How Sandwell Labour P*ss On You!

It is difficult to imagine what goes on inside the thick head of Sandwell Labour's "leader", Cllr (!) Darren Cooper - "The Turdmeister" - but for some peculiar reason he has an obsession with having an ice rink in the socialist paradise of Sandwell. When he is not actively engaging with numerous troll accounts on Twitter he is lying about this scheme, which most of us had thought was dead and buried. (My earlier blogs on this subject are set out at the bottom of this page).

Why does Cooper want to do this bent deal?
(Seen here with the SMBC chauffeur-driven Range Rover)

A quick reminder. Cllrs Hussain, Crompton and Eling had a report before them in December, 2013 to knock down the huge Queen Square Multi-Storey Car Park in West Bromwich at the taxpayers' expense and then to lease the land at a purely nominal sum to a private ice rink company run my Mr Mike Petrouis who would build the facility on "free" land and then make profit from it. There was a problem, however, in that the Council officers "score" projects - though how this bent deal was even scored in the first place is a mystery - and the "score" for this nonsense was a ridiculously low 54%. On that basis it should not have been allowed to proceed at all but the three wise Labour Councillors (one of whom has recently retired from the Cabinet to "clear his name") passed it with one important change. The taxpayer would still pay for the car park to be demolished but Labour would then SELL the cleared site to the private company. Labour would "work out" an appropriate price!

Labour themselves admit that in gifting this land to Mr Petrouis they will also lose much need revenue from the car park!!!!

The law says that Council's must get the best possible price when selling land but it then transpired that - just as with the bent Public deal - Labour were lying about the deal anyway. Official Council documents in the Public case said that the College approached Labour to acquire the Public but this was a lie and Cooper and Hussain had actually approached them in their plan to destroy that facility. Here it is even more bizarre, since Cooper claims that he dreamt up the whole ice rink plan and then approached "a couple of ice rink companies" about the deal. But this is refuted in the official legal records which explicitly state that the private company - presumably via Mr Petrouis - approached Labour. This is a very bad start.

Sandwell Labour Council then publicly admit that THEY then searched numerous sites in the Borough on behalf of the private company and at taxpayers' expense before hitting on the idea of knocking down the car park! Whilst it would be appropriate to assist possible incoming investors in finding commercial sites this proactive approach using public money absolutely stinks.

I do not believe for one minute that any other "ice rink company" let alone any other commercial enterprise has been approached and this is another bent deal. The fact that this massive site (right next to Tesco) has not been advertised for any other purpose and the Council are allegedly negotiating with a single commercial party smacks of gross incompetence at best and corruption at worst.

As Labour are deliberately seeking to lock out every other commercial company in the whole world to deal with a single private enterprise/individual any financial assistance they supply (eg by paying to clear the site) is likely to be what is called unlawful state aid.

Labour will also need planning permission to both demolish the car park and for the new ice rink but with Labour running the planning committee they obviously think they can force this through without any difficulty. (They might get a surprise with this)

The ice rink developer seems to have a chequered record. Just take a look at "Planet Ice" on the Companies House website and see the huge number of "Planet Ice" companies and the large number that have been dissolved for whatever reason. The Company recently closed the Birmingham ice rink (although this may have been partly  due to regeneration plans for the area) and there was controversy on the Isle of Wight where the Council had given the company a 125 lease with the proviso that the ice rink be run for just 15 years! The ice rink company and Mr Petrouis were trying to get out of even that short deal early. This was just 3 months ago. And yet Sandwell Labour want to sell them a potentially very valuable site right next to Tesco with no external marketing or competition whatsoever!

Planet Ice had a tiff with the taxman in 2012 but it is not clear if Mr Petrouis was involved in the company at this time. Certainly Telford Ice Rink was in trouble as were seven others:

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/01/21/ice-rink-firm-is-now-in-financial-trouble/

A Company called the Arena Group was also, it seems, involved in the financial turmoil. It appears that Mr Petrouis somehow divested himself of Planet Ice/Arena Group before it got into trouble and then came to its "rescue" again. Whether this involved any of the creditors being shafted  is unclear......

