The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A £7,500 digital media board that’s costing Holbeach Parish Council hundreds of pounds a year is at the centre of an argument about who owns it.
Purchased via the Welcome Back Fund, parish councillors say they did not know they would have to pay £785 business rates a year on the machine which was installed in spring 2022.
A meeting of Holbeach Parish Council was told South Holland District Council purchased it, and councillors voted to ask them to remove it.
However, a spokesman for South Holland District Council told this paper the board is now the responsibility of the parish council.
Holbeach Parish Council chair Coun Rick Stevens told a meeting of that authority: “It’s damaged inside.
“There’s a hole in the back where someone has got in and ripped out a circuit board.
“It’s also becoming a bit unstable.
“We can’t turn the power off as where the electricity goes into one of our properties there’s a huge display board which would need moving and would be a three-day job.
Vice chair Coun Tim Wiltshire said: “It’s costing the ratepayers a hell of a lot of money.
“We should rip it out.
“We should make South Holland come and pick it up.”
Coun Sophie Hutchinson said that it was purchased by South Holland District Council.
The council voted to speak to South Holland District Council about having it removed.
However a spokesman for South Holland District Council said: “The electronic notice board in Holbeach was requested, procured, sited and installed by the parish council, with the support of the Government’s Welcome Back Fund.
“Whilst South Holland District Council administered this fund in the district, responsibility was always given to parish councils on how they wished to use the support in their towns and villages, and to have ownership of any purchases thereafter.”
