Tax threat on stadium
A council tax rise of up to 12 per cent or a loss of services elsewhere could be the consequence if the Cannock Stadium site is not sold to unlock money for the district's leisure facilities to be improved.
Councillors spent six hours yesterday scrutinising the work done on plans to sell the Pye Green Road stadium and provide a running track at Blake Valley Technology College in Hednesford.
It followed a three hour meeting of Cannock Chase District Council's scrutiny committee a fortnight ago which reconvened last night and will now get back together on Monday to discuss it further before taking a vote.
The district council's cabinet has already agreed for officers to investigate other possible sites following concerns from Staffordshire County Council about using the Blake Valley school site.
But the scrutiny committee has been asked to agree for options to be limited to the south of the district and for further talks to be held with Staffordshire County Council and Blake Valley Technology College and a report penned.
The matter was called in by Labour councillors who were worried about the way it had been handled so far.
Les Trigg, deputy chief executive at the district council, said a study three years ago showed £6.25million was needed to be ploughed into the district's existing facilities over 30 years and there was no provision in the budget for that sum.
He said: "The total cost of borrowing, plus a bit of inflation, would probably increase council tax by around 10-12 per cent.
"The council can't raise council tax by that amount because of capping so it would mean re-prioritisation of the budget so we would have to stop doing something we are doing now to pay for it."
