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We’ve been cheated by sale of Stanley
• I AM really beginning to worry about Councillor Keith Moffitt’s ability to run the show in Camden in a sustainable and business like manner (Rebellion over KX sell-off is crushed, 26 April).
Everyone knows that it does not cost £10,000 to get a valuation on a property. Even blue chip valuers frequently provide such estimates for free.
Besides, who has ever heard of selling a priced property without getting several estimates and putting it on the market or at an auction?
And what about the Dalby Street scheme? Cllr Moffitt granted road closure of Dalby Street with a condition that the inferior (Camden’s own assessment) alternative route to the Talacre Sports Centre proposed by the developer be managed by traffic marshals at perpetuity (100 years?). But then, he failed to ensure that the developer delivered a substantial bond which would guarantee such a service. Is he so naïve as to think that the developer will hang around and fulfil his responsibility once his building is up and the flats are sold off? Clearly the coalition in the Town Hall are still at the bottom of the learning curve when it comes to managing developers.
MICHAEL PATTERSON BROWN
Primrose Hill, NW1
• HAVING initiated the call in for scrutiny of the decision to sell Stanley Buildings to Argent and witnessed first hand the scrutiny process at work here in Camden, I can see why there are concerns among tax payers that assets may have been sold off on the cheap. Individual councillors are unlikely to have the expertise to determine whether a particular sale value is appropriate, but if that value remains confidential, as is often the case, then suitable professionals can’t properly validate a sale value either.
Ian Lerner, who originally expressed concern that Stanley Buildings was being undersold, spoke at the beginning of the scrutiny meeting, but was not allowed to comment further on the information revealed during questioning of the staff and the appointed valuer, despite my requesting that the deputees be allowed to.
Even so, a cross-party majority understood both the sensitivity and the difficulty of the situation and recommended to the Executive that a second independent valuation be obtained.
When the Executive considered the recommendation, they decided that they would not spend the money, about £10,000, on doing so, because they had not been presented with any evidence that the proposed sale value was unsound.
Just what sort of evidence did they expect, given that the sale value has remained confidential and Ian Lerner was not able to properly engage in the scrutiny? The doubt remains for me and other residents that the council may be underselling Stanley Buildings by millions.
CLLR ADRIAN OLIVER
(Green, Highgate)
Town Hall
Judd Street, WC1
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