Remember the Birchley Island Casino fiasco when the so-called Sandwell "socialists" swallowed their "principles" and tried to force through a second gambling den in the Borough? Well this is even worse and the prospects for the hole that is Oldbury look very bleak indeed.
I make no apology for the length of this post but you won't get the facts from Sandwell Labour nor from the likes of The Express & Star. This is a disaster and people in Sandwell need to know the truth.
Let's wind back a bit. In 2007 the thief Thomas was still Labour leader and the comrades entered their disastrous deal with BT modestly-named "Transform Sandwell". This was surrounded by the usual PR bollocks (compare and contrast with the current campaign in respect of The Public whilst the actual truth is still being kept secret). This is what "Mr Rotherham" Eling said at the time, though remember that this is the same man who was so "mistaken" about the casino legal costs and recently introduced the illegal CTR scheme which has cost the Borough a minimum of £700,000:
"Deputy council leader, Cllr Steve Eling has described Sandwell's partnering project as one of the biggest and most ambitious in the West Midlands.
He said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the council to improve the quality of its backroom business services, which will have a knock-on effect in boosting services on the frontline.
"It will secure a level of investment in our business and computer systems and specialist experience in boosting efficiency that would simply not have been possible for us to achieve on our own.
"And on top of improving council services and our way of working, we are delighted we have also been able to negotiate such a beneficial package of measures for Sandwell as a whole with the creation of new jobs and a new multi-million pound regional business centre in All Saints Way, West Bromwich." (ie Providence Place).
As ever, with the alleged "socialists" every project is forced through without thought or consultation on the speculative basis that it will "create jobs".
Of course, my esteemed colleagues the #sandwellscrutineers were not around then and so the whole deal was kept secret. The press said it was a £300m deal but also said it was £15m for 15 years which makes, er, £225m but as we know the local media don't care about small matters like accuracy. I should add here that there has been one local campaigner who has been working tirelessly to expose a massive fraud within the contract itself but I will have to pass by that in this post. Curiously if you add 15 years to 2007 it would mean the contract was due to end in 2022 (see further below).
Of course, the comrades pay lip service to helping the disadvantaged in society but act differently in reality (again it took a High Court Judge to hammer them in July for their discriminatory and illegal actions). Like Brown and Balls they love to suck-up to big capitalist companies like BT and Interserve. In no/low aspiration Sandwell the only thing they are good at is pleading poverty to every Government Department or quango and holding out the begging bowl. Thus outside bodies get sucked into joke "regeneration" schemes which always involve colossal expense (eg BSF).
And so a huge office block was planned for 1 Providence Place. The comrades managed to screw £11m out of (the now defunct) Advantage West Midlands and so what could possibly go wrong with a "guaranteed" tenant - BT divvying up the rent until 2022 at least.........
Sandwell Council hold the freehold of the 1 Providence Place under title number WM822305 but despite the £11m from AWM they apparently needed to get the money men in for this development. What better for the sleazy "socialists" to do than contract with a financial/real estate company BASED IN THE TAX-HAVEN OF GUERNSEY! Thus a 250-year lease from 3rd August, 2010 was granted (the headlease) the useless hypocrites to Invista Foundation (West Bromwich) Limited for £14.9m pounds. Before you get too excited the builders were also party to this deal and would have received the bulk of the loot. There is nothing in the simple Land Registry title WM981972 suggesting what, if any, rent Invista are paying to the freeholder - SMBC. It would appear from the Cabinet Report referred to below that there is just a peppercorn rent ie a purely nominal annual sum and not any "real" money.
It sounds nice and local doesn't it - Invista Foundation (West Bromwich) Limited. I will spare you the effort of putting their name in the search box of Sandwell Council's website since you will draw a complete blank despite their involvement in this major project. You won't find them at Companies House either since they are actually registered at Trafalgar Court, Les Banques, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 3YL. As ever Sandwell's loony lefties have kept everything secret but then it wouldn't look very good would it to be getting into bed with tax-haven capitalists!
