Chester Race Company is taking legal advice after a Chester Lib Dem leaflet wrongly suggested the racecourse had not paid any rent to the council for six years.
In fact the race company has paid more than £2m in rent since Cheshire West and Chester Council was formed in 2009.
There was outrage from several people when a Freedom of Information response appeared to show CWaC had ‘received no payments’ from the race company given it owns the entire course.
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And the Lib Dems included this assertion in an article in its Hoole Focus leaflet headed ‘Horsing about' which called for ‘angry’ rate payers to contact their local councillor, slammed the ruling Labour group and accused the media of suppressing the issue.
But this was only part of the story, leading Chester Race Company to take legal advice over what it considers defamation.
Race company chief executive Richard Thomas said: “We pay a serious amount of money in rent. Apparently the Lib Dem door-step leaflet says we don’t. It’s defamatory, it’s wrong and it’s ill-judged and we will be taking legal advice.”
Well known Lib Dem campaigner Mark Williams from Hoole wrote the erroneous article and tweeted at the time: “Chester races have not paid rent to the council since 2009 as no agreement!”
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But today he told The Chronicle: “We apologise unreservedly and will definitely be printing a retraction.”
It was after the issue blew up on social media that The Chronicle began making enquiries to establish the truth.
A council response reveals Chester Race Company had indeed paid nothing to CWaC since its inception but only with respect to a management agreement covering the centre of the Roodee.
As the freehold owner of the entire course, taxpayers will be relieved to learn the council has been charging rent in its role as landlord and has collected £2,064,787 since 2009.
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CWaC says the Race Company pays ‘a basic rent and a turnover rent’.
Rent for 2015/16 amounted to £337,295 although interestingly this was not quite enough to pay the highest paid director at the race company, who according to latest accounts took home £351,125 during the financial year ending 2014.
Now back to that management agreement on which CWaC has received not one penny.
The council told The Chronicle the agreement involved the race company taking on responsibility for maintenance, including grass cutting, of the central Roodee area and for managing bookings for events in that central space including for example fireworks displays, Chester Half Marathon and caravan club rallies.
From 2010, payments have been linked to profit generated from the activity covered by the agreement (any surplus after deduction of costs including maintenance).
But a council spokesperson conceded: “As such ventures have not been profitable, no payments have been received.”
The management agreement is currently under review.
With regards the management arrangement, race company chief executive Mr Thomas said the grass gets cuts and drainage issues sorted out at no cost to the council taxpayer
“It doesn’t flood any more,” said Mr Thomas, who claimed that when the council used to do the work themselves ‘the grass was three feet long’.
He explained that the open course was not profitable because ‘very little happens’. Events like the marathon and charitable events were hosted for free and the only commercial activities were ‘a couple of polo tournaments’.
He said the highest paid director’s salary was justified as 15 years ago the turnover was £4m with £360,000 profit. Today there is a turnover of £28m and £3.6m profit.
