are lined up for redevelopment. It says owning its own building will cut its rent and energy bills, and let it run everything from one address rather than spread across sites.

“Moving to its own premises will save on rental and energy costs and will enable the Town Council to hold all its Council meetings and run its office and grounds maintenance operations from a single site,” the clerk said.

Paid from reserves, with no borrowing

The purchase and the refurbishment that follows it will be funded from the council’s own reserves, with no money borrowed to cover the cost. The council expects the move to lower its running costs and, over the short to medium term, to more than offset what it is spending now.

“It is anticipated that the new premises will reduce the Council’s running costs and more than offset the cost of this investment in the short to medium term,” the clerk said. Further detail on the relocation will follow as the legal side of the deal progresses.

Setting the record straight

The council has also stepped in to clear up a few claims doing the rounds on social media. It says it has never owned the General Wolfe building on the corner of Truro Road and Bodmin Road. That property was owned by Corserv Facilities Ltd, a company belonging to Cornwall Council, and has now been sold.

The council has confirmed too that Cornwall Council has not bought the Mount Charles Social Club, and that there are no plans to build housing on the site. For now, the work is with the lawyers, and the council says it will share more as the legal processes move forward.