Philip Grant sent the following Open Email to Brent councillors, Cllr Muahmmed Butt and Cllr Shama Tatler ;and Brent Officers Alan Lunt, Debra Norman and Martin Neil yesterday.
THIS IS AN OPEN EMAIL
Dear Mr Lunt,
I have seen online today that you have made a key decision to award a contract for the construction of Brent Council's proposed development at 1 Morland Gardens.
You may remember that in June last year you wrote to me to confirm that no work would commence at 1 Morland Gardens until all of the necessary legal requirements for the planned development (such as stopping-up orders and appropriation of land for planning purposes) we're in place.
Although the report on which you based your decision does not appear to have mentioned those legal requirements, I can inform you that the stopping-up order for the highway in front of 1 Morland Gardens has not been made. You can check this with Brent's Head of Healthy Streets, Sandor Fazekas, who will tell you that the period for objections to the proposed order does not expire until 26 May, and also that objections have been received, so that there is no certainty that the order will be made (and even if it is, when that will be).
In these circumstances, it would be a very big risk to the Council's finances to enter into a contract for nearly £38 million when you do not know whether the planned development will be able to go ahead.
I also note that the councillors consulted before your decision was made were Cllrs. Butt and Tatler. As the decision was required to be made in consultation with the Lead Members for Education and Regeneration, and there does not appear to be a Lead Member for Education (the previous holder of the post having lost his seat on the Council on 5 May), I am not sure how your decision complied with that requirement.
I hope that you, and Brent Council, will not proceed with the award of the 1 Morland Gardens contract until the necessary legal requirements have been complied with. Best wishes,
Philip Grant.
4 comments:
Excellent - as ever - from Philip G. Re para 4: could it be that Cllr Butt and colleagues are 'anticipating' permission for the 'stopping-up' order, hoping to push the development through...?
Dear Tussyisme,
Thank you for your comment.
I don't know the answer for sure, but my guess is that they overlooked this aspect of the development.
They seem to imagine that as they are the Council, they can do what they want. But they cannot make a stopping-up order if there are open objections to the proposed order, and if the objections can't be resolved by agreement, there will have to be an Inquiry by an independent Inspector.
Alan Lunt, Brent's Strategic Director for Regeneration, was made aware that a stopping-up order would be needed at least a year ago. On 2 June 2021 he wrote to me to say that the Victorian villa at 1 Morland Gardens would not be demolished before all the legal perquisites were in place.
Brent cannot be sure that it's plans can go ahead unless, or until, they have the stopping-up order. Would you commit yourself to a legal contract, requiring you to pay £38m, if you weren't sure you could go ahead with the project?
Three days on from my email to Alan Lunt, and no response. The only contact from Brent to my email has been automatic acknowledgements from Cllrs Butt and Tatler.
Perhaps they are waiting until next week, before writing to thank me for my advice, and letting me know they've ignored it?
Even though no one from Brent Council has responded to my open email, it must have caused them to reconsider the legality of the 16 May decision, because the Cabinet members consulted did not include the Lead Member for Education.
As a result, the Key Decision to award the c.£38m contract was re- made on 20 May, with the date by which a call-in of the decision can be made put back to 27 May.
The main reason why the award of the contract should not be made, unless or until there is a valid stopping-up order, remains unchanged.
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