Bridport Town Council could gain control of assets from the district council. 

West Dorset District Council’s (WDDC) strategy committee will meet today and is expected to agree to the transfer of some assets in Bridport and West Bay to Bridport Town Council.

Officers have held informal discussions with representatives of the town council, and have identified five toilets and a range of other assets that could be transferred.

Toilets including those at South Street Car Park and in West Street, Bridport, and three at West Bay Car Park at The Mound and East Beach could be transferred by February next year. 

Each toilet has costed WDDC on average about £22,000 to manage and maintain last year, excluding staff time.

Bridport Town Council has expressed it will need additional finance to cover the costs of operating the facilities, and capital funding to cover short term liabilities. 

One option that will be discussed today is for WDDC to offer a single financial inducement payment to the town council, but another could be to offer several properties capable of generating revenue. 

Just some of these include Seagull’s Restaurant in West Bay, Priory Lane land (the community orchard) near St Mary’s Church and the Old Dairy Site opposite Rope Walks Car Park.

Collectively the proposals would offer the town council up to £34,829 per year with potential to increase the revenue significantly over time by investment and change of use or transfers of responsibilities to third parties.

Bridport Town Council has also requested an opportunity to transfer the freehold interest in Bridport Museum and Coach House Stores. The museum building is leased until 2101 and the Coach House until 2029, each let at fixed nominal rents to Bridport Museum.

At today’s meeting, WDDC will discuss allocating up to £120k to implement management of the Transfer of Services/Assets programme. 

The council will delegate some of its services to town and parish councils across west Dorset, a move that was agreed in August.

The idea, according to the council, is ‘to promote joint work with town and parish councils to identify and plan for the most effective governance and delivery arrangement for local public services.’

The Dorset Area Joint Committee – which aims to develop a ‘jointly-owned, participative environment in which strengths, experience and expertise can be shared for the benefit of the whole of Dorset’ – identified both working with town and parish councils and working with community and voluntary sector partners

Services being considered for transfer include Tourist Information Centres, tourism services, public conveniences, town centre economic development, discretionary grants and town centre street cleansing.