It's That Radford Unity Complex Again

The 'drip drip' of information coming in on this continues.

I've managed to get sight of some of the emails that were exchanged between Nottingham Studios' representatives and NCC when negotiations started to turn sour. You may recall that NS were somewhat unhappy about having to allow some of the community groups to stay on in the building for an indeterminate period. NS were quibbling over the rent that NCC were going to pay on the groups' behalf.

One of the emails I've seen was from somebody called David Smith at NCC and it includes an extraordinary admission which I don't think has seen the light of day before, here's an extract -

"You will be aware that we have to address a Local Government Ombudsman case regarding the disposal of this building. The payment of a rental sum for accommodation within the property to a new owner will be viewed upon as most extraordinary, when the new owner is purchasing the property for an amount which falls well below the figure which the Council would expect to obtain, were the property sold in the open market, partcularly [sic] when an offer for the property has already been received at a figure close to the £350,000 at which it has been valued."

So NCC had received an alternative much greater offer for the building yet were still pushing for a sale to NS for a much lower figure, completion of which would have cost them even more for renting half of it back. The use of the word 'already' suggests to me that this higher offer predates the one from NS, which the council proactively invited. You can see why Mr Smith was worried.

As far as I know this fact of the alternative offer was never put before the call-in sub-committee. It would surely have put the handling of the sale in a different light if it had. It's still very much open to question how much JoCo knew about all this. At call-in it was said that he wrote to the tenants at RUC on 29 December 2009 to tell them that the building was to be sold, some weeks before he made the official decision.

In addition, one of the emails from NS' rep says -

"1. Last autumn the Studios group was invited by NCC to consider the purchase of Radford Unity Complex at a price of 150k. NCC indicated a valuation of 300k for the property but there was acknowledegment of significant potential remedial building work."

All this makes the Standards Committee's Assessment Sub-Committee's claim that the only thing Collins knew about the matter was what was in the report appended to his decision seem all the more extraordinary and unlikely. I've pointed this out to them in my request for a review of their decision not to investigate Collins' conduct at call-in.

I've been told separately that one of the groups based at the complex, who are affiliated to a national organisation, had made an offer for the building and I'm attempting to confirm whether that is the case and whether it was the same one that David Smith was referring to.

But essentially, it is clear that, even before the serious incompetence set in with legal services' failure to give the tenants proper notice, NCC was already nearly £200k down. For some reason, it seems that somebody high up really wanted the building to go to Nottingham Studios. I have no idea why but maybe there's a clue as to the who in one of the emails from David Hill, Nottingham Studios' agent on 19 March 2009-

"My understanding is that the Leader is very keen to see this sale go through and the resulting project to support artists.

I assume that any response to our final position will be endorsed by him."

"I Knew Nothing" Says JoCo

Funny isn't it? You send email after email and you are ignored. Write some stuff on a sweary blog that's read by a few hundred people and suddenly you get a response.

I've now had a reply from NCC Monitoring Officer Glen O'Connell including the Standards Committee's Assessment Sub-Committee's deliberations on my complaint about JoCo's conduct during the Radford Unity Complex fiasco.

Essentially I complained that JoCo appeared to have misled the call-in sub-committee over the amount that RUC was to be sold for. The minutes record him claiming it would fetch £320k whereas Nottingham Studios had already been offered it for £150k.

And yet, the Standards Committee said -


"4) ...that the Portfolio Holder Decision and supporting documentation had been prepared by professional officers and the Subject Councillor was entitled to rely on their content when taking the Decision and when participating in the Call-In Sub-Committee meeting on 4 March 2010;

(5) that there was no evidence before the Sub-Committee to suggest that the Subject Councillor was aware of Property Plus negotiations at the time of the Call-In Sub-Committee meeting on 4 March 2010..."

In other words he didn't know.

Now, what we need to remember here is that this is an assessment sub-committee. Its role is to decide whether there is a case to investigate. It's totally disingenuous to state at this stage that there is 'no evidence' that he was aware of 'negotiations'. That's what you do investigations for, to see if there is evidence.

And yet there was evidence that JoCo was quite involved in the matter. The Post quotes Nottingham Studio's agent telling NCC in an email -

"My understanding is that the leader is very keen to see this sale go through."

Now that's not proof that he knew every in-and-out of what was happening but it does suggest that he was maintaining a close interest. There are other potential explanations too but then, in order to discover which explanation is the correct one you carry out an investigation.

