Lion Farm - Nothing from Government Yet.

Back in March I wrote to the then Secretary of State for Local Government etc, Sajid Javid, who also happens to be my MP. The letter was also addressed to the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police who have hitherto failed to investigate fraud at bent Labour Sandwell Council. I urged them both to investigate the highly unusual circumstances surrounding the grant of an option on Lion Farm to property developer, Jeremy Knight Adams. Neither have bothered to respond to date.

By original letter was put on this blog here:

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2018/03/lion-farm-scandal-letter-to-cc-sajid.html

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Of course, Sajid Javid moved to the Home Office and was replaced by James Brokenshire MP. In the absence of a response to my original letter I wrote to the new incumbent at the Local Government berth on 16th May, 2018:

"The Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP                                             
Ministry of Housing etc                                                                   
2 Marsham Street                                                                                         16/05/18
London SW1P 4DF

Cc:  The Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
Cc:  The Chief Constable, West Midlands Police
Cc:  James Morris MP
Cc:  Fields in Trust

Dear Secretary of State,

URGENT - NO REPLY FROM 13th March, 2018

I sent the attached letter to your predecessor (who is also my MP) and to others back in March but have received no response from any party.

This matter is urgent as the property developer has had surveyors on the 19ha greenfield site during the last two days.

I am copying in Mr Javid again as he is hopefully now in a position to act in respect of the corrupt relationship between West Midlands Police and Sandwell Council and as hs IS my MP and I deserve a response from him.

I now understand that the property developer is a significant donor to The Conservative Party but hope (naively) that this fact has not been the cause of the delay in responding to me to date.

Please also note that Sandwell Council have STILL not answered my important FOI request on this proposed development despite the fact that the ICO has written asking them to do so. Please intervene and ensure that they comply with FOIA.

Sandwell are also refusing to disclose the Trust Deed which purportedly put this land in Trust for the benefit of the people of Sandwell and, even though the people are the beneficiaries of the deed Fields in Trust are bizarrely also refusing to give disclosure without permission from SMBC.How can this possibly be right or fair?

Yours faithfully,"

[As we shall see it appears the attached letter got lost too.]

I have now received a letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government:

I sent this response yesterday:

"Date: Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 12:42 PM
Subject: Your Ref: 3779986 - Lion Farm Fields
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: sajid.javid.mp@parliament.uk, james.morris.mp@parliament.uk, angela.lewis@fieldsintrust.org


Dear Mr xxxxx,

Thank you for your letter of 15th June, 2018. I fear that because you did not see the original letter from March we are at cross purposes here.

The March letter was sent to your then Secretary of Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, and others. I did sent it direct to Mr Javid as he also happens to be my MP. It seems it somehow didn't get through to the Department.

The easiest way to see the letter is via the link here to my blog (which itself refers to an earlier post):

http://thesandwellskidder.blogspot.com/2018/03/lion-farm-scandal-letter-to-cc-sajid.html

Before we move on, it must be remembered that Sandwell is a Council that has gone "rogue" and is riven with fraud, corruption, cronyism and incompetence. Some of these issues were rehearsed in James Morris MP's Adjournment Debate of 25th January, 2018 when the Under-Secretary for State, Rishi Sunak was present.

My main concern here is that the developer (a significant donor to the Conservative Party) was given an option on this land in a matter of minutes by a Committee that included (then) Cllr Mahboob Hussain. The developer was introduced to the Council by Hussain after he had purchased a property from Hussain's son for nearly half a million pounds. This is a HUGE greenfield site we are talking about at Lion Farm. It was not marketed elsewhere nor otherwise offered to other developers. There are clear s.123 "best value" issues if nothing else. This absurd "deal" was endorsed in a Cabinet meeting soon thereafter which got through a full agenda in just 2 (two) minutes! Hussain was present again when the obviously dodgy deal was rubber-stamped.

West Midlands Police launched a fraud enquiry into Sandwell Council but in a bizarre and unexplained twist agreed to stop the investigation (with full use of police powers) if Sandwell Council instructed a private firm of Solicitors (with very limited powers) to do a report instead! The subsequent and useless report (handicapped by lack of investigative powers) still voiced concern about this deal but specifically stated that it did NOT address matters concerning the option. Thus no police force nor anyone else has looked into it despite the obvious stench hanging around it. Someone, somewhere, MUST now do so.

Even though the option was not investigated the solicitor who provided the report still said that the failure to declare interests by Hussain MAY have been in breach of Bribery Act requirements. Us taxpayers paid £180,000 for the useless report - surely we are entitled to something out of that obscene expenditure? Surely when the report raises issues relating to the option here we are entitled to expect the relevant authorities to take action?

Someone, somewhere, in Government has to get a grip on this. We are talking about an alleged £200 million development! Also, there is a very close and unhealthy relationship between West Midlands Police and both Sandwell Council and ex-Councillor Hussain personally and someone "in power" must act to arrange for a proper full and unbiased investigation here.

Your comments about the planning process etc are all noted.

Finally, and in passing, I am surprised that your Department has such a cavalier attitude with regard to Sandwell's non-compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. I accept that this is not within your remit but the failure to respond to FOI requests adequately or at all (or worse, to have deliberately given false information in certain replies) is one of the "badges" indicating fraud and corruption with the Council. Surely if you are responsible for efficient local government you should be concerned that the ICO is currently dealing with NUMEROUS outstanding requests from this Council and recognise that this is yet another symptom of the rottenness therein?

Cc The Chief Constable of the West Midlands By Post.

Yours faithfully"

Needless to say developer Knight Adams has not replied to my letter to him. Besides finding £100k down the back of the sofa for "Vote Leave" he has given plenty to the Tories too (which makes it all the more ironic that the Sandwell "socialists" are so desperate to let him shaft them):

DON'T FORGET FOLKS:

THE SAVE LION FARM CAMPAIGN IS HOLDING A HUMAN CHAIN EVENT NEXT WEDNESDAY AT 6.30 PM ON NEWBURY LANE, OPPOSITE THE POST OFFICE IE ALONG THE FRONT OF LION FARM FIELDS. THERE HAS BEEN WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FROM THE OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES IN SANDWELL OTHER THAN LABOUR OF COURSE. EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT LOCAL IT IS VITAL THAT YOU PROTEST AGAINST THE SALE BY THE COUNCIL OF EVEN MORE GREEN SPACE IN AN URBAN BOROUGH WITH SHOCKING AIR-QUALITY.

PLEASE ALSO SUPPORT GRASSROOTS SPORT AND FOOTBALL. 

THE EVENT WILL ONLY LAST 10 MINS WITH ALL LINKING HANDS AT 6.30PM SO YOU CAN ALL GET BACK FOR THE 7PM WORLD CUP KICK-OFFS!

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - COMMUNITY NEWS - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!

07930 361831

Facebook:  Julian Saunders                   Email:  thesandwellskidder@gmail.com