Salford City Council and its ruling Labour Party faced more criticism last night at its Growth and Prosperity Scrutiny Panel over its total lack of openness and transparency.
Three Labour Party councillors - John Warmisham, Stephen Coen and Richard Critchley - had 'called in' a decision to sell land covering the Blackfriars Community Forest Garden site at East Philip Street to developer Urban Splash for £250,000. The original report on the sale, posted on the Council website as a Part 2 (kept from the public) paper, had given no details at all – just a Public Interest Check List justifying its secrecy.
Amongst 14 questions on the Check List, officers had decided that disclosure of any information would 'damage the Council's interests'; that disclosure wouldn't 'help people to understand and participate in public debate'; that disclosure wouldn't 'allow individuals and companies to understand decisions made by the Council that have affected their lives'; and that disclosure wouldn't 'reveal incompetent, illegal or unethical decision making or examples of malpractice'...
Last night, as Ben Dolan, Salford Council's Strategic Director for Environment and Community Safety, and Councillor Paula Boshell, the Deputy Mayor who signed the decision, admitted and apologised for a lack of openness, transparency and consultation in relation to the Forest Garden sale, it was clear that disclosure would have revealed 'incompetent' and 'unethical' decision making, at the very least...
"Ultimately, in terms of procedures, that's my responsibility, I haven't done that and I apologise to councillors for that; it's an error" Ben Dolan told the Panel and public.
"Clearly consultation should have taken place and it hasn't" added Paula Boshell "So my suggestion is now that this is put on hold while consultation does take place...Regarding openness, we take that very seriously about what should be Part 2 and what shouldn't, and we'll take that back again and look at that very seriously as well."
The only reason this land sale to Urban Splash came to light is that councillors had called in the decision. After seeing the secret report on the sale they had concluded that "The site's current use, history, community involvement, intended legacy and financial investment by Salford City Council was not identified by the officer dealing with this site"...that "None of the relevant background information was contained within the officer's report"; and that "Without councillor involvement, or that of those who designed, built and help to maintain this site, it cannot be considered that the decision was open."
The call-in guaranteed that the report on the land sale was put into the public domain and it showed that the land was earmarked for 'proposals from Urban Splash' as part of an original Development Agreement dating back almost 15 years! And that the sale price had been reduced from £350,000 to £250,000 due to flood risk difficulties in developing houses on the site, which could house a high rise tower in the future. *
The three councillors spoke at the Scrutiny Panel meeting, Richard Critchley arguing that the report "shouldn't have been confidential", adding that there was no consultation, that no alternative options for the site were proposed, that it was contrary to the Council's green space strategy and that "the entire decision was based on an agreement in 2005". He explained that there were one hundred varieties of trees on the land that were in blossom and could provide fruit for the community.
Councillor Cohen emphasised the "poor communication" in relation to the sale, while Councillor Warmisham railed against a possible "concrete jungle" being created in the area.
From the public gallery, a local business owner said that he had tried to buy the land to save it but had been "stonewalled" by officers and not even notified of the Urban Splash sale: and local resident Diane Wilson, explained that the process of bringing the Forest Garden back into use would be an ideal project to bring the diverse local community together.
Meanwhile councillors on the Panel laid into the general lack of transparency at Salford City Council, saying that this was not an isolated incident...
"What concerns me most is the openness; the fact that ward councillors were not consulted" explained Conservative Councillor Robin Garrido "I'm afraid that this is happening throughout the city...ward councillors are not being consulted. This is just one example of this situation and there are many other examples."
Conservative Councillor Iain Lindley said he felt a sense of "déjà vu"..."This isn't the first call in on a land sale that I've sat through" he said "I am pleased that we're discussing this in Part 1 and that the report is there for the public who want to see it, because when I called in the sale of the playing fields at St Georges I had to sign a confidentiality agreement before I'd even entered the room and was given the papers. I still can't say anything about it other than the call in was denied."
Labour Councillor Stephen Ord slammed the whole "Fifteen year fiasco" in relation to the site... "You originally did the deal with Urban Splash and didn't consult the community; you did the deal with Biospheric and you didn't consult the community; you cut all the trees down and you didn't consult the community and you've done a land deal with Urban Splash and didn't consult the community...
"Until you improve process this Council is stuck in second gear because you just don't reach out and listen to the people" he concluded.
Addressing the Panel, the Salford Star Editor officially called for resignations, saying he was "disgusted at what has happened...
"We see land sales all the time that are confidential, confidential, confidential, there's no details at all" he added "This has only come to light because the councillors called it in. You should not just apologise but resign because this is absolutely shocking..."
The decision was officially 'referred back to the City Mayor for further consideration' by the Scrutiny Panel.
*For a full background see previous Salford Star articles...
Salford City Council Secret Urban Splash Land Deal Revealed – click here
Community Forest Garden Sold By Salford Council - click here
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