In June 2010, I asked if anybody knew why Biggleswade Town Council was spending nearly £50,000 of our money on an outline planning application for a Health Centre, etc etc. There is no approval recorded in the minutes of the Council to spend this money
Up to that point (and later) all surveys & consultations, overwhelming showed that any new health centre should be in the town. Neither the Primary Care Trust or the Doctors Surgeries supported the proposed location of Saxon Drive.
Let me just quote to you from the Town Council Governance Statement, (which is shown in full at http://biggleswadeonline.blogspot.com) :
"The Council identifies its visions as part of its programme setting process and communicates its intentions and intended outcomes to its citizens and service users via its web site, local news leaflet and press releases."
I think most people found about this scheme, from the Biggleswade Chronicle, when the application was made.
So despite all of this Biggleswade Town Council went ahead with the application.
So who would gain, IF the application had been approved??
- Central Bedfordshire Council – the land would increase in value significantly, as it could sold on with the benefit of outline planning permission to develop it. CBC would have not spent anything in achieving this.
- The Developer of Kings Reach – In the Section 106 agreement signed in 2006, there is an amount of £625,500 (index linked) and 0.2 hectares of land to be provided by the developer for the medical centre. If the application had succeeded the Developer would have grounds for asking for that legal commitment to be waived. They would then apply for permission to build houses on the 0.2 hectare of land.
Page 39 of Section 106 agreement to MB/03/1205 shows the health centre
So who has lost out now the application has been refused.
1.The Council Tax Payers of Biggleswade who are nearly £50,000 out of pocket either way.
2.The developer who is still under a legal obligation to pay the index linked £625,000 and provide the O.2 hectares of land.
3. You could include CBC, as the land value has not increased, but I was not aware they looking to gain anything anyway.
So what was the point of it all ?
"There is no approval recorded in the minutes of the Council to spend this money"
ReplyDeleteThis could be a serious allegation? as if this is in fact so, and Biggleswade Town Councillors have spent public money without the appropriate authority or process, then they should be held personally liable for the expenditure.
But then I've noticed that not everything is recorded in the Minutes anyway. And you even have the Town Clerk admitting in another post that the Minutes don't always reflect what was actually discussed!
So just what is going on at the Town Hall?
Is it all above board or not?
In any case, the Councillors who have been promoting what has become 'Healthcentregate'
need to account for their actions.
Questions I would like answered:
- Who has been leading the charge on this?
and just as important, who has been advising Councillors that this is an appropriate use of public funds?
- And why is there no approval record? Or if there is, why can it not be found for looking?
- It appears from recent reports in The Chronicle that local GPs/health service providers are not 'on board' with the TC's proposed health centre location - were they consulted before this was pursued?
- Why did Councillors carry on with this when every measure of public opinion has said the new Health Centre should not be here but in the town centre.
- What authority do the Town Councillors have to apply for development permission on land that they don't apparently own?
- In response to what pressure from the electorate did the Town Council decide that the Town needs so many football pitches? Do the teams wanting to play on them exist?
- if the pitches were built, what would happen to existing pitches/facilities (for example behind Stratton Way). Would the Town Council then try to sell those areas for development?
£50,000 is a lot of anybody's money, and even more when it is ours.