THE Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union looks set to open an office in Market Walk – after the town council agreed to reduce its rent demand.
Councillors last week agreed to levy an hourly charge of just £7 for the use of part of their offices after union chief executive John Smith said they could not afford the £10 originally requested.
Joan Cooper said: “Usually its £12 – we have brought it to 10 for them to meet them half way.”
Deputy mayor Coun Heather Venter said: “I am concerned that if we allow them to have it at £7 an hour we would then be subsiding them by £1,300 a year approximately by not having it at £12.
“If we cannot keep it at £10 we are still subsiding them by £480 a year.”
Coun Venter added: “They say they do not make a profit but they give a good dividend out each year to all the savers with them, so I am not sure about it being not for profit. The dividend is very healthy.”
But Coun Steve Poessl said: “If you do not have them in there, the space will be empty.
“There are a lot of people in the town that they help. I for one would not be against them and we subsidise other groups by healthy amounts, and this is another thing that helps the peoplke in the town who are hard done by.
“I think £7 is better than nothing at all. That kind of money is mere peanuts compared to what we have been giving away.”
John Smith, chieg executive of the Credit Union, had told councillors: “We regret we rae unable to afford £10 an hour for the use of Market Walk.
“Although we are not technically a charity, we are a ‘not fopr profit’ organisation run solely to provide services for our members.
“Given that the members we help typically comprise those in society on the lowest incomes and the fact that we are the only loan provider with a legal interest rate cap of 2% a month, our potential to earn income from those services is very limited and, in Driffield,m we operate enturely through the goodwill of our team of volunteers. We therefore propose that £7 an hour would be the maximum we could afford.” Coun Poessl proposed that the council accept the £7 an hour. The motion was passed.