Incompetence or worse? - A Series

The more Paakwa delves into matters concerning councils and councillors, the more Paakwa is disturbed.
Are their more questionable actions driven merely by incompetence?
Or by something more serious?

Paakwa thinks YOU should be the judge of that, and in this short series the facts will be laid before you, that you might judge.

Let's start with one of Paakwa's least favourite public bodies, Craven district council.

One of the items mentioned earlier in this blog was the sale of some prime building land on Gargrave Road to local construction firm J. N. Bentley, a sale which had been nodded through by Cllrs. Lis, English, et al, just before Christmas.

This greenfield site had been valued by a land development company headquartered in Chicago, and instructions appear to have come from one Jonathan Kerr (a name infamous for pushing the sale of many Craven assets, and mentioned many times in Paakwa's dispatches) that the sum offered should be kept secret.

That sum has already been revealed by Paakwa, that prime commercial site was knocked down for a mere £340,000, just £15,000 less than the price paid two years ago for a mid-terrace house with minimal land on a site immediately opposite, in Gargrave Road!

And so the Bentley sale price DID become public knowledge, thanks to a councillor who was heard by non council witnesses to inadvertently blurt out at a public meeting something along the lines of: "How do we know that £340,000 is the best price we can get?"

Paakwa now hears that plans may be afoot to punish that councillor for letting such information escape into the public domain, even that he might be reported to the Standards Board of England with regard to disciplining him.

But in a just and democratic world that councillor should be commended for his action, whether deliberate or not.

The council is secretive over the disposal of our assets to the point where questions - serious questions - need asking. It apparently suits Kerr, an ambitious officer who doesn't live in Craven, to see our Craven assets disposed of at secretive and apparently bargain basement prices, but these assets are ours, the public's assets, and once gone will never be recovered.

Councillors are elected to safeguard the interests of their constituents, NOT the the ambitions of council officers. It is to be hoped that more elected members will challenge the words and actions of those who seek to dispose of our assets at questionable prices.

Sadly it's too late to regain the hill at Gargrave Road from Skipton building society's subprime moneylenders HML. Around 6 acres sold at an apparent snip, for the sale price of £800,000 Paakwa has been informed.

But it's not too late to stop the sale to J.N. Bentley.

If the £340,000 offered by Bentleys is a fair price, the most that we could get for our assets, then Paakwa asks this:

Why was the price secret?

What is being hidden, and why?

Paakwa extends grateful thanks to a councillor who, by letting this price inadvertently be known to the public, has done a service to democracy in Craven.

And Paakwa has this to say to councillors who give mealy mouthed lip service to 'openness and transparency,' but hide behind cloaks of 'commercial confidentiality' whenever it suits them...

J'accuse!

Next in the series:

'How to spend more than the combined charitable allowances for sport and arts in Craven by backing a single private limited company.'

For fans of video, stand by for some revealing footage.