The Assessment sub-committee is effectively expecting me to prove the case before it will even agree to investigate. That is a perverse outcome. I have the right to request a review of the decision and I intend to do so but first I am going to see if I can get hold of any more evidence. I have one or two lines of inquiry but if anybody can help with this please email me via the link in the blog profile.

Nottingham Studios Given a Home

Nottingham Studios last came to our attention when it emerged that they were intended as the beneficiaries of the decision to offload Radford Unity Complex due to it being 'surplus to requirements'.

Initially, NCC proposed to offer the RUC tenants the (genuinely) surplus Douglas School site but that wasn't suitable and, as the legal quagmire deepened the sale of RUC fell through.

In a twist of fate it now seems that Nottingham Studios is to be offered a lease on the Douglas School instead which you can't help feeling would have been a good idea at the start. Not that we get to see the terms of the lease mind, that's 'exempt' from publication.

It seems that NCC doesn't see it as being in our interests to examine whether our assets are being disposed of in a way which provides value for money.

Radford Unity Complex Sale Falls Through

Just a quick note to say that I've received word from the Audit Commission that the sale of the Radford Unity Complex has fallen through so they are suspending their investigation.

Where this leaves the tenants I have no idea. Presumably they're still on notice of eviction and NCC still presumably still sees RUC as 'surplus to requirements'. After all, the decision to sell couldn't have been due to any back room deals could it?

Coincidentally the minutes of the Call-in Sub Committee reviewing the decision are out in the wild. The explanations for the notices to quit predating the decision to sell are farcical.

So another resounding success for Leader Collins. Anyone want to give me odds on a 'redevelopment' resulting in the demolition of RUC being announced in the next six months?

Radford Unity Complex - Reprise

Grief, this one just gets worse and worse. I thought the Radford Unity Complex issue was going to end reasonably happily but it really is going glands up.

The 'Post' is reporting on the latest developments which make pretty much everyone at NCC involved in this look like a bunch of twats, I think it's fair to say.

Apparently it has emerged that the previously secret buyer is a bunch called 'Nottingham Studios' who are so together that they don't even appear to have a website. The 'Post' says that they were offered the place last Autumn for the sum of around £150k. This is apparently around half its market value.

It also emerges that the council's Legal Services did not realise that the groups using RUC would be entitled to 6 months notice to quit, thus adding landlord and tenant law to the list of legal knowledge sets that they don't appear to possess, along with employment. So NCC is trying to get Nottingham Studios to let the groups stay on for a bit longer while, get this, NCC pays rent for them.

The latest fall-out seems to be over the amount of rent that will be paid, the council skillfully exploiting its 'over a barrel' negotiating position. As such Nottingham Studios' agent is singing like a canary saying -

"My understanding is that the Leader is very keen to see this sale go through."

as well as revealing the earlier-than-previously-admitted offer date. This is consistent with the fact that Collins made the portfolio decision.

On the bright side for NCC the Ombudsman is now apparently involved which usually guarantees a full exoneration.

So, to summarise -

• NCC secretly offers RUC to little known Arts group, several months before the poroperty was declared 'surplus to requirements'
• It is offered at around half its market value
• The tenants were served notice to quit in December 09, nearly three months before the decision was officially made to dispose of the building
• Legal Services failed to ensure that the proper notice was given (or maybe, hoped no-one would realise given the apparent rush to get shut of the place)
• NCC failed to make any meaningful attempt to find the tenants alternative accommodation until after everything had blown up in its face
• NCC will now have to pay rent to house the groups which will cut into the proceeds of the sale by about a third

Now, let's be clear, Jon Collins' grubby little paw prints are all over this one. The Post alleges that he even lied to a council committee (presumably the call-in sub-committee, the 'Post' doesn't say) about the low price the building was being sold at. Can't wait to see the minutes for that. And of course his name is at the bottom of the actual decision, which he seems to have made as little more than an afterthought.

This is quite serious stuff, certainly Standards Committee material (which of course is entirely unterrifying) but maybe even something he could be surcharged for.

Anyone might suspect that there could be some sort of undeclared relationships going on between JoCo and the people behind Nottingham Studios. But of course that couldn't be the case because the main players are named here and someone would be bound to go out and check. I'm sure there's nothing to see here.

Collins is of course refusing to comment and I'm not surprised. Frankly he's becoming a liability and if it weren't for the complete absence of gonads in the Labour Group I'd be predicting his imminent demise.