There is one oddity in the legal title WM981972 to the Guernsey tax-dodger (sorry, tax-efficient business) in that the Homes and Community Agency pops up again with a restriction against disposition without their consent. I can only imagine that this may be to protect the £11m put in by the now defunct AWM but am unable to enlighten you further on that at this time.
(Curiously, there is lots of media coverage including official stock exchange stuff that Invista had exchanged contracts to sell their interest for a quick profit in March 2012 but nothing seems to have come of that...???)
By now the thief had been replaced by the thicko at the "top" of Sandwell Council and the new "leader" was quick to boast about the great regeneration project Labour were delivering. As the huge, ugly, office block neared completion another lease - an underlease - was granted in 2011. You will recall from the above that the original BT deal was for 15 years from 2007 but I can only assume that at this point in time Labour were delighted with BT since the new lease was to run for 15 years again but from 20th October, 2011 ie until 2026.
I should just mention that I have only done a current search at HM Land Registry which does not give an historic view and so I can't quite give you chapter and verse. The actual title number is WM992279 and, as above it is a 15-year lease from October, 2011. Here, as above, I must speculate slightly. This lease was from Invista either to BT and/or a third party and then two sub-leases (apparently unregistered) were granted to BT companies to actually occupy PART of the wretched building OR this lease was from Invista to Sandwell Council who themselves granted two sub-leases to BT to actually occupy PART of the building. Whatever the position Invista were to get an extremely high rent (particularly for West Brom) and - even better - a rent increase of 3% per annum!!!!!
And so the moronic egomaniac Labour "leader", Darren "The Turdmeister" Cooper, was quick to hail yet another brilliant Labour "deal":
“Working in partnership to attract inward investment is key to our regeneration programme, and the opening of this flagship BT building is at the very heart of that.
“Today is about celebrating all that is good about Sandwell – all that we have achieved so far and looking with confidence to the future as our ambitious regeneration plans take shape at an astonishing pace.
“Our partnership with BT has been a very positive experience for Sandwell and its staff. The opening of this building and the wider regeneration of West Bromwich illustrate what we can achieve thanks to partnerships like these.”
Of course, Sandwell Labour miss no opportunity to spend taxpayers' money on sport and so Transform Sandwell forked out a no-doubt huge fee for some ex-Olympian to formally open the building in 2012 even though there was no sporting connexion whatsoever. Narsiccist Cooper- in Olympic year - was anxious to get in on that act too!
In all the secrecy, self-congratulation and lying there was a small point that was not put into the public domain. BT were so committed to the future of Sandwell they had break-clauses in their leases in 2017 and, as the recent Cabinet report suggests, they were only actually occupying part of the building in any event. (If there was empty space upon which SMBC was paying high rents why was this not considered for SIPS or even the grasping College?)
By July, 2013 the whole "brilliant" partnership which Labour had agreed with BT was falling apart and the great deal was terminated on 30th March, 2014 at who knows (at present) what cost - certainly millions. Of course, it goes without saying that this is being kept secret. And all this is Labour's OWN handiwork - nothing to do with The Government or the nasty Tories!
In 2008 the comrades agreed a new office accomodation strategy. As the lefties were sacking their own staff on a regular basis even they recognised that they needed less office space but they haven't even been able to manage even that simple requirement. They have, for example, been landed with the huge Shaftesbury House on High Street, West Bromwich which is being allowed to sit empty and rot whilst SMBC through its SIPS partnership has very recently agreed to lease THREE floors of Guardian House - one of the most expensive office blocks in West Brom! (Incidentally, despite these financial disasters SMBC want to sell off part of the Shaftesbury House car park at an UNDERVALUE to a nearby mosque - see posts passim).
