• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • LATIF
  • Conferences
  • Dashboard
  • Edit My Profile
  • Log In
  • Logout
  • Register
  • Edit this post

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • EAPF criticised for water company investments

    August 10, 2022

  • Welsh pension fund confirms £50m investment in clean energy

    August 10, 2022

  • Inflation ‘disastrous’ for local services, warns LGA

    August 10, 2022

  • Consultation opens into care charging reforms

    August 9, 2022

  • ADASS survey: ‘worst fears confirmed for adult social care’

    August 5, 2022

  • GMCA to unlock funds for home energy-efficiency upgrades

    August 4, 2022

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Briefs

Aylesbury closes standalone company in the face of competition

0
  • by Colin Marrs
  • in 151 News · Resources
  • — 17 Jan, 2018

Vale Commerce

A district council has closed its standalone commercial company after two years, due to private sector competition.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has allowed its wholly-owned company Vale Commerce, created in December 2015, to become dormant.

Two brands operated by the company — Limecart, offering household cleaning services and Incgen, providing business services — will now return to council ownership.

A report to councillors last week said: “Vale Commerce was started to test if conceptually it would be possible to run subscription services for additional residential and business incubation services.

“This has been achieved, however the marketplace is a congested one, and also challenging in terms of a subcontracting model.”

An option to inject more cash into the company was rejected because ‘the benefits at this time do not outweigh the risks and costs’, it said.

The company was created with a £50,000 loan from the council, but made a £37,000 loss in its first year of operations.

However, the council said that during the current financial year, the company generated new income, mainly through sales to the council itself.

The council report said: “The total council spend since its creation of £115,000 is netted off by the commercial team income for the year

“With income invoiced and committed this will be sufficient to cover a final loan repayment to the council to ensure the company is left without liabilities and in a neutral financial position, thereby enabling it to enter dormant status.”

Aylesbury Vale will now examine how its commercial team can develop the brands once operated by Vale Commerce.

The news comes after Room151 reported that a separate standalone telecommunications company set up and owned by the council has sold all of its assets to a rival private sector operator.

A number of local authorities have set up standalone companies to raise revenue from charging for services in recent years.

The recent revision of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s was undertaken partly in response to commercialisation within councils.

Share

You may also like...

  • key, property, housing, Northern LGPS pool to invest £150m in affordable housing 20th Apr, 2022
  • Brunel CEO: delayed consultation ‘risks LGPS reputation’ 19th Jul, 2022
  • Councils & carbon: COP26 an opportunity to confront climate change at a local level 28th Oct, 2021
  • Training momentum gathering pace in LGPS 22nd Jul, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • 151 BRIEFS – WHAT’s NEW?

    • Inflation ‘disastrous’ for local services, warns LGA
    • Consultation opens into care charging reforms
    • ADASS survey: ‘worst fears confirmed for adult social care’
    • GMCA to unlock funds for home energy-efficiency upgrades
    • Levelling up committee calls for urgent boost to social care funding
  • Room151’s LGPS Roundtables

    Biodiversity
    Valuations & Risk
    LGPS Women

  • Room151’s LGPS Roundtables

    Biodiversity
    LGPS Women
    Valuations & Risk
  • Latest tweets

    Room151 17 hours ago

    Which LGPS pools and funds are attending the LGPS Investment Forum on Nov 2 & the LGPS Private Markets Forum on Nov 1st? Answer here: lnkd.in/eDHU8tuy pic.twitter.com/D3gd63Rh7F

    Room151 1 day ago

    LGPS and levelling up: nothing to fear but fear itself: There have been a number of objections to government plans for LGPS funds to invest 5% of their assets in local projects. But George Graham says these objections can be[...] dlvr.it/SWL7vt pic.twitter.com/ebwBEkZTy4

    Room151 1 day ago

    George Graham @SYpensions @bordertocoast channels his inner FDR in a call for local government pension funds to avoid the fear factor and embrace levelling up #LGPS #localgov room151.co.uk/local-governme…

    Room151 2 days ago

    Changes to rules on capital receipts raise wider questions: Stephen Kitching argues that DLUHC’s latest rule changes are part of a series following on from revisions to MRP guidance and the purchase of commercial property. He questions whether… dlvr.it/SWGqKC pic.twitter.com/Ycr5hWZDPk

    Room151 5 days ago

    ‘No ifs, no buts’: the Bank of England continues its battle with inflation: Partner Content: CCLA Investment Management’s Robert Evans discusses the MPC’s 0.5% increase in the Official Bank Rate and its ongoing commitment to the 2% inflation target… dlvr.it/SW7SNC pic.twitter.com/ryOzYRSNA9

    Room151 6 days ago

    DLUHC changes rules on flexible use of capital receipts: The levelling up secretary has written to all council leaders to amend the rules concerning the flexible use of capital receipts to fund transformation projects. In his letter, Greg Clark[...] dlvr.it/SW3jyX pic.twitter.com/KEhSSaMITl

    Room151 1 week ago

    Local audit and financial reporting: let’s take back control: Mazars’ Suresh Patel suggests three steps that auditors and council finance teams should take to help get financial reporting and local audit back on track. Following my recent appearance… dlvr.it/SW0PfV pic.twitter.com/miL7pjukce

    Room151 1 week ago

    The case for residential investment: income, impact and resilience: Partner Content: Emma Gullifer from Columbia Threadneedle discusses the options for pension funds looking to invest in residential property including the Build-to-Rent market.… dlvr.it/SVzKwN pic.twitter.com/hdgZ4zKt4H

    Room151 1 week ago

    Draft accounts: delays continue despite deadline dash: Dan Bates discusses the latest data on the publication of local authority accounts and examines why so many councils missed the 31 July deadline. Sunday 31 July 2022 was the[...] dlvr.it/SVx2ZT pic.twitter.com/gdELhD3Yis

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Previous story Barry McKay: Priorities for LGPS in 2018
  • Next story News Roundup: Services maintained after Carillion collapse, Brunel appointment, Unite ballot, LGPS admin dealdeal

© Copyright 2022 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

0 shares