Firstly, I must apologise for taking so long to update the community on the outcome of the auction for the old Chagford Hydro site. The reason for this will now become clear. We bid to our calculated maximum of £105K, this figure having been downgraded with only a few weeks to go when it was announced that a new Abstraction Licence had been granted that cut the peak flow by 50%. This reduced the potential income from the site and therefore it's value.
A winning bid of £138K was made by a small Okehampton firm called Ashridge Engineering. I spoke with the MD straight after the auction. He was well aware of our community interest. He had even tried to acquire the site when it was owned by National Power. His company develop instrumentation for the water industry and he wants to refurbish the site and use it to showcase products and probably develop new ones. I got the impression from him that he might consider a joint venture with our community and until this issue was discussed I felt unable to release any specific news. I now hear that a joint venture is not something that he wishes to pursue and he apologises if he might have given this impression.
I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful level of support that you have shown for the idea behind Community ownership. There are numerous old and new hydro plants around the country, which are now in community ownership but sadly Chagford is not one of them. I will continue to keep in touch with the MD of Ashridge Engineering and should the situation change, will explore any opportunity that may arise.
Perran Newman
