FOI Request - Terry Duffy House - Councillor Mick Davies

NOTE - THIS POST CONTAINS SOME INACCURATE INFORMATION IN THAT IT HAS NOW BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT TERRY DUFFY HOUSE IS, IN FACT, OWNED BY LABOUR PARTY PROPERTIES LIMITED - PLEASE NOW SEE MY POST OF 8TH FEBRUARY, 2014.

Sandwell Councillor Mick Davies has struck a blow against the secret state of Sandwell with the following Freedom of Information Act request which he made by e-mail yesterday, 05/02/14:

To Whom it May Concern..

Re: Terry Duffy House,1 Thomas Street, West Bromwich.

I would ask that the following be treated as an FOI request.

1. Can you confirm that Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council are the owners of the said property?
2. Can you confirm the name of the lessees granted a 10 year lease on 17.6.2013.?
3. Can you confirm the annual rental of this property?
4. Can you confirm that this amount is in line with the current market value?
5. Can you furnish me with a copy of the terms within the lease relating to sub-letting?
6. Can you confirm that a sub lease has been granted with the sub-lessees being Sandwell College?
7. Can you confirm when this sub-lease was dated?
8. Can you confirm the annual rent associated with this sub-lease?
9. Can you confirm to whom the sub-lease rent us paid to?.

Thanking you in anticipation of a positive response. (End)

I too have raised some questions via Twitter. There is a document in the public domain which states that in June 2011 the property was under the control of Labour Party Properties Limited but that the basement, ground and first floors were unoccupied. I am not sure whether the Labour Party had to pay business rates for these empty parts (?)

What happened between June, 2011 and the grant of a new lease in 2013 (I cannot find anything on the Sandwell Council website about the grant of a new lease)? IF Labour took the new lease why would they do that if the building was half-empty unless either they were getting it so cheaply or they had already done a secret deal to sub-let to Sandwell College? Or perhaps a secret deal has been done for a lease to Sandwell College and THEY are sub-letting to Labour and the unions?

One of the principal reasons given by SMBC for the current destruction of The Public (even though SMBC are NOT responsible for funding the College) is that the College needed extra space and so the voter/taxpayer is entitled to know what space the College has taken in Terry Duffy House and the terms.

I expect that Cllr Davies will be subjected to the usual bully-boy tactics from some quarters but I congratulate him on his brave action.

ALL INFO PLEASE ABOUT SANDWELL COUNCIL & SANDWELL COLLEGE TO:

E-MAIL - thesandwellskidder@gmail.com

TWITTER - @bcrover