Sevenoaks Town Council has dropped its judicial review threat over the Stag and is weighing a £650,000 freehold purchase, funded by a loan, reserves and fundraising with no precept rise.

Sevenoaks Town Council has dropped its plan to take the district council to court over the Stag. Its Finance and Delivery Committee met on Tuesday evening to consider the next step: buying the arts centre’s freehold for £650,000. (Sevenoaks Town Council, Finance & Delivery Committee, Agenda Item 11, 1 September 2026)

The town council resolved on 24 August not to proceed with a judicial review of the district council’s June decision. Its committee report cites the cost to the public purse, the anticipated timeline, and the complications of local government reorganisation. (Agenda Item 11)

Sevenoaks District Council responded on Tuesday with a statement that its position is unchanged. (Sevenoaks District Council, Council Reaffirms Position on Future of The Stag Community Arts Centre, 1 September 2026)

The town council’s solicitors, Sharpe Pritchard, set out the sequence in an open letter dated 25 August, published in the committee papers:

  • 16 June: the district council’s Cabinet decided to dispose of the Stag, either by freehold transfer for £650,000 or by a 30-year peppercorn lease
  • 21 July: the town council sent a pre-action protocol letter, the formal first step towards judicial review
  • 17 August: the district council rejected the proposed claim and declined mediation
  • 24 August: the town council resolved not to pursue the claim

The letter says the town council “does not consider it a responsible use of public money to bring proceedings against another local authority in respect of an asset that both councils hold for the benefit of the same community”. It adds that the decision “does not alter STC’s view of the merits” and is without prejudice to its position. (Sharpe Pritchard LLP, open letter to Sevenoaks District Council, 25 August 2026, published in Agenda Item 11)

The £650,000 plan on the table

The committee report recommends considering acquisition of the freehold, and sets out how the money would be found:

  • £350,000 borrowed from the Public Works Loan Board, repaid at £27,000 a year
  • £200,000 from the town council’s capital receipts reserve
  • £100,000 from fundraising
How the town council would pay £650,000 for the Stag: £350,000 PWLB loan repaid at £27,000 a year in place of the annual grant, £200,000 from the capital receipts reserve, £100,000 from fundraising
Chart by Sevenoaks Online.

The £27,000 annual loan repayment would take the place of the grant the town council currently pays the Stag each year. The report says the plan “would not increase the precept”, the town council’s share of council tax. You can see what that share is on your own bill on our council tax bands page. (Agenda Item 11)

The report also records that buying the freehold is the preference of the Stag’s chief executive, over the alternative 30-year lease. It argues that the town council has developed other community assets at around £2m to £3m each, so obtaining the Stag at £650,000, “although disagreeable”, would be good value. (Agenda Item 11)

The committee’s decision had not been published when this article went live. We will report the outcome when it is.

Two councils still far apart on principle

The money argument is settled in neither side’s favour, and the papers show how sharply the two councils still disagree.

The town council maintains that the Stag is a public asset. Its report says the public “should not be charged for the movement of the public asset from one local authority to another”. It states that the district council now accepts a transfer at nil or nominal value is lawful in principle, but has chosen to charge, citing its fiduciary duty. A petition supporting a transfer at nominal value gathered more than 7,500 signatures, according to the committee papers. (Agenda Item 11)

The papers go further. They quote the town council’s King’s Counsel asserting that district councillors “were materially misled” by legal errors in the June report to Cabinet. That is the town council’s legal representative’s contention, not an established finding; no court has ruled on it, and the claim has now been dropped.

The district council rejects that account. Cllr Kevin Maskell, Leader of Sevenoaks District Council, said Cabinet “reached its decision following a thorough and transparent process, informed by independent professional advice and careful consideration of all relevant factors”. He said the withdrawal of the legal threat “means attention can now return to securing certainty over the future of The Stag”. (Sevenoaks District Council, 1 September 2026)

The three options, unchanged since June

The district council says the choices approved by Cabinet on 16 June remain available:

  • transfer of the freehold to the town council for £650,000, the independently assessed Existing Use Value
  • a 30-year lease at a peppercorn rent, with the district council keeping the freehold
  • if no agreement is reached, the Stag transfers to the district council’s successor authority under local government reorganisation

The stakes of the third option are set out in the town council’s report. The new unitary authority is expected to be operational in 2028, the Stag’s current lease runs to 2035 with five-yearly rent reviews, and the town council argues a short lease with no right to renew would deter serious investment in the venue. (Agenda Item 11; Sevenoaks District Council, 1 September 2026)

What it means for you

The town’s theatre, cinema and youth café is closer to a settled future than at any point this year. The threat of litigation between your two councils is gone, and the live question is now a practical one: whether the town council buys the building, leases it, or lets it pass to the new unitary authority.

If the purchase goes ahead as set out in the report, it would be paid for without an increase in the town council precept. The £27,000 a year now granted to the Stag would service the loan instead.

We covered the original offer in June on the Stag’s future and the Cabinet decision on the community asset transfer. Committee agendas and minutes for the town council’s meetings are on the Finance and Delivery Committee page.

Sources

Image: The Stag Theatre, Sevenoaks, by Chris Whippet, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.