There is some dispute about the size of Providence Place but a Sandwell Council Cabinet Report (which, like The Public Fundamental Review couldn't possibly contain lies) puts it at 75,900 sq ft. It is not clear from the Cabinet report how much rent BT are paying until they exercise their get-out in 2017 but the shifty socialists say the current rental is £1,311,273 ie a stonking £17.28p per sq ft (which sets an interesting benchmark when we eventually find out the lease details for the bent Public deal!) As above this is going UP by 3% per annum. The Land Registry title WM992279 shows the underlease as being in the name of "The Borough Council of Sandwell" but, curiously, only from 22nd April, 2014! This suggests, as above, that there was some sort of different arrangement prior to the break-up of the whole BT contract on 30th March, 2014 and that this new arrangement was then registered. Whatever, this meant that SMBC was potentially liable for a large chunk of the rent until 2017 and then THE WHOLE RENT (ever increasing by 3% per annum) from 2017 to 2026 unless they could sub-let. They would also have a potentially enormous bill from Guernsey at the end of the lease in 2026 for the wear and tear on the building (what is known as dilapidations).
Unless a sale has recently gone through then the morons are stuck with this deal but they have been trying to BORROW the money to buy out the headlease from Invista. Of course, they are borrowing like crazy already eg on behalf of the College for the bent Public conversion, for the endless stream of leisure centres and so on. Cooper's "wongaland" policy will put the present generation into hock AND THE NEXT. They say Invista (who paid £14.9m and have received very high rents too) will want between £20.8m and £21.5m to go away (and I wonder what capital gains tax they will pay on that in Guernsey!) But with stamp duty and other costs Labour will have to borrow £23.2m (although THEY claim that due to some sort of accounting con this is actually ONLY £19.7m!) One also imagines that the Guernsey boys will play hard-ball on the price.
But, as ever, the spin-doctors are out and claiming that this is all a great OPPORTUNITY for Sandwell in that Providence Place "delivers the advantage of acquiring a substantial asset that the Council is able to occupy as its premier head quarters facility." In other words, The Kremlin will have to go even though it was refurbed just two years ago by McDermotts at the taxpayers' expense. The offices at Jack Judge House in Oldbury were also only opened in 2011. But with such a huge and vastly expensive building sitting on their hands this is the only solution. Oldbury is like a ghost town as it is and the Kremlin moving to West Brom must be the death knell for the town. All brought about by pure incompetence.
Of course, BT will no longer be paying business rates when they ship out. It is possible that SMBC may be able to rent some of the building out but given their track record so far, don't hold your breath. No-one is going to acquire the Kremlin and so SMBC will probably have to pay for demolition and how long will it then take for the area to be re-developed (unless Cooper has another bent ice-rink deal up his sleeve)? The taxpayers of Sandwell and beyond will also be responsible for the high maintenance and repair costs of Providence Place (although these will be mitigated once The Krem is eventually disposed of).
The exit is a massive kick in the teeth for the people of Oldbury, another humiliation for Cooper and Labour in respect of their "regeneration" policy and a disaster for all UK taxpayers (ie those not based in Guernsey) who will have to pick up the tab for the enormous borrowings and ancillary costs.
Virtually none of the Labour Councillors has any business experience (indeed a huge number are unemployed) and they are too stupid to understand when big companies are shafting Sandwell. They blindly follow the Leader as shown in the disastrous recent High Court case. Many able SMBC employees have been fired so that the leadership is now surrounded by a useless coterie or arse-lickers/Labour supporters/both. The morons are spending huge sums on experts/consultants to tell them what to do but then refusing to disclose the reports. They are even failing to comply with the law and publish their external auditor's report. Inevitably, more disasters will follow.
What we do need to know is what has happened since June. Has the headlease been bought and, if so, for how much? What is the amount and what are the terms of the borrowing? How much space is BT actually committed to occupy to 2017 and at what rental/rates? What is the "new" (ha ha) Office Accomodation Strategy and can the public see an unredacted version? ? No doubt Labour will hasten to tell us.....
At least one thing is certain from this total disaster - Invista Foundation (West Bromwich) Limited are laughing all the way to Les Banques!
THE SANDWELL SKIDDER - A COMMUNITY BLOG - READ THE SKIDDER, KIDDER!
e thesandwellskidder@gmail.com t @bcrover (Vernon Grant)
Confidential phone no: 07599 983737
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