The town council plans to buy South Mill Arts for £2.97m and lease it back to the charity for 125 years. About £1.5m goes to reserves. What changes.
Bishop’s Stortford Town Council is close to buying South Mill Arts for £2.97 million. The charity that runs the arts centre and museum would then lease the whole site back for 125 years at a peppercorn rent.
The deal was first agreed in principle in February 2023. It has been held up for more than three years by the Charity Commission, which has had to draw up a formal scheme allowing the land to be sold. A report to the town council’s Full Council meeting on 5 October asked councillors to approve the revised terms and let the chief executive complete (Full Council agenda, 5 October 2026, Appendix 2).
The minutes of that meeting have not been published yet, so we cannot say what councillors decided. The next Full Council is on 7 December.
The deal in short
According to the council’s report:
- the town council buys the property from Bishop’s Stortford Museum and Arts CIO for £2.97 million
- the charity gets a 125-year lease at a peppercorn rent
- the charity stays responsible for repair and maintenance
- completion waits for the Charity Commission’s scheme to be made and the council’s solicitors to approve the final paperwork
The land is listed in the draft scheme as the “Rhodes Museum and Commonwealth Centre, South Road”. It has been held in trust since 1938 for “the purposes of a museum and library”. A 1963 variation let part of it be used as a hall for the town’s residents.
Why it took so long
The report says progress “has taken considerably longer than originally anticipated”. The reason was the charitable trust over the property. Lawyers concluded that a Charity Commission order, known as a cy-près scheme, was needed to tidy up the historic trusts and to authorise the sale.
At the Finance and Policy Committee on 27 July, councillors raised the delay as a risk and asked for an update. The chief executive told them the aim was to complete “within the next three months”, with no sign of “any further substantive impediment” (Finance and Policy Committee papers, 21 September 2026). A joint press release from the council and the charity is planned once the deal completes.
Where the £2.97m would go
This is why the deal went back to councillors. The 2023 decision assumed the money would be spent on the South Mill Arts buildings. The Charity Commission’s draft scheme is wider. It lets the charity spend the proceeds on:
- refurbishing and maintaining the South Road site, including a reserve for that
- arts education, through a museum, community arts centre, theatre, cinema, gallery and library
- looking after the museum collections, including those of the former local history society
- recreation and leisure facilities for people in and around Bishop’s Stortford
The council’s solicitor advised that the money still counts as capital. In her view the charity could not normally spend it on day-to-day running costs without the Charity Commission’s consent.
The charity’s trustees have also set out their plan. At a board meeting on 16 September they resolved that about £1.5 million will go into its Heritage and Development Reserves for future work on the buildings. The rest is budgeted for capital spending already planned, plus associated costs and contingencies. The board noted that this makes the council’s separate grant, paid under a service agreement, more important for meeting running costs.
The report asked councillors to accept that the scheme “does not permanently restrict” all the money to building works, and to confirm that this is no reason to stop the sale.
How the council is paying for it
The purchase comes out of a £6,415,000 capital receipt the town council holds. Its plan for that money also sets aside £118,000 for stamp duty on the purchase and £10,000 to £20,000 for professional fees.
| Project | Minimum assigned | Status |
|---|---|---|
| South Mill Arts purchase | £2,970,000 | Awaiting Charity Commission approval |
| Other devolved council assets | £700,000 | Planned |
| Walking and cycling route north | £415,000 | Planned |
| Capital grants, tranche 2 | £308,000 | Awarded 2023 |
| Infrastructure (Old Monastery, cemetery, buildings) | £300,000 | Planned |
| Old Monastery Suite 3 | £280,000 | Paid 2025 |
| Community sports hub | £250,000 | Not committed |
| Capital grants, tranche 3 | £223,000 | Awarded 2024/25 |
| Stamp duty on the South Mill Arts purchase | £118,000 | Due on completion |
The same fund has already paid for the town council to buy three community centres in 2023: Bishops Park (£166,000), Havers (£104,000) and St Michael’s Mead (£147,000), each including stamp duty and fees.
What it means for you
The report describes no change to who runs South Mill Arts. The charity would stay in charge of the theatre, cinema, museum and gallery under its long lease, and its listings continue as normal; our half-term guide and panto page carry what is on.
What changes is ownership. The building would belong to the town council, which is funded through the town council part of your council tax bill. The charity would gain close to £3 million for its buildings and reserves.
Also on the 5 October agenda
The same meeting was asked to approve:
- an annual grant of £8,000 to Bishop’s Stortford Community Transport CIO towards running costs, from 2026/27
- a one-off £5,500 grant to the Royal British Legion’s Bishop’s Stortford branch for the 2027 Armed Forces Day event in Castle Gardens
- new financial regulations based on the national model
Councillors were also told the external audit of the 2025/26 accounts was completed with no recommendations for action.
We will update this story when the minutes are published or the sale completes.
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