EDIT: please check that you have confirmed your email address (you should have been sent an email by change.org). If you don’t do this your signature won’t count! 

Hi everyone

We hope you’re happy and healthy in these unusual times. Thank you for reading this petition.. it means a lot! Many of you will already be aware what this petition about, but if you don’t, this Dorset Echo article will fill you in - https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18772011.weymouth-council-proposes-take-aunty-vis-cafe-beach-near-greenhill/

While Pete would love to continue the lease, this issue is bigger than his story. If Weymouth Town Council (WTC) take over the management of the site, it opens the doors for them to take over other similar establishments. There are three key issues that we can see with WTC’s actions/proposal:

1. The finances don’t add up. From our ~16 years experience, we can safely say it is impossible to employ full time staff and continue to make profit. This is what the WTC propose. At Aunty Vi’s, our brilliant staff have often been students or retired individuals - many of whom would not have been able to work full time. WTC also propose buying a new building for £47,500 (with tax payers money). Pete paid a lot of money (£40,000+) for the newly designed kiosk 9 years ago, as instructed by the council. For us to find out that it is now essentially worthless is a bit of a shock. All other sites have had the opportunity to either continue trading or sell the building to the new leaseholders. This will not be the case for Pete if WTC’s plans are approved. WTC’s business plan simply doesn’t add up. It seems ridiculous that public money is going to be spent for a loss to be made.
2. There is a real danger that any other council leased site that is operating successfully will be targeted in the future by WTC. This petition is in place to support all Weymouth beach kiosks and cafes, as well as other WTC owned sites. 
3. Pete did not hear anything about this decision until 2 days before the meeting where it was voted to go ahead (in October). It came from a friend, not even WTC. The council have been in discussion about this take over since July. This is clearly unfair and unprofessional. He was also not made aware of the current government guidance which is to offer an extension of upcoming leases by a year - due to the pandemic.

By signing this petition you pledge to the WTC that:

• Pete is offered the one year lease extension. As suggested by the governments coronavirus guidance issued in March. 
• The brunswick kiosk site is put out for public tender at the end of its lease, as well as other WTC sites nearing the end of their leases.
• Communication and relations between the WTC and their tenants to be vastly improved, particularly during the lease expiry period.

WTC will be voting on the final decision on the 14th October. Please share this petition widely before then. We hope it will help show WTC how much the local community values Pete’s efforts over the years - and show that this situation should never happen to anyone else again.

EDIT: don’t forget to confirm your email address! You should have been sent an email by change.org - this is so they know you are a real person. If you don’t do this your signature won’t count! 

Thank you for your support.
Poppy Townsend (Pete’s daughter)