NEWQUAY Town Council is looking at various income opportunities to boost its coffers.

The authority is reviewing its estate portfolio to lease or rent out space available at the council offices at Marcus Hill, Newquay Library, South Fistral car park, the open space at the railway station public toilet, the Killacourt, the Mount Wise building as well as advertising on public toilet facilities.

The environment and facilities committee will be discussing the various options at its meeting on Tuesday, January 14.

There are six office spaces available on the second floor of the town council offices at Marcus Hill. Cornwall Council still operate services from these offices and are looking to completely vacate. There is also an office space available on the second floor of Newquay Library.

The recommendation is to undertake a light touch refurbishment and offer the spaces for people wishing to hot desk or short term let.

The South Fistral car park site could potentially be used for either markets, car boot sales or a concession area.

The newly created open space at the old Railway Station toilet also has enough space to accommodate a concession area. However, there are no utilities on site and there are existing issues around access.

The recommendation is to consider an expression of interest phase rather than a formal tender to determine what interest is there to trade on the two sites. The feedback received will be used to inform whether to proceed with a formal pop up tender.

A town council spokesperson said: “The most likely option to use for the South Fistral car park site is a pop-up tender exercise for a concession.

“This would be an open bid opportunity where bidders would provide the Council with their best bid and their proposal. Bids would be evaluated 40 per cent on their rental proposal and 60% on the quality of their submission.

“Suggested pitch size would be 5m x 3m and goods for sale should not compete with any businesses in the immediate vicinity.

“Initial investigations with one car boot sale provider suggest an arrangement where the Council would receive 50 per cent of the income from the sales excluding shared outgoing costs. It would be a challenging exercise to determine whether a days worth of car park income would be more or less favourable than the proceeds from a car boot sale.

“Food Festival Markets are other opportunities which could be considered for the site. In both markets, or a boot sale, the council would need to consider whether the profit from them outweighs what normally would have been made through income. Income is at its lowest generally in the October to March where the charges drop to £1 a day, therefore these are likely to be the better months to target.

“The South Fistral car park is also restricted from putting on events or concessions in the months of July to August.”

The town council is also looking at ways to boost income from the Killacourt and the Mount Wise building.

A council spokesperson said: “The current fee structure for both sites is quite convoluted and complex.

“It is recommended to not only aim to simplify the charge structure but look at reducing it so both sites are accessible to a wider variety of smaller groups.

“We have already compromised on the Mount Wise Centre charges for a handful of groups and a reduced fee is clearly far more appealing, particularly in this financial climate.

“The recommendation is to overhaul and review the hire fees and charging structure for both sites to make them more competitive and accessible to a wider range of organisations.”

The town council is also looking to generate income by allowing advertising on its public toilet facilities. The committee is recommended to purchase two external signs for Fore Street and Killacourt public toilets to offer as advertising space for local businesses.

A council spokesperson said: “Following a review of all of the toilets, there are plenty of locations for a large A1 poster case frames which could be used for local business or event advertising.

“The frames are relatively low cost and can be installed by our maintenance operative.

“Two sites in particular, Fore Street and Killacourt, could be trialled. Installing two external signs in addition to the proposed new wayfinding sign and make them available for local businesses to advertise in.

“One model that has been explored is allowing businesses to pay for a two-week advertisement slots at a cost of £30 a week.

“Given the cost of the frames themselves are £74, this would cover the initial cost of the frame and printing costs within the first month.

“For a price comparison, Fernbank Advertisers that use the Bus Shelter displays charge £33 for one poster.”