Mosque Car Park - Another Secret Labour Sale at an Undervaluation!

Next Wednesday Sandwell Labour will resolve to sell part of the Shaftesbury House premises at High Street, West Bromwich at a figure significantly below its market value but, as ever in the secret state of Sandwell, we are not allowed to know the figures as they have been redacted from Council documents. And this from a Council that is constantly pleading poverty!

In 2005, a planning application was made to extend the Jamia Mosque and Community Centre at 47 Dartmouth Street, West Bromwich - a residential street. The application lapsed but a further application was submitted (DC/09/50532) and granted in 2009. Two subsequent applications (DC/09/50892 & DC/09/51697) varied the original and the extended Mosque was opened in June OF THIS YEAR. At the bottom of this post I have set out the exact wording of the planning consent as regards parking but it is noteworthy here that Labour's planning committee said this at the time (ie within very recent history):

"Consideration will be given to the provision of parking in association with the development. This will include an assessment of:

- whether the majority of people walk to the place of worship or religious instruction;
- the proximity and availability of public transport facilities;
- the availability of car parking in the vicinity;
- the use of the centre for wider community purposes and for special events drawing large numbers of participants;
- the adverse effect of on-street parking on adjacent occupiers, the environment of the neighbourhood and whether it would create potential hazards to pedestrians and other road users.

The planning committee report for the final grant of planning permission stated:

"There would be a car parking area with 19 spaces to be provided with an in and out system to Dartmouth Street together with a direct pedestrian access to Dartmouth Street".

Well that's all ok then isn't it? No! Now the comrades say the Mosque has been so busy it needs extra parking and so they will sell it part of the (non-adjacent) Shaftesbury House car park even though it would have a significantly greater value if sold for housing!

The Shaftesbury House saga (part of a wider Labour disaster story) will feature in another post but at the moment, the only access to the proposed Mosque car park is from the High Street via the Shaftesbury House property so that a separate access will be made to Earl Street. As far as I am aware, Sandwell Council still own Shaftesbury House (having been forced to buy it) and so any sale is likely to diminish the value of the remaining plot. But, as ever, with Sandwell Labour we are not allowed to know the facts. The matter is listed for rubber-stamping at the AMLD Committee next week but two of the agenda items (including, incredibly, even the map) have been redacted from public view altogether whilst the supposedly "public" item has this heavily redacted gem:

"Strategic Resource Implications

3.1 The proposed disposal at a consideration of £XXXXX represents the
value of the site with the restriction that it be used for parking in
connection with the mosque only and for no other purpose whatsoever.

3.2 The market value of the site is estimated to be in the region of £XXXXXX
on the basis of its residential development potential. On this basis
Committee Members are requested to approve an undervalue of £XXXXX
under General Disposal Consent powers in acknowledgement of the
proposed community benefit disposal."

It is said that the alleged removal of parking problems, particularly on a Friday, somehow constitutes a "community benefit". (It is noteworthy that in a different context - the continuing ice rink scandal - Labour claim that there is now ample car parking in West Brom Town Centre thanks to 2,200 spaces at New Square so that SMBC can demolish the Queen's Square car park and gift the cleared site to a developer). There is nothing in the public agenda item about encouraging Mosque users to travel to it by alternative means other than by private car. There also appears to have been no consideration to giving the Mosque a short lease or licence for the site pending re-development of the Shaftesbury House site as a whole.

Of course, even The Kremlin cannot get away with this gross breach of their legal obligation to secure best value upon disposal of land and so they are proposing a restrictive covenant as follows:

"1.8 Any disposal on this basis would include a restrictive user covenant,
preventing the purchaser from using the site for any other purpose than
that of parking in connection with the mosque only and for no other
purpose whatsoever. Any attempt to deviate from the prescribed use
would therefore require formal council consent and potential financial
remuneration, if appropriate."

What this means in real terms is ambiguous. The words "if appropriate" are particularly alarming (particularly when seen in the light of BogGate etc). How could a change of use/removal of the covenant come to be decided - would the process be public or secret? Would the "socialists" actually take legal action against the Mosque if it breaches the covenant (the only remedy they would have left upon a sale)? Any removal of the covenant would inevitably enhance the value of the site - particularly if a new entrance is made to Earl Street - and so payment would most definitely be "appropriate". But who would calculate how much that remuneration should be? Why isn't a formula put into the contract? Remember that in BogGate, Labour sold the three blocks secretly for £25,000 and THEN (ie afterwards) paid £1,200 for a valuation report which valued them at £130,000! Given that Labour take the approach - "we have a massive majority and will do what we like" - this is all very perturbing.

Of course, Labour will force this through next week but you may wish to make complaint to SMBC. Presumably there will have to be a planning application for a new entrance to Earl Street and opposition to that may be appropriate. As soon as the decision is made The Skidder will make a Freedom of Information request for the redacted documents and figures.

Is all this just gross incompetence or something far worse?

ADDENDUM - 30th AUGUST, 2014 - DEJA VU.....

And here is another similar and recent case from the allegedly cash-strapped "socialists"! Instead of putting a car park on the open market it was to be offered to a Mosque first. Did they buy it or didn't they and what was the deal? How did the comrades value the site? These are the relevant minutes from the Asset Management & Land Disposal Committee of 18th December, 2013:

(4) that the Council owned car park at Cambridge Street,
Smethwick be declared surplus to Council requirements
and the Director - Legal and Governance Services
dispose of the freehold interest to the adjacent mosque
on terms and conditions to be agreed by the Area
Director - Regeneration and Economy;

(5) that in connection with resolution (4) above, in the event
that an agreement cannot be reached between the
Council and the mosque by 18th June, 2014, the Director
– Legal and Governance Services, dispose of the
freehold interest in the land at Cambridge Street,
Smethwick on the open market on terms and conditions
to be agreed by the Area Director – Regeneration and
Economy;

THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG

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Planning conditions DC/09/51697

8. Before the property is brought into use the approved car parking spaces and vehicle circulation areas shall be laid out, graded, and surfaced in accordance with details to have been submitted to and approved by the planning authority.

12. Before the property is brought into use the car parking management plan shall be submitted to and approved by the planning authority.

13. The car parking management plan  approved in pursuance of the previous condition shall be implemented as soon as the development is brought into use.

14. The car parking management plan approved in pursuance to conditions 12 and 13 of this planning permission shall remain in operation for the life of this development.