Mike Petrouis has many other company interests and describes himself as an "entrepreneur" (see planetpetrouis.com). But they are all private businesses and there is very little public information on his doings.

Planet Ice are now running a facility in Cardiff but this had initially run into difficulties with Cardiff Council in 2011:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiffs-new-ice-arena-plans-1820446

We need more information on this man and his companies and as Labour are keeping it secret we need to know why Cooper only wants to do a deal with him, with everyone else cut out. What the hell is going on?

The ludicrous Cooper was boasting at the Tesco opening party back in July, 2013 that the ice rink was on its way - again, I ask how Labour can try to do a huge deal with a single party behind closed doors.

Way back in 2013 Cooper started directly engaging with a twitter troll account that started to attack me. Here is one tweet:

Ian Crow ‏@crow_ian  31 Oct 2013

@l_trumpeter Hello is there an ice rink coming somewhere round here

Of course, Sandwell Labour have not consulted with anyone - and I mean anyone - in the Borough about this project and most of the Council documents are heavily redacted. In fact, Labour have ignored a petition to keep the Queen's Square multi-storey open. But The Turdmeister has said time and time again that because Labour are an elected dictatorship in Sandwell they can do as they please.

Thus although there has been no consultation, lies have been told and Labour are keeping everything about the "deal" secret Cooper can use his allegedly personal twitter account to say:

"Having an ice rink popular with people in Sandwell".

Everything had gone quiet and most people assumed that with the Labour Council mired in scandal and alleging being skint, this bent deal was dead in the water but on 17th March up pops Mike Petrouis in The Express and Star to say that it is still very much on and that the whole thing will be agreed "in a couple of months" - code for immediately after the election!

The Express and Star are the official organ of Sandwell Labour and so the timing of this article is not coincidental. Even in the unlikely event that Labour lose all 24 contested seats on Thursday, and an effective opposition to the Politburo is finally achieved, Labour will still have at least two-thirds of the Council. Cooper and Co will then p*ss on Sandwell, as they always do, by claiming that they have a "mandate" for the ice rink project from the voters who know absolutely sod all about it. Then they will try to force the bent deal through.

The people of West Bromwich and Sandwell OWN this valuable car park site. It cannot be gifted to a private developer in a secret deal locking everyone else out. Sandwell - start asking Labour questions - and quickly!

The police Regional Fraud Team still want to hear from you if you have evidence of possible corruption at Sandwell Council. Speak in confidence to DS Wayne Haynes and Team on 0121 251 2175. 

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

E-mail:   thesandwellskidder@gmail.com                  Twitter:  @bcrover (Vernon Grant)

Confidential phone no:  07599 983737

Ice Stink Saga:

This stink first  wafted out in a blog about The Public dated 18th December, 2013:

STOP PRESS 2. Anyone wishing to see The Kremlin's modus operandi should have a look at the agenda for tonight's Asset Management Committee meeting. In a heavily redacted report, apparently cash-rich SMBC intends to facilitate a private developer to build an ice rink in West Brom. Two of three reports are completely secret and the third is heavily redacted. This is the first paragraph of the "public" (sic) version:

        "The Council has been approached by the company xxxxx xxxx, who wish to develop an ice rink within West Bromwich. Officers have had preliminary meetings with company representatives and a mechanism for the delivery has been agreed in principle."

And so it appears any old "developer" can gain easy access to Council officers. The plan is to demolish the Queen Square car park (which even SMBC admit will lead to loss of revenue (!)) and to grant a lease to the developer (no competition, of course). The demolition job will not go out to tender but the Council's "demolition partner" has helpfully provided a secret quote. And finally......cash-rich SMBC are going to PAY for the demolition to help the development proceed! Cuts? What cuts?

Further posts followed:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/another-sandwell-scandal-spot-difference.html

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/cooper-skating-on-thin-ice-ice-rink.html

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ice-rink-sandwell-council-lie-and-i-can.html